Issue |
EPL
Volume 102, Number 2, April 2013
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | 24004 | |
Number of page(s) | 5 | |
Section | Electromagnetism, Optics, Acoustics, Heat Transfer, Classical Mechanics, and Fluid Dynamics | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/102/24004 | |
Published online | 06 May 2013 |
Bridges in three-dimensional granular packings: Experiments and simulations
1 Physics Department, Shanghai Jiao Tong University - 800 Dongchuan Rd. Shanghai 200240, China
2 Theory Department, S N Bose National Centre - Block JD Sector III, Salt Lake, Calcutta 700098, India
3 Institute of Food Research, Norwich Research Park - Norwich NR4 7UA, UK
(a) gary.barker@ifr.ac.uk
(b) anita@bose.res.in
(c) yujiewang@sjtu.edu.cn
Received: 19 September 2012
Accepted: 5 April 2013
In this letter, we present the first experimental study of bridge structures in three-dimensional dry granular packings. When bridges are small, they are predominantly “linear”, and have an exponential size distribution. Larger, predominantly “complex” bridges, are confirmed to follow a power-law size distribution. Our experiments, which use X-ray tomography, are in good agreement with the simulations presented here, for the distribution of sizes, end-to-end lengths, base extensions and orientations of predominantly linear bridges. Quantitative differences between the present experiment and earlier simulations suggest that packing fraction is an important determinant of bridge structure.
PACS: 45.70.Cc – Static sandpiles; granular compaction / 89.75.Fb – Structures and organization in complex systems / 81.05.Rm – Porous materials; granular materials
© EPLA, 2013
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