Effective two-dimensional model for granular matter with phase separation

TL;DR

This paper introduces an effective two-dimensional model for vibrated granular matter that captures phase separation by incorporating an additional energy variable, successfully reproducing experimental phase transitions and predicting conditions for phase separation.

Contribution

The model uniquely includes an extra energy variable to simulate vertical motion effects, providing a new way to analyze phase transitions in granular systems.

Findings

The model reproduces liquid-solid phase transition in granular systems.

Effective pressure exhibits van der Waals loops indicating phase separation.

Predictions align closely with molecular dynamics simulations.

Abstract

Granular systems confined in vertically vibrated shallow horizontal boxes (quasi two-dimensional geometry) present a liquid to solid phase transition when the frequency of the periodic forcing is increased. An effective model, where grains move and collide in two-dimensions is presented, which reproduces the aforementioned phase transition. The key element is that besides the two-dimensional degrees of freedom, each grain has an additional variable $\epsilon$ that accounts for the kinetic energy stored in the vertical motion in the real quasi two-dimensional motion. This energy grows monotonically during free flight, mimicking the energy gain by collisions with the vibrating walls and, at collisions, this energy is instantaneously transferred to the horizontal degrees of freedom. As a result, the average values of $\epsilon$ and the kinetic temperature are decreasing functions of the local density, giving rise to an effective pressure that can present van der Waals loops. A kinetic theory approach predicts the conditions that must satisfy the energy grow function to obtain the phase separation, which are verified with molecular dynamics simulations. Notably, the effective equation of state and the critical points computed considering the velocity--time-of-flight correlations differ only slightly from those obtained by simple kinetic theory calculations that neglect those correlations.