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arXiv · 1212.5017

Sticky elastic collisions

Jeremie Bec·Stefano Musacchio·Samriddhi Sankar Ray
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Abstract

The effects of purely elastic collisions on the dynamics of heavy inertial particles is investigated in a three-dimensional random incompressible flow. It is shown that the statistical properties of inter-particle separations and relative velocities are strongly influenced by the occurrence of sticky elastic collisions - particle pairs undergo a large number of collisions against each other during a small time interval over which, hence, they remain close to each other. A theoretical framework is provided for describing and quantifying this phenomenon and it is substantiated by numerical simulations. Furthermore, the impact of hydrodynamic interactions is discussed for such a system of colliding particles.

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Jeremie Bec, Stefano Musacchio, Samriddhi Sankar Ray. 2012-12-20. Sticky elastic collisions. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.87.063013

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