Collision process of a bead on a two-dimensional bead packing: Importance of the inter-granular contacts

• Published in: Europhysics letters Vol. 61; no. 2; pp. 194 - 200
• Main Authors: Rioual, F, Valance, A, Bideau, D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Les Ulis IOP Publishing 01-01-2003; EDP sciences; European Physical Society / EDP Sciences / Società Italiana di Fisica / IOP Publishing
• Subjects: Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Environmental Sciences; Exact sciences and technology; Granular solids; Material form; Physics; Rheology; Phenomenological model; Shock waves; Energy dissipation; Granular materials; Particle motion; Percolation; Modelling; Particle collision
• ISSN: 0295-5075; 1286-4854
• DOI: 10.1209/epl/i2003-00212-8

The collision of an impacting bead on a 2D bead packing is experimentally investigated. It is found that the energy dissipated in the collision is strongly dependent on the density of inter-granular contacts in the packing. We show indeed that the energy released by the packing after the impact is increased when the density of inter-grain contacts is lowered. This increase manifests itself by means of an important augmentation of the number of grains ejected from the packing. In addition, we propose a phenomenological description of the propagation of the shock wave (induced by the impacting bead) through the packing. This description is inspired from percolation models and provides a plausible explanation for the increase of the energy released by a packing with a low density of inter-grain contacts.