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Turbulent-like fluctuations in quasistatic flow of granular media

F. Radjai·S. Roux
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Abstract

We analyze particle velocity fluctuations in a simulated granular system subjected to homogeneous quasistatic shearing. We show that these fluctuations share the following scaling characteristics of fluid turbulence in spite of their different physical origins: 1) Scale-dependent probability distribution with non-Guassian broadening at small time scales; 2) Power-law spectrum, reflecting long-range correlations and the self-affine nature of the fluctuations; 3) Superdiffusion with respect to the mean background flow.

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F. Radjai, S. Roux. 2002-05-29. Turbulent-like fluctuations in quasistatic flow of granular media. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.89.064302

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