A Physical Picture of Kinetic Granular Fluids

We give a physical and heuristic discussion of the kinetic model of granular fluids, wherein the grain plays the role of a molecule. A consideration of the details of grain—grain and grain—wall interactions leads naturally to the equations of motion and to suitable boundary conditions. Examples from a Couette flow geometry are used to support the argument that the energy and momentum equations must be treated on an equal footing. The introduction of the energy equation leads to the appearance of a new length scale A, the conduction length, which describes the competition between viscous heating and collisional energy absorption and whose value determines the distribution of “granular temperature” and hence the flow field in the fluid. © 1986, The Society of Rheology. All rights reserved.

Duke Scholars

Author Peter K. Haff Earth and Climate Sciences