title: Granular medium impacted by a projectile: experiment and model.
abstract: We present a minimal discrete model for the propagation of energy through a 3D granular medium impacted by a particulate projectile. In this model, energy is transferred from grain to grain via binary collision events. This description can be successfully applied to the analysis of the collision process of a single spherical particle (of diameter donto a half space of granular medium composed of similarly sized particles. The model reproduces remarkably well the experimental observations. Besides, the present model provides a clear picture of the mechanism of energy propagation. A continuum version of the model, where the energy propagation from bead to bead is characterized by a diffusion equation, is derived. The diffusion coefficient is found to be proportional to the ratio of d(2) to the characteristic collision time Tau(c) . The numerical value of the coefficient of proportionality is essentially governed by the geometry of the packing. This paper constitutes an extension of a previously published letter (J. Crassous, D. Beladjine, A. Valance, Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 248001 (2007)).
authors.affiliation: Institut de Physique de Rennes, UMR UR1-CNRS 6251, Université de Rennes 1, Campus de Beaulieu, F-35042 RENNES Cedex, France. alexandre.valance@univ-rennes1.fr
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Valance
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Crassous
mesh_terms: D004058:Diffusion; D008433:Mathematics; D008863:Microspheres; D008956:Models, Chemical; D010316:Particle Size; D013499:Surface Properties; D013816:Thermodynamics