We have performed experiments of axial segregation in the Oyamas drum. We have tested binary granular mixtures during very long times. The segregation patterns have been captured by a CCD camera and spatio-temporal graphs are created. We report the occurence of instabilities which can last several hours. We stress that those instabilities originate from the competition between axial and radial segregations. We put into evidence the occurence of giant fluctuations in the fraction of grain species along the surface during the unstable periods.
Large-scale three dimensional molecular dynamics simulations of hopper flow are presented. The flow rate of the system is controlled by the width of the aperture at the bottom. As the steady-state flow rate is reduced, the force distribution $P(f)$ changes only slightly, while there is a large change in the impulse distribution $P(i)$. In both cases, the distributions show an increase in small forces or impulses as the systems approach jamming, the opposite of that seen in previous Lennard-Jones simulations. This occurs dynamically as well for a hopper that transitions from a flowing to a jammed state over time. The final jammed $P(f)$ is quite distinct from a poured packing $P(f)$ in the same geometry. The change in $P(i)$ is a much stronger indicator of the approach to jamming. The formation of a peak or plateau in $P(f)$ at the average force is not a general feature of the approach to jamming.
We experimentally investigate the fluidization of a granular material subject to mechanical vibrations by monitoring the angular velocity of a vane suspended in the medium and driven by an external motor. On increasing the frequency we observe a re-entrant transition, as a jammed system first enters a fluidized state, where the vane rotates with high constant velocity, and then returns to a frictional state, where the vane velocity is much lower. While the fluidization frequency is material independent, the viscosity recovery frequency shows a clear dependence on the material, that we rationalize by relating this frequency to the balance between dissipative and inertial forces in the system. Molecular dynamics simulations well reproduce the experimental data, confirming the suggested theoretical picture.
We have made experimental observations of the force networks within a two-dimensional granular silo similar to the classical system of Janssen. Models like that of Janssen predict that pressure within a silo saturates with depth as the result of vertical forces being redirected to the walls of the silo where they can then be carried by friction. By averaging ensembles of experimentally-obtained force networks in different ways, we compare the observed behavior with various predictions for granular silos. We identify several differences between the mean behavior in our system and that predicted by Janssen-like models: We find that the redirection parameter describing how the force network transfers vertical forces to the walls varies with depth. We find that changes in the preparation of the material can cause the pressure within the silo to either saturate or to continue building with depth. Most strikingly, we observe a non-linear response to overloads applied to the top of the material in the silo. For larger overloads we observe the previously reported giant overshoot effect where overload pressure decays only after an initial increase [G. Ovarlez et al., Phys. Rev. E 67, 060302(R) (2003)]. For smaller overloads we find that additional pressure propagates to great depth. This effect depends on the particle stiffness, as given for instance by the Youngs modulus, E, of the material from which the particles are made. Important measures include E, the unscreened hydrostatic pressure, and the applied load. These experiments suggest that when the load and the particle weight are comparable, particle elasticity acts to stabilize the force network, allowing non-linear network effects to be seen in the mean behavior.
We evaluate in this work the hydrodynamic transport coefficients of a granular binary mixture in $d$ dimensions. In order to eliminate the observed disagreement (for strong dissipation) between computer simulations and previously calculated theoretical transport coefficients for a monocomponent gas, we obtain explicit expressions of the seven Navier-Stokes transport coefficients with the use of a new Sonine approach in the Chapman-Enskog theory. Our new approach consists in replacing, where appropriate in the Chapman-Enskog procedure, the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution weight function (used in the standard first Sonine approximation) by the homogeneous cooling state distribution for each species. The rationale for doing this lies in the fact that, as it is well known, the non-Maxwellian contributions to the distribution function of the granular mixture become more important in the range of strong dissipation we are interested in. The form of the transport coefficients is quite common in both standard and modified Sonine approximations, the distinction appearing in the explicit form of the different collision frequencies associated with the transport coefficients. Additionally, we numerically solve by means of the direct simulation Monte Carlo method the inelastic Boltzmann equation to get the diffusion and the shear viscosity coefficients for two and three dimensions. As in the case of a monocomponent gas, the modified Sonine approximation improves the estimates of the standard one, showing again the reliability of this method at strong values of dissipation.
Hydrated granular packings often crack into discrete clusters of grains when dried. Despite its ubiquity, accurate prediction of cracking remains elusive. Here, we elucidate the previously overlooked role of individual grain shrinkage---a feature common to many materials---in determining crack patterning using both experiments and simulations. By extending the classical Griffith crack theory, we obtain a scaling law that quantifies how cluster size depends on the interplay between grain shrinkage, stiffness, and size---applicable to a diverse array of shrinkable, granular packings.