Related papers: Extraterrestrial sink dynamics in granular matter
Granular materials -- aggregates of many discrete, disconnected solid particles -- are ubiquitous in natural and industrial settings. Predictive models for their behavior have wide ranging applications, e.g. in defense, mining,…
Proximity sensing detects an object's presence without contact. However, research has rarely explored proximity sensing in granular materials (GM) due to GM's lack of visual and complex properties. In this paper, we propose a…
Transporting solids of different sizes is an essential process in the evolution of protoplanetary disks and planet formation. Large solids are supposed to drift inward; high-temperature minerals found in comets are assumed to have been…
The mechanical response of a wet granular layer to imposed shear is studied experimentally at low applied normal stress. The granular material is immersed in water and the shear is applied by sliding a plate resting on the upper surface of…
Using numerical hydrodynamics simulations we studied the gravitational collapse of pre-stellar cores of sub-solar mass embedded into a low-density external environment. Four models with different magnitude and direction of rotation of the…
The way granular materials response to an applied shear stress is of the utmost relevance to both human activities and natural environment. One of the their most intriguing and less understood behavior, is the stick-instability, whose most…
Microgravity experiments on board the International Space Station, combined with particle-resolved direct numerical simulations, were conducted to investigate the long-term flocculation behavior of clay suspensions in saline water in the…
We develop an analytical model for the accretion and gravitational drag on a point mass that moves hypersonically in the midplane of a gaseous disk with a Gaussian vertical density stratification. Such a model is of interest for studying…
The gravitational influence of a planet on a nearby disk provides a powerful tool for detecting and studying extrasolar planetary systems. Here we demonstrate that gaps can be opened in dynamically cold debris disks at the mean-motion…
We study the compaction and mobility properties of a dense granular material under weak random vibration. By putting in direct contact millimetric glass beads with piezoelectric transducers we manage to inject energy to the system in a…
This article focuses on liquefaction of saturated granular soils, triggered by earthquakes. Liquefaction is definedhere as the transition from a rigid state, in which the granular soil layer supports structures placed on its surface, toa…
With laboratory experiments we investigate the ejecta of low-velocity (~m/s) impacts into multi-scale granular media and compare them against ejecta from impacts into mono-scale media. Impacts are into a 50 cm diameter galvanized washtub…
Understanding the penetration dynamics of intruders in granular beds is relevant not only for fundamental Physics, but also for geophysical processes and construction on sediments or granular soils in areas potentially affected by…
We study fluctuations in the drag force experienced by an object moving through a granular medium. The successive formation and collapse of jammed states give a stick-slip nature to the fluctuations which are periodic at small depths but…
The dusty regolith covering the surfaces of asteroids and planetary satellites differs in size, shape, and composition from terrestrial soil particles and is subject to very different environmental conditions. Experimental studies of the…
In this paper we use a Soft-Sphere Discrete Element method code to simulate the transmission and study the attenuation of a seismic wave. Then, we apply our findings to the different space missions that have had to touch the surface of…
Analyses of impact provide rich insights from the evolution of granular bodies to their structural properties of the surface and subsurface layers of celestial bodies. Although chemical cohesive bonding has been observed in asteroid…
Several physical mechanisms are involved in excavating granular materials beneath a vertical jet of gas. These occur, for example, beneath the exhaust plume of a rocket landing on the soil of the Moon or Mars. A series of experiments and…
Flowing granular materials often abruptly arrest if not driven by sufficient applied stresses. Such abrupt cessation of motion can be economically expensive in industrial materials handling and processing, and is significantly consequential…
Small scale jet-induced erosion experiments are useful for identifying the scaling of erosion with respect to the various physical parameters (gravity, grain size, gas velocity, gas density, grain density, etc.), and because they provide a…