TY - JOUR
T1 - Liquid-Gas-Like Phase Transition in Sand Flow Under Microgravity
AU - Huang, Yu
AU - Zhu, Chongqiang
AU - Xiang, Xiang
AU - Mao, Wuwei
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41072202), the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (Grant No. NCET-11-0382) and the Key Laboratory of Microgravity, Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Copyright:
© 2015, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.
PY - 2015/6/14
Y1 - 2015/6/14
N2 - In previous studies of granular flow, it has been found that gravity plays a compacting role, causing convection and stratification by density. However, there is a lack of research and analysis of the characteristics of different particles’ motion under normal gravity contrary to microgravity. In this paper, we conduct model experiments on sand flow using a model test system based on a drop tower under microgravity, within which the characteristics and development processes of granular flow under microgravity are captured by high-speed cameras. The configurations of granular flow are simulated using a modified MPS (moving particle simulation), which is a mesh-free, pure Lagrangian method. Moreover, liquid-gas-like phase transitions in the sand flow under microgravity, including the transitions to “escaped”, “jumping”, and “scattered” particles are highlighted, and their effects on the weakening of shear resistance, enhancement of fluidization, and changes in particle-wall and particle-particle contact mode are analyzed. This study could help explain the surface geology evolution of small solar bodies and elucidate the nature of granular interaction.
AB - In previous studies of granular flow, it has been found that gravity plays a compacting role, causing convection and stratification by density. However, there is a lack of research and analysis of the characteristics of different particles’ motion under normal gravity contrary to microgravity. In this paper, we conduct model experiments on sand flow using a model test system based on a drop tower under microgravity, within which the characteristics and development processes of granular flow under microgravity are captured by high-speed cameras. The configurations of granular flow are simulated using a modified MPS (moving particle simulation), which is a mesh-free, pure Lagrangian method. Moreover, liquid-gas-like phase transitions in the sand flow under microgravity, including the transitions to “escaped”, “jumping”, and “scattered” particles are highlighted, and their effects on the weakening of shear resistance, enhancement of fluidization, and changes in particle-wall and particle-particle contact mode are analyzed. This study could help explain the surface geology evolution of small solar bodies and elucidate the nature of granular interaction.
KW - Geotechnical particles
KW - Granular flow
KW - Microgravity
KW - Model test
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84938969142&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s12217-015-9424-2
DO - 10.1007/s12217-015-9424-2
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84938969142
SN - 0938-0108
VL - 27
SP - 155
EP - 170
JO - Microgravity Science and Technology
JF - Microgravity Science and Technology
IS - 3
ER -