Dresden 2017 – scientific programme
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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik
DY 54: Posters - Pattern Formation, Reaction Diffusion, Chimera
DY 54.5: Poster
Thursday, March 23, 2017, 17:00–19:30, P1A
Formation of Crack Patterns in drying Mud Layers — •Tobias-Emanuel Regenhardt1, Pawan Nandakishore1,2, and Lucas Goehring1,3 — 1Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPIDS), 37077 Göttingen, Germany — 2National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bellary Road, Bangalore 560065, Karnataka, India — 3School of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University, Clifton Lane, Nottingham, NG11 8NS, UK
Formation of crack patterns in drying or cooling layers is controlled by the cracking layer itself and external factors. The geometric structure of any underlying substrate layer can have substantial influence on the pattern evolving above. Cracking phenomena can range from the drying of mud in riverbeds to the cooling of lava resulting in crack networks kilometers across. However, the mathematics behind the modeling of these cooling or drying systems is the same, and scale-free. Inspired by graben systems found on Mercury, of which some show clear circular symmetry, the question arises whether these particular patterns evolved due to craters buried below. We used drying mud slurry to create cracking patterns on various crater shapes, scaled down to lab size. We chose craters from Mars and idealized bowl-shaped craters and collect information on the resulting crack networks. Using image analysis of photos taken from the patterns we show the connection between the orientation of the cracks, enclosed cracked regions and the length scales of the systems (layer height, crater aspect ratio). This opens opportunities in the future to study buried craters and similar structures from satellite imagery, in otherwise inaccessible locations.