Controlled Viscosity in Dense Granular Materials

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 reentrant transition, as a jammed system first enters...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Gnoli, A., de Arcangelis, L., Giacco, F., Lippiello, E., Ciamarra, Massimo Pica, Puglisi, A., Sarracino, A.
Other Authors: School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/89219
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/44797
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
Description
Summary: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 reentrant 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.