Particle motion during the compaction of granular matter

TL;DR

This study investigates particle movements during granular matter compaction using laser scattering, revealing similarities with supercooled liquids and providing insights into jamming dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces a laser scattering imaging method to track particle motions during thermal cycling compaction, highlighting correlations with Voronoi cell rearrangements.

Findings

Particle displacements correlate with Voronoi cell rearrangements.

Granular dynamics near jamming resemble those in supercooled liquids.

Thermal cycling effectively induces compaction and particle motion.

Abstract

We track particle motions in a granular material subjected to compaction using a laser scattering based imaging method where compaction is achieved through thermal cycling. Particle displacements in this jammed fluid correlate strongly with rearrangments of the Voronoi cells defining the local spatial partitioning about the particles, similar to previous observations of Rahman on cooled liquids. Our observations provide further evidence of commonalities between particle dynamics in granular matter close to jamming and supercooled liquids.