title: Power-law flow statistics in anisometric (wedge) hoppers.
abstract: We find the probability for N particles to exit an anisometric (having unequal dimensions) hopper before jamming to have a broad power-law decay with exponent α = -2, in marked contrast to the exponential decay seen in hoppers with symmetric apertures. The transition from exponential to power law is explained by amodel that assumes particle motion is correlated over a distinct length scale. Hoppers with lengths larger than this length are modeled as a series of adjacent, statistically independent "cells." Experiments with apertures 27-37 particle diameters D long are well fit by a three-cell model, implying that the correlation length is ≈ 9-12D.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York 14623-5603, USA.
authors.forename: Summer
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saraf
authors.forename: Scott V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Franklin