Simulations of collision times in gravity driven granular flow

TL;DR

This paper uses simulations to analyze collision time distributions in gravity-driven granular flow, revealing power-law behaviors with exponents unaffected by dimension and resolving previous experimental discrepancies.

Contribution

It provides new insights into collision time distributions in granular flow and clarifies the exponent behavior across different dimensions.

Findings

Collision times follow a power-law distribution.

Exponents depend on grain order, not dimension.

Simulation results reconcile previous experimental disagreements.

Abstract

We use simulations to investigate collision time distributions as one approaches the static limit of steady-state flow of dry granular matter. The collision times fall in a power-law distribution with an exponent dictated by whether the grains are ordered or disordered. Remarkably, the exponents have almost no dependence on dimension. We are also able to resolve a disagreement between simulation and experiments on the exponent of the collision time power-law distribution.