Nonlinear hydrodynamical approach to granular materials

Enstrophy cascades in two-dimensional dense granular flows

Employing two-dimensional molecular dynamics simulations of dense granular materials under simple shear deformations, we investigate vortex structures of particle rearrangements. Introducing vorticity fields as a measure of local spinning motions of the particles, we observe their heterogeneous distributions, where statistics of vorticity fields exhibit the highly non-Gaussian behavior and typical domain sizes of vorticity fields significantly increase if the system is yielding under quasistatic deformations. In such dense granular flows, a power-law decay of vorticity spectra can be observed at mesoscopic scale, implying anomalous local structures of kinetic energy dissipation. We explain the power-law decay, or enstrophy cascades in dense granular materials, by a dimensional analysis, where the dependence of vorticity spectra not only on the wave number, but also on the shear rate, is well explained. From our dimensional analyses, the scaling of granular temperature and rotational kinetic energy is also predicted.

Anomalous energy cascades in dense granular materials yielding under simple shear deformations

By using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of dense granular particles in two dimensions, we study turbulent-like structures of their non-affine velocities under simple shear deformations. We find that the spectrum of non-affine velocities, introduced as an analog of the energy spectrum for turbulent flows, exhibits the power-law decay if the system is yielding in a quasi-static regime, where large-scale collective motions and inelastic interactions of granular particles are crucial for the anomalous cascade of kinetic energy. Based on hydrodynamic equations of dense granular materials, which include both kinetic and contact contributions in constitutive relations, we derive a theoretical expression for the spectrum, where a good agreement between the result of MD simulations and theoretical prediction is established over a wide range of length scales.

Hydrodynamic instabilities in shear flows of dry cohesive granular particles

We extend the dynamic van der Waals model introduced by A. Onuki [Phys. Rev. Lett., 2005, 94, 054501] to the description of cohesive granular flows under a plane shear to study their hydrodynamic instabilities. By numerically solving the dynamic van der Waals model, we observed various heterogeneous structures of density fields in steady states, where the viscous heating is balanced with the energy dissipation caused by inelastic collisions. Based on the linear stability analysis, we found that the spatial structures are determined by the mean volume fraction, the applied shear rate, and the inelasticity, where the instability is triggered if the system is thermodynamically unstable, i.e. the pressure, p, and the volume fraction, ϕ, satisfy ∂p/∂ϕ < 0.

A Perturbation Method for the Ornstein−Zernike Equation and the Generic van der Waals Equation of State for a Square Well Potential Model

We calculate the generic van der Waals parameters A and B for a square well model by means of a perturbation theory. To calculate the pair distribution function or the cavity function necessary for the calculation of A and B, we have used the Percus-Yevick integral equation, which is put into an equivalent form by means of the Wiener-Hopf method. This latter method produces a pair of integral equations, which are solved by a perturbation method treating the Mayer function or the well width or the functions in the square well region exterior to the hard core as the perturbation. In the end, the Mayer function times the well width is identified as the perturbation parameter in the present method. In this sense, the present perturbation method is distinct from the existing thermodynamic perturbation theory, which expands the Helmholtz free energy in a perturbation series with the inverse temperature treated as an expansion parameter. The generic van der Waals parameters are explicitly calculated in analytic form as functions of reduced temperature and density. The van der Waals parameters are recovered from them in the limits of vanishing density and high temperature. The equation of state thus obtained is tested against Monte Carlo simulation results and found reliable, provided that the temperature is in the supercritical regime. By scaling the packing fraction with a temperature-dependent hard core, it is suggested to construct an equation of state for fluids with a temperature-dependent hard core that mimicks a soft core repulsive force on the basis of the equation of state derived for the square well model.

Theoretical and computational investigations on thermodynamic properties, effective site diameters, and molecular free volume of carbon disulfide fluid

A newly proposed theory [R. Laghaei et al., J. Chem. Phys. 124, 154502 (2006)] was extended to polyatomics and applied to compute the density and temperature dependence of the effective site diameters of carbon disulfide fluids. The generic van der Waals (GvdW) theory was also extended to polyatomics in order to calculate the GvdW parameters and the molecular free volume using the effective site diameters as the repulsion-attraction separation distance. A three-site Lennard-Jones potential available in the literature was slightly modified and used in Monte Carlo simulations to obtain the functions appearing in the effective site diameter and GvdW expressions. The interaction potential was examined to reproduce the fluid phase thermodynamic properties using Gibbs ensemble Monte Carlo simulations and also the equation of state in the liquid phase using NVT Monte Carlo (NVT-MC) simulations. Comparison between the simulation results and experimental data shows excellent agreement for the densities of the coexisting phases, the vapor pressure, properties of the predicted critical point, and the equation of state. NVT-MC simulations were performed over a wide range of densities and temperatures in sub- and supercritical regions to compute the effective site diameters, the GvdW parameters, and the molecular free volume. The molecular structure in terms of the site-site pair correlation functions, the density dependence of the effective site diameters, and the density and temperature dependence of the GvdW parameters and molecular free volume were studied and discussed. The GvdW parameters were fitted to empirical expressions as a function of density and temperature. The computed molecular free volume will be used in future investigations to study the transport properties of carbon disulfide.

Computational studies on thermodynamic properties, effective diameters, and free volume of argon using anab initiopotential

A quantum mechanical derived ab initio interaction potential for the argon dimer was tested in molecular simulations to reproduce the thermophysical properties of the vapor-liquid phase equilibria using the Gibbs ensemble Monte Carlo simulations as well as the liquid and supercritical equation of state using the NVT Monte Carlo simulations. The ab initio interaction potential was taken from the literature. A recently developed theory [R. Laghaei et al., J. Chem. Phys. 124, 154502 (2006)] was used to compute the effective diameters of argon in fluid phases and the results were subsequently applied in the generic van der Waals theory to compute the free volume of argon. The calculated densities of the coexisting phases, the vapor pressure, and the equation of state show excellent agreement with experimental values. The effective diameters and free volumes of argon are given over a wide range of densities and temperatures. An empirical formula was used to fit the effective diameters as a function of density and temperature. The computed free volume will be used in future investigations to calculate the transport properties of argon.

Excluded volume in the generic van der Waals equation of state and the self-diffusion coefficient of the Lennard-Jones fluid

In the previous papers applying the generic van der Waals equation of state the mean excluded volume was defined with the contact diameter of particles at which the potential energy is equal to zero-the size parameter in the case of the Lennard-Jones potential. This parameter appears as the upper limit of the integral for the generic van der Waals parameter B (mean excluded volume divided by the density) in the generic van der Waals equation of state. Since the choice is not unique, in this paper we reexamine the manner of defining the upper limit and propose another choice for the upper limit. We also propose an interpretation of the free volume overlap factor alpha appearing in the free volume theory of diffusion and a method of estimating it in terms of the intermolecular potential energy only. It is shown that with the so-estimated free volume overlap factor and the new choice of the upper limit of the integral for B the self-diffusion coefficient in the modified free volume theory of diffusion not only acquires a better accuracy than before, but also becomes calculable in terms of only the intermolecular interaction potential without an adjustable parameter. We also assess some of effective diameters of molecules proposed in the literature for their ability to predict the self-diffusion coefficient within the framework of the modified free volume theory of diffusion.

Granular clustering in a hydrodynamic simulation

We examine the hydrodynamics of a granular gas using numerical simulation. We demonstrate the appearance of shearing and clustering instabilities predicted by linear stability analysis, and show that their appearance is directly related to the inelasticity of collisions in the material. We discuss the rate at which these instabilities arise and the manner in which clusters grow and merge.