2001/02/28 by Jacques Duran · 1 citation
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Fluid Dynamics and Heat Transfer #Granular flow and fluidized beds #Particle Dynamics in Fluid Flows #cond-mat.dis-nn
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.87.254301
8 pages, five postscript figures, submitted APS journal
arxiv created 2001/02/28 · openalex publication_date 2001/11/30 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We observe powder "droplets" forming when tapping repeatedly a horizontal flat plate initially covered with a monolayer of fine powder particles. Starting from a simple model involving both the air flow through the porous cake and avalanche properties, we set up an analytical model which satisfactorily fits the experimental results. We observe a close analogy between the governing equations of the phenomenon and the basic physics of wetting liquids, including the equivalent of the Laplace law and the surface tension parameter leading to the well known Rayleigh-Taylor instability.