Granular clustering in a hydrodynamic simulation

Theory of thermostatted inhomogeneous granular fluids: A self-consistent density functional description

The authors present a study of the nonequilibrium statistical properties of a one dimensional hard-rod fluid dissipating energy via inelastic collisions and subject to the action of a Gaussian heat bath, simulating an external driving mechanism. They show that the description of the fluid based on the one-particle phase-space reduced distribution function, in principle necessary because of the presence of velocity dependent collisional dissipation, can be contracted to a simpler description in configurational space. Indeed, by means of a multiple-time-scale method the authors derive a self-consistent governing equation for the particle density distribution function. This equation is similar to the dynamic density functional equation employed in the study of colloids, but contains additional terms taking into account the inelastic nature of the fluid. Such terms cannot be derived from a Liapunov generating functional and contribute not only to the relaxational properties, but also to the nonequilibrium steady state properties. A validation of the theory against molecular dynamics simulations is presented in a series of cases, and good agreement is found.

Transient structures in a granular gas

A force-free granular gas is considered with an impact-velocity-dependent coefficient of restitution as it follows from the model of viscoelastic particles. We analyze structure formation in this system by means of three independent methods: molecular dynamics, numerical solution of the hydrodynamic equations, and linear stability analysis of these equations. All these approaches indicate that structure formation occurs in force-free granular gases only as a transient process.

Clustering in a one-dimensional inelastic lattice gas

We analyze a lattice model closely related to the one-dimensional inelastic gas with periodic boundary condition. The one-dimensional inelastic gas tends to form high density clusters of particles with almost the same velocity, separated by regions of low density; plotted as a function of particle indices, the velocities of the gas particles exhibit sharp gradients, which we call shocks. Shocks and clusters are seen to form in the lattice model too, although no true positions of the particles are taken into account. The locations of the shocks in terms of the particle index show remarkable independence on the coefficient of restitution and the sequence of collisions used to update the system, but they do depend on the initial configuration of the particle velocities. We explain the microscopic origin of the shocks. We show that dynamics of the velocity profile inside a cluster satisfies a simple continuum equation, thereby allowing us to study cluster-cluster interactions at late times.