The sinking dynamics and splitting of a granular droplet

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Metzger, Jens P., McLaren, Christopher P., Pinzello, Sebastian, Conzelmann, Nicholas A., Boyce, Christopher M., Müller, Christoph R.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2021
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author Metzger, Jens P.
McLaren, Christopher P.
Pinzello, Sebastian
Conzelmann, Nicholas A.
Boyce, Christopher M.
Müller, Christoph R.
author_facet Metzger, Jens P.
McLaren, Christopher P.
Pinzello, Sebastian
Conzelmann, Nicholas A.
Boyce, Christopher M.
Müller, Christoph R.
contents Recent experimental results have shown that vibro-fluidized, binary granular materials exhibit Rayleigh-Taylor-like instabilities that manifest themselves in rising plumes, rising bubbles and the sinking and splitting of granular droplets. This work explores the physics behind the splitting of a granular droplet that is composed of smaller and denser particles in a bed of larger and lighter particles. During its sinking motion, a granular droplet undergoes a series of binary splits resembling the fragmentation of a liquid droplet falling in a miscible fluid. However, different physical mechanisms cause a granular droplet to split. By applying particle-image-velocimetry and numerical simulations, we demonstrate that the droplet of high-density particles causes the formation of an immobilized zone underneath the droplet. This zone obstructs the downwards motion of the droplet and causes the droplet to spread and ultimately to split. The resulting fragments sink at inclined trajectories around the immobilized zone until another splitting event is initiated. The occurrence of consecutive splitting events is explained by the re-formation of an immobilized zone underneath the droplet fragments. Our investigations identified three requirements for a granular droplet to split: 1) frictional inter-particle contacts, 2) a higher density of the particles composing the granular droplet compared to the bulk particles and 3) and a minimal granular droplet diameter.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2108_03106
institution arXiv
publishDate 2021
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The sinking dynamics and splitting of a granular droplet
Metzger, Jens P.
McLaren, Christopher P.
Pinzello, Sebastian
Conzelmann, Nicholas A.
Boyce, Christopher M.
Müller, Christoph R.
Soft Condensed Matter
Recent experimental results have shown that vibro-fluidized, binary granular materials exhibit Rayleigh-Taylor-like instabilities that manifest themselves in rising plumes, rising bubbles and the sinking and splitting of granular droplets. This work explores the physics behind the splitting of a granular droplet that is composed of smaller and denser particles in a bed of larger and lighter particles. During its sinking motion, a granular droplet undergoes a series of binary splits resembling the fragmentation of a liquid droplet falling in a miscible fluid. However, different physical mechanisms cause a granular droplet to split. By applying particle-image-velocimetry and numerical simulations, we demonstrate that the droplet of high-density particles causes the formation of an immobilized zone underneath the droplet. This zone obstructs the downwards motion of the droplet and causes the droplet to spread and ultimately to split. The resulting fragments sink at inclined trajectories around the immobilized zone until another splitting event is initiated. The occurrence of consecutive splitting events is explained by the re-formation of an immobilized zone underneath the droplet fragments. Our investigations identified three requirements for a granular droplet to split: 1) frictional inter-particle contacts, 2) a higher density of the particles composing the granular droplet compared to the bulk particles and 3) and a minimal granular droplet diameter.
title The sinking dynamics and splitting of a granular droplet
topic Soft Condensed Matter
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2108.03106