Dilute wet granular particles: Nonequilibrium dynamics and structure formation

Stephan Ulrich, Timo Aspelmeier, Annette Zippelius, Klaus Roeller, Axel Fingerle, and Stephan Herminghaus
Phys. Rev. E 80, 031306 – Published 24 September 2009

Abstract

We investigate a gas of wet granular particles covered by a thin liquid film. The dynamic evolution is governed by two-particle interactions, which are mainly due to interfacial forces in contrast to dry granular gases. When two wet grains collide, a capillary bridge is formed and stays intact up to a certain distance of withdrawal when the bridge ruptures, dissipating a fixed amount of energy. A freely cooling system is shown to undergo a nonequilibrium dynamic phase transition from a state with mainly single particles and fast cooling to a state with growing aggregates such that bridge rupture becomes a rare event and cooling is slow. In the early stage of cluster growth, aggregation is a self-similar process with a fractal dimension of the aggregates approximately equal to Df2. At later times, a percolating cluster is observed which ultimately absorbs all the particles. The final cluster is compact on large length scales, but fractal with Df2 on small length scales.

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  • Received 12 June 2009

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.80.031306

©2009 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Stephan Ulrich1,*, Timo Aspelmeier2, Annette Zippelius1,2, Klaus Roeller2, Axel Fingerle2, and Stephan Herminghaus2

  • 1Institute of Theoretical Physics, Universität Göttingen, 37077 Göttingen,Germany
  • 2Department of Dynamics of Complex Fluids, Max-Planck-Institut für Dynamik und Selbstorganisation, 37073 Göttingen, Germany

  • *ulrich@theorie.physik.uni-goettingen.de

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Vol. 80, Iss. 3 — September 2009

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