Shearing behavior of polydisperse media

TL;DR

This study investigates the shearing behavior of polydisperse granular media, revealing increased dilatancy and resistance, and introduces charged point-like particles to reduce shear force requirements.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the shearing dynamics of polydisperse media and proposes a novel method using charged particles to lower shear force.

Findings

Polydisperse media exhibit stronger dilatancy than bidisperse media.

Charged point-like particles reduce the force needed for shearing.

Polydispersity influences resistance and dilatancy in granular media.

Abstract

We study the shearing of polydisperse and bidisperse media with a size ratio of 10. Simulations are performed with a the two dimensional shear cell using contact dynamics. With a truncated power law for the polydisperse media we find that they show a stronger dilatancy and greater resistance to shearing than bidisperse mixtures. Motivated by the practical problem of reducing the energy needed to shear granular media, we introduce "point-like particles" representing charged particles in the distribution. Even though changing the kinematic behavior very little, they reduce the force necessary to maintain a fixed shearing velocity.