Nonequilibrium two-phase coexistence in a confined granular layer

2003/12/31 by Alexis Prevost, Paul Melby, David A. Egolf +1 · 3 citations
Engineering · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Granular flow and fluidized beds #Material Dynamics and Properties #cond-mat.soft #cond-mat.stat-mech

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreve.70.050301

4 pages, 3 figures, RevTex4 format

arxiv created 2004/06/25 · openalex publication_date 2004/11/24 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

We report the observation of the homogenous nucleation of crystals in a dense layer of steel spheres confined between two horizontal plates vibrated vertically. Above a critical vibration amplitude, two-layer crystals with square symmetry were found to coexist in steady state with a surrounding granular liquid. By analogy to equilibrium hard-sphere systems, the phase behavior may be explained through entropy maximization. However, dramatic nonequilibrium effects are present, including a significant difference in the granular temperatures of the two phases.

Citations

• Free Energy Functional for Nonequilibrium Systems: An Exactly Solvable Case
• Dynamics of vibrated granular monolayers

Cited by

• Capillarylike fluctuations of a solid-liquid interface in a noncohesive granular system
• Ballistic propagation of density correlations and excess wall forces in quenched granular media
• Shear viscosity of a model for confined granular media