Elastogranularity in Binary Granular Mixtures

TL;DR

This study investigates how binary granular mixtures influence elastogranular interactions during elastica deformation, revealing scaling laws and relaxation behaviors that depend on packing density and particle size ratio.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of elastogranular interactions in binary mixtures, highlighting how packing fraction and diameter ratio affect jamming and deformation behaviors.

Findings

Critical arclength for jamming follows monodisperse scaling law.

Elastica relaxes bending energy in larger diameter ratio packings.

Deformation behavior transitions from solid-like to fluid-like with packing changes.

Abstract

Frustration arises for a broad class of physical systems where confinement (geometric) or the presence of a perturbation (kinematic) prevents equilibration to a minimum energy state. By varying the diameter ratio and packing fraction in granular arrays surrounding a slowly elongating elastica, we characterize the resulting elastogranular interactions taking place in a transitional, amorphous medium. For low number density packings prepared with moderate to large bidispersity, we find the critical injected arclength to elicit jamming follows the same scaling law observed in monodisperse arrays. Beyond the jamming point, the elastica is seen to relax its bending energy within packings with progressively larger diameter ratios towards the shape expected when deforming within more fluid-like media.