Field Driven Charging Dynamics of a Fluidized Granular Bed

TL;DR

This paper extends a model of granular bed charging by incorporating heterogeneity, rotation, and electrostatic interactions, revealing that charge heterogeneities significantly influence charging dynamics in fluidized beds.

Contribution

The paper introduces a more realistic model of granular charging that accounts for heterogeneity, rotation, and electrostatic interactions, advancing understanding of charging behavior.

Findings

Heterogeneous charge distributions can occur in fluidized beds.

Shielding effects due to heterogeneities can alter charging rates.

The extended model predicts significant impact of heterogeneities on charging dynamics.

Abstract

A simplified model has previously described the inductive charging of colliding identical grains in the presence of an external electric field. Here we extend that model by including heterogeneous surface charge distributions, grain rotations and electrostatic interactions between grains. We find from this more realistic model that strong heterogeneities in charging can occur in agitated granular beds, and we predict that shielding due to these heterogeneities can dramatically alter the charging rate in such beds.