Cutting and Shuffling: A New Dynamical Systems Paradigm for Mixing

Project: Research project

Project Details

Description

Overview: Page A "Cutting and shuffling," much like what takes place in shuffling a deck of cards or mixing the colors on a Rubik’s cube, is a means of mixing. However, the fundamental properties of mixing by cutting and shuffling, which can be described in the formalism of a new mathematics called Piecewise Isometries, remains unexplored. The key problem is to connect the formalism of Piecewise Isometries with a dynamical systems approach and thereby to develop a framework that extends from one- and two-dimensional "toy" systems to fully three-dimensional systems relevant to practical industrial problems. The focus of the proposed work is a dynamical systems approach to cutting and shuffling using the mixing of granular material in a three-dimensional tumbler as a model system. Not only does the mixing of granular materials offer a practical industrially-relevant application of the approach, but it also provides a three-dimensional physical system in which the concepts of cutting and shuffling can be experimentally tested. The 125th anniversary issue of Science identified the flow of granular materials as one of the 125 big questions in science. Although granular flows are important in many disciplines ranging from geophysics to industrial processing (powders, pharmaceuticals, grains, ores, foodstuffs, etc.), the emphasis here is on granular systems as a physically relevant model system in which to explore dynamical systems approaches for 2D and 3D cutting and shuffling as a mixing mechanism. for 2D and 3D cutting and shuffling as a mixing mechanism. The proposed research is an integrated effort to develop new theory inspired by abstract mathematical concepts that is confirmed and validated by computational and experimental results. The theoretical work will focus on the application of Piecewise Isometries in three dimensions and its connection to dynamical systems approaches such as Poincare sections as well as its practical implications with respect to cutting and shuffling as a paradigm for mixing. The approach is based on the geometry and symmetries of 3D mixing by cutting and shuffling, but is aimed at integrating the abstract mathematics of Piecewise Isometries into the dynamical systems toolkit while accounting for non-ideal complications such as diffusion. Complementary experiments and simulations will be used to confirm the applicability of the theoretical approaches to a model physical system for mixing granular materials. The ultimate objective of this research is to develop and utilize new mathematical tools in a dynamical systems framework to predict mixing by cutting and shuffling in 2D and 3D geometries with eventual applications to practical mixing systems. Intellectual Merit : The merging of abstract new mathematics and physical applications could result in an entirely new paradigm for mixing. This research is at the intersection of three fields: 1) the new mathematics of Piecewise Isometries (cutting and shuffling itself), 2) dynamical systems approaches and tools as applied to cutting and shuffling, and 3) the implications of cutting and shuffling as a mixing process. It is at intersections like this that transformational research occurs. Broader Impacts : First, there is a link between fundamental research and practical applications. Results in pure mathematics often find surprising applications but require the marriage of two components: a physical picture and the mathematics to support the picture. The new mathematical approaches considered here have potential for broad
StatusFinished
Effective start/end date9/1/148/31/18

Funding

  • National Science Foundation (CMMI-1435065)

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