Cluster formation in a granular medium fluidized by vibrations in low gravity

Éric Falcon¹, Régis Wunenburger², Pierre Evesque³, Stéphan Fauve¹,

Carole Chabot², Yves Garrabos² & Daniel Beysens⁴

¹ L.P.S., École Normale Supérieure, 24 rue Lhomond, 75005 Paris, France.

² ICMCB, Chateau Brivazac, av. du Dr. A. Schweitzer, 33 608 Pessac Cedex, France.

³ LMS2M, École Centrale Paris, 92 295 Chatenay-Malabry Cedex.

⁴ DRFMC, Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique Grenoble, 38 054 Grenoble Cedex 9, France.

Reference:

Physical Review Letters, 83, 440-443 (1999).

Abstract:

We report an experimental study of a "gas" of inelastically colliding particles, excited by vibrations in low gravity. In the case of a dilute granular medium, we observe a spatially homogeneous gas-like regime, the pressure of which scales like the 3/2 power of the vibration velocity. When the density of the medium is increased, the spatially homogeneous fluidized state is no longer stable but displays the formation of a motionless dense cluster surrounded by low particle density regions.