Turbulentlike Fluctuations in Quasistatic Flow of Granular Media
Abstract
We analyze particle velocity fluctuations in a simulated granular system subjected to homogeneous quasistatic shearing. We show that these fluctuations share the following scaling characteristics of fluid turbulence in spite of their different physical origins: (i) scale-dependent probability distribution with non-Gaussian broadening at small time scales; (ii) spatial power spectrum of the velocity field showing a power-law decay, reflecting long-range correlations and the self-affine nature of the fluctuations; and (iii) superdiffusion of particles with respect to the mean background flow.
- Publication:
-
Physical Review Letters
- Pub Date:
- July 2002
- DOI:
- 10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.064302
- arXiv:
- arXiv:cond-mat/0205618
- Bibcode:
- 2002PhRvL..89f4302R
- Keywords:
-
- 45.70.Mg;
- 47.27.-i;
- Granular flow: mixing segregation and stratification;
- Turbulent flows;
- Condensed Matter - Soft Condensed Matter;
- Condensed Matter - Materials Science
- E-Print:
- doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.064302