10,353 research outputs found
Computer Simulation of Particle Suspensions
Particle suspensions are ubiquitous in our daily life, but are not well
understood due to their complexity. During the last twenty years, various
simulation methods have been developed in order to model these systems. Due to
varying properties of the solved particles and the solvents, one has to choose
the simulation method properly in order to use the available compute resources
most effectively with resolving the system as well as needed. Various
techniques for the simulation of particle suspensions have been implemented at
the Institute for Computational Physics allowing us to study the properties of
clay-like systems, where Brownian motion is important, more macroscopic
particles like glass spheres or fibers solved in liquids, or even the pneumatic
transport of powders in pipes. In this paper we will present the various
methods we applied and developed and discuss their individual advantages.Comment: 31 pages, 11 figures, to appear in Lecture Notes in Applied and
Computational Mechanics, Springer (2006
Segregation of an intruder in a heated granular dense gas
A recent segregation criterion [V. Garz\'o, Phys. Rev. E \textbf{78},
020301(R) (2008)] based on the thermal diffusion factor of an
intruder in a heated granular gas described by the inelastic Enskog equation is
revisited. The sign of provides a criterion for the transition
between the Brazil-nut effect (BNE) and the reverse Brazil-nut effect (RBNE).
The present theory incorporates two extra ingredients not accounted for by the
previous theoretical attempt. First, the theory is based upon the second Sonine
approximation to the transport coefficients of the mass flux of intruder.
Second, the dependence of the temperature ratio (intruder temperature over that
of the host granular gas) on the solid volume fraction is taken into account in
the first and second Sonine approximations. In order to check the accuracy of
the Sonine approximation considered, the Enskog equation is also numerically
solved by means of the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method to get the
kinetic diffusion coefficient . The comparison between theory and
simulation shows that the second Sonine approximation to yields an
improvement over the first Sonine approximation when the intruder is lighter
than the gas particles in the range of large inelasticity. With respect to the
form of the phase diagrams for the BNE/RBNE transition, the kinetic theory
results for the factor indicate that while the form of these diagrams
depends sensitively on the order of the Sonine approximation considered when
gravity is absent, no significant differences between both Sonine solutions
appear in the opposite limit (gravity dominates the thermal gradient). In the
former case (no gravity), the first Sonine approximation overestimates both the
RBNE region and the influence of dissipation on thermal diffusion segregation.Comment: 9 figures; to be published in Phys. Rev.
Granular Packings: Nonlinear elasticity, sound propagation and collective relaxation dynamics
Experiments on isotropic compression of a granular assembly of spheres show
that the shear and bulk moduli vary with the confining pressure faster than the
1/3 power law predicted by Hertz-Mindlin effective medium theories (EMT) of
contact elasticity. Moreover, the ratio between the moduli is found to be
larger than the prediction of the elastic theory by a constant value. The
understanding of these discrepancies has been a longstanding question in the
field of granular matter. Here we perform a test of the applicability of
elasticity theory to granular materials. We perform sound propagation
experiments, numerical simulations and theoretical studies to understand the
elastic response of a deforming granular assembly of soft spheres under
isotropic loading. Our results for the behavior of the elastic moduli of the
system agree very well with experiments. We show that the elasticity partially
describes the experimental and numerical results for a system under
compressional loads. However, it drastically fails for systems under shear
perturbations, particularly for packings without tangential forces and
friction. Our work indicates that a correct treatment should include not only
the purely elastic response but also collective relaxation mechanisms related
to structural disorder and nonaffine motion of grains.Comment: 21 pages, 13 figure
On the evolution of elastic properties during laboratory stick-slip experiments spanning the transition from slow slip to dynamic rupture
The physical mechanisms governing slow earthquakes remain unknown, as does the
relationship between slow and regular earthquakes. To investigate the mechanism(s) of slow earthquakes
and related quasi-dynamic modes of fault slip we performed laboratory experiments on simulated fault
gouge in the double direct shear configuration. We reproduced the full spectrum of slip behavior, from slow
to fast stick slip, by altering the elastic stiffness of the loading apparatus (k) to match the critical rheologic
stiffness of fault gouge (kc). Our experiments show an evolution from stable sliding, when k>kc, to
quasi-dynamic transients when k ~ kc, to dynamic instabilities when k<kc. To evaluate the microphysical
processes of fault weakening we monitored variations of elastic properties. We find systematic changes in P
wave velocity (Vp) for laboratory seismic cycles. During the coseismic stress drop, seismic velocity drops
abruptly, consistent with observations on natural faults. In the preparatory phase preceding failure, we find
that accelerated fault creep causes a Vp reduction for the complete spectrum of slip behaviors. Our results
suggest that the mechanics of slow and fast ruptures share key features and that they can occur on same
faults, depending on frictional properties. In agreement with seismic surveys on tectonic faults our data show
that their state of stress can be monitored by Vp changes during the seismic cycle. The observed reduction in
Vp during the earthquake preparatory phase suggests that if similar mechanisms are confirmed in nature
high-resolution monitoring of fault zone properties may be a promising avenue for reliable detection of
earthquake precursors
Diffusive transport of light in a two-dimensional disordered packing of disks: Analytical approach to transport-mean-free path
We study photon diffusion in a two-dimensional random packing of monodisperse
disks as a simple model of granular media and wet foams. We assume that the
intensity reflectance of disks is a constant. We present an analytic expression
for the transport-mean-free path in terms of the velocity of light in the disks
and host medium, radius and packing fraction of the disks, and the intensity
reflectance. For the glass beads immersed in the air or water, we estimate
transport-mean-free paths about half the experimental ones. For the air bubbles
immersed in the water, transport-mean-free paths is an inverse function of
liquid volume fraction of the model wet foam. This throws new light on the
empirical law of Vera et. al, and promotes more realistic models.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure
Criticality of the "critical state" of granular media: Dilatancy angle in the tetris model
The dilatancy angle describes the propensity of a granular medium to dilate
under an applied shear. Using a simple spin model (the ``tetris'' model) which
accounts for geometrical ``frustration'' effects, we study such a dilatancy
angle as a function of density. An exact mapping can be drawn with a directed
percolation process which proves that there exists a critical density
above which the system expands and below which it contracts under shear. When
applied to packings constructed by a random deposition under gravity, the
dilatancy angle is shown to be strongly anisotropic, and it constitutes an
efficient tool to characterize the texture of the medium.Comment: 7 pages RevTex, 8eps figure, to appear in Phys. Rev.
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