EVENT DETAILS AND ABSTRACT

Title: Predictive models for granular convection and pattern formation
Speaker: Professor T. Shinbrot
Speaker Info: Northwestern University
Brief Description:
Special Note:
Abstract:

Granular flow is a deceptively complex phenomenon. In this talk we focus on two intriguing aspects of granular flow: convection and pattern formation, both of which occur in beds of shaken granular materials. For convection, a stochastic model, validated by numerical simulations, is used. It is found that the vertical flow field depends on the hyperbolic cosine of the horizontal coordinate and on a mixed linear-exponential function of the vertical coordinate. Separate lattice-based and particle-dynamic simulations are included for comparison. Results are in agreement with existing experimental studies and give several specific predictions to be tested experimentally For pattern formation, we find that square and hexagonal patterns can be produced in simulations which take velocities during a shake of a container containing a shallow layer of grains to be randomly distributed. Collisions between particles, on the other hand, are taken to be inelastic, and the patterns result from the interaction between the randomizing shake and the inelastic collisions.