On the reversibility of granular rotations and translations

ORAL

Abstract

We analyze reversibility of both displacements and rotations of spherical grains in three-dimensional compression experiments. Using transparent acrylic beads with cylindrical holes and index matching techniques, we are not only capable of tracking displacements but also, for the first time, analyze reversibility of rotations. We observe that for moderate compression amplitudes, up to the bead diameter, the translational displacements of the beads after each cycle become mostly reversible after an initial transient. By contrast, granular rotations are largely irreversible. We find a weak correlation between translational and rotational displacements, indicating that rotational reversibility depends on more subtle changes in contact distributions and contact forces between grains compared with displacement reversibility.

*This work was supported by National Science Foundation grant DMR-5244620.

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Presenters

  • Anton Peshkov

    • IREAP, IPST, University of Maryland, College Park
    • IREAP, University of Maryland, College Park

Authors

  • Anton Peshkov

    • IREAP, IPST, University of Maryland, College Park
    • IREAP, University of Maryland, College Park

  • Michelle Girvan

    • University of Maryland, College Park
    • IREAP, IPST, University of Maryland, College Park
    • Departments of Physics, IPST and IREAP, University of Maryland, College Park

  • Derek C. Richardson

    • Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park

  • Wolfgang Losert

    • University of Maryland, College Park
    • Department of Physics, University of Maryland
    • Institute of Physical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park
    • Department of Physics, University of Maryland,College Park
    • Physics, University of Maryland, College Park
    • Department of Physics, University of Maryland-College Park
    • IREAP, IPST, University of Maryland, College Park
    • Departments of Physics, IPST and IREAP, University of Maryland, College Park