title: Sliding through a superlight granular medium.
abstract: We explore the penetration dynamics of an intruder in a granular medium composed of expanded polystyrene spherical particles. Three features distinguish our experiment from others studied so far in granular physics: (a) the impact is horizontal, decoupling the effects of gravity and the drag force; (b) the density of the intruder rho(i) is up to 350 times larger than the density of the granular medium rho(m); and (c) the way the intruder moves through the material, sliding at the bottom of the column with small friction. Under these conditions we find that the final penetration D scales with (rho(i)/rho(m)) and the drag force Fd and D saturate with the height of the granular bed.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física Aplicada, CINVESTAV-Mérida, Mérida, Yucatán 97310, Mexico.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pacheco-Vázquez
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Ruiz-Suárez
mesh_terms: D003102:Colloids / Q000737:chemistry*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D008956:Models, Chemical; D011137:Polystyrenes / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D003102:Colloids; D011137:Polystyrenes