286 research outputs found
Maximum Angle of Stability of a Wet Granular Pile
Anyone who has built a sandcastle recognizes that the addition of liquid to
granular materials increases their stability. However, measurements of this
increased stability often conflict with theory and with each other [1-7]. A
friction-based Mohr-Coulomb model has been developed [3,8]. However, it
distinguishes between granular friction and inter-particle friction, and uses
the former without providing a physical mechanism. Albert, {\em et al.} [2]
analyzed the geometric stability of grains on a pile's surface. The
frictionless model for dry particles is in excellent agreement with experiment.
But, their model for wet grains overestimates stability and predicts no
dependence on system size. Using the frictionless model and performing
stability analysis within the pile, we reproduce the dependence of the
stability angle on system size, particle size, and surface tension observed in
our experiments. Additionally, we account for past discrepancies in
experimental reports by showing that sidewalls can significantly increase the
stability of granular material.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Avalanche Dynamics in Wet Granular Materials
We have studied the dynamics of avalanching wet granular media in a rotating
drum apparatus. Quantitative measurements of the flow velocity and the granular
flux during avalanches allow us to characterize novel avalanche types unique to
wet media. We also explore the details of viscoplastic flow (observed at the
highest liquid contents) in which there are lasting contacts during flow,
leading to coherence across the entire sample. This coherence leads to a
velocity independent flow depth at high rotation rates and novel robust pattern
formation in the granular surface.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures in color, REVTeX4, for smaller pdfs see
http://angel.elte.hu/~tegzes/condmat.htm
Diffusive Spreading of Chainlike Molecules on Surfaces
We study the diffusion and submonolayer spreading of chainlike molecules on
surfaces. Using the fluctuating bond model we extract the collective and tracer
diffusion coefficients D_c and D_t with a variety of methods. We show that
D_c(theta) has unusual behavior as a function of the coverage theta. It first
increases but after a maximum goes to zero as theta go to one. We show that the
increase is due to entropic repulsion that leads to steep density profiles for
spreading droplets seen in experiments. We also develop an analytic model for
D_c(theta) which agrees well with the simulations.Comment: 3 pages, RevTeX, 4 postscript figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Letters (1996
Angle of repose and segregation in cohesive granular matter
We study the effect of fluids on the angle of repose and the segregation of
granular matter poured into a silo. The experiments are conducted in two
regimes where: (i) the volume fraction of the fluid is small and it forms
liquid bridges between particles, and (ii) the particles are completely
immersed in the fluid. The data is obtained by imaging the pile formed inside a
quasi-two dimensional silo through the transparent glass side walls. In the
first series of experiments, the angle of repose is observed to increase
sharply with the volume fraction of the fluid and then saturates at a value
that depends on the size of the particles. We systematically study the effect
of viscosity by using water-glycerol mixtures to vary it over at least three
orders of magnitude while keeping the surface tension almost constant. Besides
surface tension, the viscosity of the fluid is observed to have an effect on
the angle of repose and the extent of segregation. In case of bidisperse
particles, segregation is observed to decrease and finally saturate depending
on the size ratio of the particles and the viscosity of the fluid. The sharp
initial change and the subsequent saturation in the extent of segregation and
angle of repose occurs over similar volume fraction of the fluid. In the second
series of experiments, particles are poured into a container filled with a
fluid. Although the angle of repose is observed to be unchanged, segregation is
observed to decrease with an increase in the viscosity of the fluid.Comment: 9 pages, 12 figure
Dynamics of electrostatically-driven granular media. Effects of Humidity
We performed experimental studies of the effect of humidity on the dynamics
of electrostatically-driven granular materials. Both conducting and dielectric
particles undergo a phase transition from an immobile state (granular solid) to
a fluidized state (granular gas) with increasing applied field. Spontaneous
precipitation of solid clusters from the gas phase occurs as the external
driving is decreased. The clustering dynamics in conducting particles is
primarily controlled by screening of the electric field but is aided by
cohesion due to humidity. It is shown that humidity effects dominate the
clustering process with dielectric particles.Comment: 4 pages, 4 fig
Aging in humid granular media
Aging behavior is an important effect in the friction properties of solid
surfaces. In this paper we investigate the temporal evolution of the static
properties of a granular medium by studying the aging over time of the maximum
stability angle of submillimetric glass beads. We report the effect of several
parameters on these aging properties, such as the wear on the beads, the stress
during the resting period, and the humidity content of the atmosphere. Aging
effects in an ethanol atmosphere are also studied. These experimental results
are discussed at the end of the paper.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figure
Molecular Weight Dependence of Spreading Rates of Ultrathin Polymeric Films
We study experimentally the molecular weight dependence of spreading
rates of molecularly thin precursor films, growing at the bottom of droplets of
polymer liquids. In accord with previous observations, we find that the radial
extension R(t) of the film grows with time as R(t) = (D_{exp} t)^{1/2}. Our
data substantiate the M-dependence of D_{exp}; we show that it follows D_{exp}
\sim M^{-\gamma}, where the exponent \gamma is dependent on the chemical
composition of the solid surface, determining its frictional properties with
respect to the molecular transport. In the specific case of hydrophilic
substrates, the frictional properties can be modified by the change of the
relative humidity (RH). We find that \gamma \approx 1 at low RH and tends to
zero when RH gets progressively increased. We propose simple theoretical
arguments which explain the observed behavior in the limits of low and high RH.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, to appear in PR
Thermocapillary actuation of liquid flow on chemically patterned surfaces
We have investigated the thermocapillary flow of a Newtonian liquid on hydrophilic microstripes which are lithographically defined on a hydrophobic surface. The speed of the microstreams is studied as a function of the stripe width w, the applied thermal gradient |dT/dx| and the liquid volume V deposited on a connecting reservoir pad. Numerical solutions of the flow speed as a function of downstream position show excellent agreement with experiment. The only adjustable parameter is the inlet film height, which is controlled by the ratio of the reservoir pressure to the shear stress applied to the liquid stream. In the limiting cases where this ratio is either much smaller or much larger than unity, the rivulet speed shows a power law dependency on w, |dT/dx| and V. In this study we demonstrate that thermocapillary driven flow on chemically patterned surfaces can provide an elegant and tunable method for the transport of ultrasmall liquid volumes in emerging microfluidic technologies
Identification of baryon resonances in central heavy-ion collisions at energies between 1 and 2 AGeV
The mass distributions of baryon resonances populated in near-central
collisions of Au on Au and Ni on Ni are deduced by defolding the spectra
of charged pions by a method which does not depend on a specific resonance
shape. In addition the mass distributions of resonances are obtained from the
invariant masses of pairs. With both methods the deduced mass
distributions are shifted by an average value of -60 MeV/c relative to the
mass distribution of the free resonance, the distributions
descent almost exponentially towards mass values of 2000 MeV/c^2. The observed
differences between and pairs indicate a contribution
of isospin resonances. The attempt to consistently describe the
deduced mass distributions and the reconstructed kinetic energy spectra of the
resonances leads to new insights about the freeze out conditions, i.e. to
rather low temperatures and large expansion velocities.Comment: 30 pages, 13 figures, Latex using documentstyle[12pt,a4,epsfig], to
appear in Eur. Phys. J.
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