Coupling between static friction force and torque for a tripod

TL;DR

This study investigates how static friction force and torque interact in a tripod resting on a flat surface, revealing insights into microscopic properties at the onset of sliding through experiments and modeling.

Contribution

It provides new experimental and analytical insights into the coupling between static friction force and torque for a tripod, highlighting microscopic property information.

Findings

Coupling between force and torque affects static friction limits.

Experimental results align with analytical and numerical models.

Microscopic properties influence the static friction torque-force relationship.

Abstract

If a body is resting on a flat surface, the maximal static friction force before motion sets in is reduced if an external torque is also applied. The coupling between the static friction force and static friction torque is nontrivial as our studies for a tripod lying on horizontal flat surface show. In this article we report on a series of experiments we performed on a tripod and compare these with analytical and numerical solutions. It turns out that the coupling between force and torque reveals information about the microscopic properties at the onset to sliding.