Ratchet rotation of a 3D dimer on a vibrating plate.

This work studies the dynamics of a 3D dimer bouncing upon a horizontal plate undergoing a vertical harmonic vibration. Despite complex interactions within the system due to impacts and friction, numerical simulation shows that, under certain conditions prescribed for the dynamics, the center of mass of the dimer, when projected onto a horizontal plane, will follow a circular orbit. The phenomenon is like a particle under Coulomb friction performing a ratchet motion that rotates around. Investigations further reveal that the dimer dynamics bear some typical characteristics of a nonlinear system, including sensitivity to the initial conditions and bifurcation behaviors related to the physical parameters of the dynamics. Our results indicate that the coefficient of restitution and the plate's vibration intensity play critical roles in exciting the circular orbit, while the dimer's geometry and the vibration frequency mainly influence the trajectory characteristics. These findings may help understand transport mechanisms underlying systems of granular matter with anisotropic particles.