A quasi-elastic regime for vibrated granular gases

Using simple scaling arguments and two-dimensional numerical simulations of a granular gas excited by vibrating one of the container boundaries, we study a double limit of small $1-r$ and large $L$, where $r$ is the restitution coefficient and $L$ the size of the container. We show that if the particle density $n_0$ and $(1-r^2)(n_0 Ld)$ where $d$ is the particle diameter, are kept constant and small enough, the granular temperature, i.e. the mean value of the kinetic energy per particle, $/N$, tends to a constant whereas the mean dissipated power per particle, $/N$, decreases like $1/\sqrt{N}$ when $N$ increases, provided that $(1-r^2)(n_0 Ld)^2 < 1$. The relative fluctuations of $E$, $D$ and the power injected by the moving boundary, $I$, have simple properties in that regime. In addition, the granular temperature can be determined from the fluctuations of the power $I(t)$ injected by the moving boundary.

Clustering of floaters on the free surface of a turbulent flow: an experimental study

We present an experimental study of the statistical properties of millimeter-size spheres floating on the surface of a turbulent flow. The flow is generated in a layer of liquid metal by an electromagnetic forcing. By using two magnet arrays, we are able to create one highly fluctuating flow and another, more stationary flow. In both cases, we follow the motion of hundreds of particles floating at the deformed interface of the liquid metal. We evidence the clustering of floaters by a statistical study of the local concentration of particles. Some dynamical properties of clusters are exposed. We perform spatial correlations between particle concentration and hydrodynamical quantities linked with inertial effects; with vortical motion, and with horizontal divergence (corresponding to compressibility in the surface). From comparing these correlations, we propose the so-called surface compressibility as the main clustering mechanism in our system. Hence, although floaters are not passive scalar and move on a deformed surface, the scenario is similar to the one reported for passive scalar on an almost flat free surface of a turbulent flow.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures. Accepted to publication in European Journal of Mechanics B/Fluid

Injected Power Fluctuations in 1D Dissipative Systems

Using fermionic techniques, we compute exactly the large deviation function (ldf) of the time-integrated injected power in several one-dimensional dissipative systems of classical spins. The dynamics are T=0 Glauber dynamics supplemented by an injection mechanism, which is taken as a Poissonian flipping of one particular spin. We discuss the physical content of the results, specifically the influence of the rate of the Poisson process on the properties of the ldf.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figure

Intermittency as a consequence of a stationarity constraint on the energy flux

In his seminal work on turbulence, Kolmogorov made use of the stationary hypothesis to determine the Power Density Spectrum of the velocity field in turbulent flows. However to our knowledge, the constraints that stationary processes impose on the fluctuations of the energy flux have never been used in the context of turbulence. Here we recall that the Power Density Spectra of the fluctuations of the injected power, the dissipated power and the energy flux have to converge to a common value at vanishing frequency. Hence, we show that the intermittent GOY--shell model fulfills these constraints. We argue that they can be related to intermittency. Indeed, we find that the constraint on the fluctuations of the energy flux implies a relation between the scaling exponents that characterize intermittency, which is verified by the GOY--shell model and in agreement with the She-Leveque formula. It also fixes the intermittency parameter of the log-normal model at a realistic value. The relevance of these results for real turbulence is drawn in the concluding remarks.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, 23 reference

Energy fluctuations in vibrated and driven granular gases

We investigate the behavior of energy fluctuations in several models of granular gases maintained in a non-equilibrium steady state. In the case of a gas heated from a boundary, the inhomogeneities of the system play a predominant role. Interpreting the total kinetic energy as a sum of independent but not identically distributed random variables, it is possible to compute the probability density function (pdf) of the total energy. Neglecting correlations and using the analytical expression for the inhomogeneous temperature profile obtained from the granular hydrodynamic equations, we recover results which have been previously observed numerically and which had been attributed to the presence of correlations. In order to separate the effects of spatial inhomogeneities from those ascribable to velocity correlations, we have also considered two models of homogeneously thermostated gases: in this framework it is possible to reveal the presence of non-trivial effects due to velocity correlations between particles. Such correlations stem from the inelasticity of collisions. Moreover, the observation that the pdf of the total energy tends to a Gaussian in the large system limit, suggests that they are also due to the finite size of the system.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figure

Low frequency spectra of bending wave turbulence

We study experimentally the dynamics of long waves among turbulent bending waves in a thin elastic plate set into vibration by a monochromatic forcing at a frequency $f_0$. This frequency is chosen large compared with the characteristic frequencies of bending waves. As a consequence, a range of conservative scales, without energy flux in average, exists for frequencies $f<f_0$. Within this range, we report a flat power density spectrum for the orthogonal velocity, corresponding to energy equipartition between modes. Thus, the average energy per mode $\beta^{-1}$ -- analogous to a temperature -- fully characterizes the large-scale turbulent wave field. We present an expression for $\beta$ as a function of the forcing frequency and amplitude, and of the plate characteristics

Effects of the low frequencies of noise on On-Off intermittency

A bifurcating system subject to multiplicative noise can exhibit on-off intermittency close to the instability threshold. For a canonical system, we discuss the dependence of this intermittency on the Power Spectrum Density (PSD) of the noise. Our study is based on the calculation of the Probability Density Function (PDF) of the unstable variable. We derive analytical results for some particular types of noises and interpret them in the framework of on-off intermittency. Besides, we perform a cumulant expansion for a random noise with arbitrary power spectrum density and show that the intermittent regime is controlled by the ratio between the departure from the threshold and the value of the PSD of the noise at zero frequency. Our results are in agreement with numerical simulations performed with two types of random perturbations: colored Gaussian noise and deterministic fluctuations of a chaotic variable. Extensions of this study to another, more complex, system are presented and the underlying mechanisms are discussed.Comment: 13pages, 13 figure

Observation of resonant interactions among surface gravity waves

We experimentally study resonant interactions of oblique surface gravity waves in a large basin. Our results strongly extend previous experimental results performed mainly for perpendicular or collinear wave trains. We generate two oblique waves crossing at an acute angle, while we control their frequency ratio, steepnesses and directions. These mother waves mutually interact and give birth to a resonant wave whose properties (growth rate, resonant response curve and phase locking) are fully characterized. All our experimental results are found in good quantitative agreement with four-wave interaction theory with no fitting parameter. Off-resonance experiments are also reported and the relevant theoretical analysis is conducted and validated.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figure

Critical exponents in zero dimensions

In the vicinity of the onset of an instability, we investigate the effect of colored multiplicative noise on the scaling of the moments of the unstable mode amplitude. We introduce a family of zero dimensional models for which we can calculate the exact value of the critical exponents $\beta_m$ for all the moments. The results are obtained through asymptotic expansions that use the distance to onset as a small parameter. The examined family displays a variety of behaviors of the critical exponents that includes anomalous exponents: exponents that differ from the deterministic (mean-field) prediction, and multiscaling: non-linear dependence of the exponents on the order of the moment