I am associate professor at the Department of Mechanics Materials and Structures,
Budapest University of Technology
and Economics.
email: vpeter at mit.bme.hu
My research areass include structural mechanics, dynamics, nonlinear phenomena, as well
as various biological, and geological applications of mechanics
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Force
and form Elective
course |
Contact dynamics: reality, models, paradoxes Elective
course |
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Ongoing research projects
I am involved in:
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Structural form finding We examine the connection between structural geometry
and behavior, with focus on moment-free structures Collaborators: Mehmet Köhserli |
Roof of the
Great Court of British Museum |
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Nonlinear
mechanics of soft strurctures We investigate the behavior of soft fibers subject to
large deformations with focus on instability and applications in biology
(root growth). Collaborators: András A. Sipos |
Experimental
investigation of the instability of a slipping fiber |
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Rigid
body dynamics in the presence of contacts. (OTKA 104501, NKFIH 124002)
Collaborators: Alan R.
Champneys, Arne Nordmark, Yizhar Or,
Tamás Baranyai, Tamás Ther What is Painlevé’s paradox? (in Hungarian) A
journal publication on Painlevé’s
paradox and its full
text. |
Photo
of experimental setup demonstrating that seemingly stable frictional equilibria
may lack Lyapunov stability.
Internal
dynamics of a slipping point contact in the presence of Painlevé’s
paradox |
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Ulam’s floating body problem ‘Are there solids
of density r
other than the sphere that can float in any orientation (without turning)?’ – this problem
was coined by Stanislav Ulam in the 1930s and
recorded as problem 19 in the Scottish Book. Despite recent results
pointing towards an affirmative answer, a full proof of their existence has
not been given. I gave a constructive proof of their existence for density ˝
(PL Varkonyi, Stud. Appl. Math, to appear in 2013). Related questions about
planar bodies (i.e. long logs with uniform cross-section) are also being
examined (PL Varkonyi, Stud. Appl. Math, 2008) |
A
nontrivial neutrally floating solid of density 1/2. All examples I have found
have rotational symmetry |
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Geometry, shape
dynamics, and classification of particles subject to abrasive processes (OTKA Grants 72146, 104601) We analyze the geometrical properties of particles (pebbles, sand, asteroids) in abrasive processes. Our goal is to understand their shape evolution as well as to work out statistical methods that provide information on the geological history of a particle set based on its geometrical properties Collaborators:
MTA-BME Morphodynamics
Research Group,
Julie E.
Laity |
Wind-worn
rock (ventifact) with sharp edges, and flat faces. Photo: Matthias Bräunlich,
Hamburg (www.kristallin.de) |
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The role of mechanical
interactions in generating collective motion (part of OTKA 72368 ) Groups of fish, birds,
bacteria, and other moving creatures often show organized patterns, which are
generated by simple interactions of individuals. The design of similar
artificial systems is also a fast developing area of robotics. My goal is to
understand, how collisions, contact, and collision avoidance strategies
contribute to collective motion, and to learn about the propagation of
information about motion preferences via mechanical interactions. Collaborators: Research
group of Tamás Vicsek |
Simulation
of self-propelled rigid objects subject to
attraction, and hard, inelastic collisions. Click
to plot to view video (9 MB, H.264 compression) |
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Objects that never
capsize: mechanical and geometrical aspects of spontaneous self-righting If dropped onto a
plane, most objects stop in one of several stable equilibrium positions.
Alternatively they may not stop at all, if the plane is not horizontal. Our
goal is to design, and analyze self-righting objects that do stabilize in a
unique position regardless of the initial conditions. The existence of such
shapes not only represents intriguing mathematical questions, but it has a
wide field of application from biomorphology to
robotics. Collaborators: Gábor Domokos, Roger W.
Benson |
An
object that does capsize: Benő the turtle |
