Turbulent-like fluctuations in quasistatic flow of granular media

TL;DR

This paper reveals that granular media under quasistatic shear exhibit velocity fluctuations with turbulence-like scaling properties, including non-Gaussian distributions, power-law spectra, and superdiffusive behavior, despite different physical origins.

Contribution

It demonstrates that particle velocity fluctuations in granular flows display turbulence-like statistical features, highlighting universal aspects of complex systems.

Findings

Fluctuations have non-Gaussian distributions at small scales

Power-law spectral behavior indicates long-range correlations

Superdiffusion observed in particle motion

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.