Sinking dynamics and splitting of a granular droplet
OPEN ACCESS
Loading...
Author / Producer
Date
2022-01-24
Publication Type
Journal Article
ETH Bibliography
yes
Citations
Altmetric
OPEN ACCESS
Data
Rights / License
Abstract
Recent experimental results have shown that binary granular materials fluidized by combined vibration and gas flow 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 reformation of an immobilized zone underneath the droplet fragments. Our investigations identified three requirements for a granular droplet to split: (1) frictional interparticle contacts, (2) a higher density of the particles composing the granular droplet compared to the bulk particles, and (3) a minimal granular droplet diameter.
Permanent link
Publication status
published
Editor
Book title
Journal / series
Volume
7 (1)
Pages / Article No.
14309
Publisher
American Physical Society
Event
Edition / version
Methods
Software
Geographic location
Date collected
Date created
Subject
Organisational unit
03865 - Müller, Christoph R. / Müller, Christoph R.
Notes
Funding
182692 - Understanding multi-phase particulate systems: from (reactive) gas-fluidized beds to dense suspensions via advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and Lagrangian modeling (SNF)