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Abstract
Particle rafts floating at an air-liquid interface exhibit a variety of behaviors when interfacialflow is introduced. Motivated by previous experimental observations, the failure pattern of particle
rafts under uniform radial expansion is reported in this paper. The expansion process is specifically
designed to expand the system affinely in the radial direction and to keep the velocity gradient
constant throughout. A strong resemblance to the results of particle rafts under uniform uniaxial
expansion [1] is found. The size of the cluster emerging as the rafts are pulled apart scales inversely
with the pulling velocity. This is a result of two competing velocities: the inter-particle separation
speed provided by the flow and a size-dependent relaxation speed for clustering. A model, generalized
from a one-dimensional linear (in)stability calculation, is in agreement with the failure morphology
found for this radially expanded system. Nonlinear relaxation and particle rearrangement is observed
after the initial clustering occurs. This is a feature unique to a two-dimensional system. With
its easily accessible particle dynamics at the microscopic level, this system provides insights into
the morphology controlled by two competing mechanisms in two or higher dimensions and across
different scales.