Sound wave propagation in weakly polydisperse granular materials.
Dynamic simulations of wave propagation are performed in dense granular media with a narrow polydisperse size-distribution and a linear contact-force law. A small perturbation is created on one side of a static packing and its propagation, for both P- and S-waves, is examined. A size variation comparable to the typical contact deformation already changes sound propagation considerably. The transmission spectrum becomes discontinuous, i.e., a lower frequency band is transmitted well, while higher frequencies are not, possibly due to attenuation and scattering. This behaviour is qualitatively reproduced for (i) Hertz non-linear contacts, for (ii) frictional contacts, (iii) for a range of smaller amplitudes, or (iv) for larger systems. This proves that the observed wave propagation and dispersion behaviour is intrinsic and not just an artifact of (i) a linear model, (ii) a frictionless packing, (iii) a large amplitude non-linear wave, or (iv) a finite size effect.
Mouraille
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Multi Scale Mechanics, TS, CTW, UTwente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands. o.j.p.mouraille@utwente.nl
Luding
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