Thermal Convection in Granular Gases with Dissipative Lateral Walls.
We consider a granular gas under the action of gravity, fluidized by a vibrating base. We show that a horizontal temperature gradient, here induced by limiting dissipative lateral walls (DLW), leads always to a granular thermal convection (DLW TC) that is essentially different from ordinary bulk-buoyancy-driven convection (BBD TC). In an experiment where BBD TC is inhibited, by reducing gravity with an inclined plane, we always observe a DLW TC cell next to each lateral wall. Such a cell squeezes towards the nearest wall as the gravity and/or the number of grains increase. Molecular dynamics simulations reproduce the experimental results and indicate that at large gravity or number of grains the DLW TC is barely detectable.
Istituto dei Sistemi Complessi-CNR and Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Roma Sapienza, Piazzale Aldo Moro 2, 00185 Rome, Italy.
Giorgio
G
Pontuale
Istituto dei Sistemi Complessi-CNR and Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Roma Sapienza, Piazzale Aldo Moro 2, 00185 Rome, Italy.
Andrea
A
Gnoli
Istituto dei Sistemi Complessi-CNR and Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Roma Sapienza, Piazzale Aldo Moro 2, 00185 Rome, Italy.|Departamento de Física and Instituto de Computación Científica Avanzada (ICCAEx), Universidad de Extremadura, 06071 Badajoz, Spain.
Francisco Vega
FV
Reyes
Istituto dei Sistemi Complessi-CNR and Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Roma Sapienza, Piazzale Aldo Moro 2, 00185 Rome, Italy.
Andrea
A
Puglisi