The objective of this monograph is to provide a concise introduction to the dynamics of systems comprised of charged small-scale particles. Flowing, small-scale, particles ("particulates'') are ubiquitous in industrial processes and in the natural sciences. Applications include electrostatic copiers, inkjet printers, powder coating machines, etc., and a variety of manufacturing processes. Due to their small-scale size, external electromagnetic fields can be utilized to manipulate and control charged particulates in industrial processes in order to achieve results that are not possible by purely mechanical means alone. A unique feature of small-scale particulate flows is that they exhibit a strong sensitivity to interparticle near-field forces, leading to nonstandard particulate dynamics, agglomeration and cluster formation, which can strongly affect manufactured product quality.
This monograph also provides an introduction to the mathematically-related topic of the dynamics of swarms of interacting objects, which has gained the attention of a number of scientific communities. In summary, the following topics are discussed in detail:
(1) Dynamics of an individual charged particle,
(2) Dynamics of rigid clusters of charged particles,
(3) Dynamics of flowing charged particles,
(4) Dynamics of charged particle impact with electrified surfaces and
(5) An introduction to the mechanistic modeling of swarms.
The text can be viewed as a research monograph suitable for use in an upper division undergraduate or first year graduate course geared towards students in the applied sciences, mechanics and mathematics that have an interest in the analysis of particulate materials.
T. I. Zohdi is currently Professor and Vice-Chair for Instruction in
the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Chair of the Engineering Science Program at UC Berkeley.
He received his Ph.D. in 1997 in Computational and Applied Mathematics from UT Austin and his Habilitation in Mechanics from Leibniz Universitaet in Hannover, Germany in 2002.
His main research interests are in micromechanical material design, particulate flow and the mechanics of high-strength fabric, with emphasis on computational approaches for nonconvex multiscale-multiphysics inverse problems, particularly addressing the crucial issue of how large numbers of microconstituents interact to produce macroscale aggregate behavior. He has published over 85 archival refereed journal papers and four books.
In 2000, he received the Zienkiewicz Prize and Medal and in 2003,
he received the Junior Achievement Award from the American Academy of Mechanics. He is a Fellow of the United States Association for Computational Mechanics (USACM) and the International Association for Computational Mechanics (IACM), and is currently Vice-President of USACM, and will become USACM President in 2012.
