Oscillating Granular Layers Produce Stripes, Squares, Hexagons…
OCT 01, 1995
Experiments with vertically oscillating thin layers of granular particles show robust pattern formation. Studying the pattern dynamics may yield insight into basic mechanisms of granular flow and connect these patterns to those found in other dissipative systems.
DOI: 10.1063/1.2808198
Take a bunch of granular particles, put them in a container on a rigid platform and shake the system vertically. You might find heaping, convective rolls, size segregation or traveling waves. Recent experiments with several layers of particles have produced, at a critical acceleration, a sharp transition from a flat surface to standing‐wave patterns oscillating at either one‐half or one‐quarter the excitation frequency.
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© 1995 American Institute of Physics
