Signatures of granular microstructure in dense shear flows

Granular materials and ordinary fluids react differently to shear stresses. Rather than deforming uniformly, materials such as dry sand or cohesionless powders develop shear bands--narrow zones of large relative particle motion, with essentially rigid adjacent regions. Because shear bands mark areas of flow, material failure and energy dissipation, they are important in many industrial, civil engineering and geophysical processes. They are also relevant to lubricating fluids confined to ultrathin molecular layers. However, detailed three-dimensional information on motion within a shear band, including the degree of particle rotation and interparticle slip, is lacking. Similarly, very little is known about how the microstructure of individual grains affects movement in densely packed material. Here we combine magnetic resonance imaging, X-ray tomography and high-speed-video particle tracking to obtain the local steady-state particle velocity, rotation and packing density for shear flow in a three-dimensional Couette geometry. We find that key characteristics of the granular microstructure determine the shape of the velocity profile.     

Structural signature of jamming in granular media

Glasses are rigid, but flow when the temperature is increased. Similarly, granular materials are rigid, but become unjammed and flow if sufficient shear stress is applied. The rigid and flowing phases are strikingly different, yet measurements reveal that the structures of glass and liquid are virtually indistinguishable. It is therefore natural to ask whether there is a structural signature of the jammed granular state that distinguishes it from its flowing counterpart. Here we find evidence for such a signature, by measuring the contact-force distribution between particles during shearing. Because the forces are sensitive to minute variations in particle position, the distribution of forces can serve as a microscope with which to observe correlations in the positions of nearest neighbours. We find a qualitative change in the force distribution at the onset of jamming. If, as has been proposed, the jamming and glass transitions are related, our observation of a structural signature associated with jamming hints at the existence of a similar structural difference at the glass transition--presumably too subtle for conventional scattering techniques to uncover. Our measurements also provide a determination of a granular temperature that is the counterpart in granular systems to the glass-transition temperature in liquids.     

Jamming by shear

A broad class of disordered materials including foams, glassy molecular systems, colloids and granular materials can form jammed states. A jammed system can resist small stresses without deforming irreversibly, whereas unjammed systems flow under any applied stresses. The broad applicability of the Liu-Nagel jamming concept has attracted intensive theoretical and modelling interest but has prompted less experimental effort. In the Liu-Nagel framework, jammed states of athermal systems exist only above a certain critical density. Although numerical simulations for particles that do not experience friction broadly support this idea, the nature of the jamming transition for frictional grains is less clear. Here we show that jamming of frictional, disk-shaped grains can be induced by the application of shear stress at densities lower than the critical value, at which isotropic (shear-free) jamming occurs. These jammed states have a much richer phenomenology than the isotropic jammed states: for small applied shear stresses, the states are fragile, with a strong force network that percolates only in one direction. A minimum shear stress is needed to create robust, shear-jammed states with a strong force network percolating in all directions. The transitions from unjammed to fragile states and from fragile to shear-jammed states are controlled by the fraction of force-bearing grains. The fractions at which these transitions occur are statistically independent of the density. Jammed states with densities lower than the critical value have an anisotropic fabric (contact network). The minimum anisotropy of shear-jammed states vanishes as the density approaches the critical value from below, in a manner reminiscent of an order-disorder transition.     

In situ multi-satellite detection of coherent vortices as a manifestation of Alfvénic turbulence

Turbulence in fluids and plasmas is a ubiquitous phenomenon driven by a variety of sources-currents, sheared flows, gradients in density and temperature, and so on. Turbulence involves fluctuations of physical properties on many different scales, which interact nonlinearly to produce self-organized structures in the form of vortices. Vortex motion in fluids and magnetized plasmas is typically governed by nonlinear equations, examples of which include the Navier-Stokes equation, the Charney-Hasegawa-Mima equations and their numerous generalizations. These nonlinear equations admit solutions in the form of different types of vortices that are frequently observed in a variety of contexts: in atmospheres, in oceans and planetary systems, in the heliosphere, in the Earth's ionosphere and magnetosphere, and in laboratory plasma experiments. Here we report the discovery by the Cluster satellites of a distinct class of vortex motion-short-scale drift-kinetic Alfvén (DKA) vortices-in the Earth's magnetospheric cusp region. As is the case for the larger Kelvin-Helmholtz vortices observed previously, these dynamic structures should provide a channel for transporting plasma particles and energy through the magnetospheric boundary layers.     

河道中钝体周围的床面冲刷试验研究

对泄洪闸闸墩、淹没薄壁长立方体以及圆柱形桥墩周围的河床床面冲刷进行了较为详细的试验。以试验所获得的大量测试数据、录像资料及照片为基础,分析了钝体周围的水流速度场、水流旋涡场、并重点分析了钝体周围的床面冲刷与钝体周围水流旋涡结构的关系,得出了关于河道中钝体周围床面冲刷的一些规律性结论。     

附着颗粒对磁流变液偶极子链力学特性的影响

在磁流变液中,有部分颗粒附着在偶极子链上。采用数值模拟手段,通过模拟包含附着颗粒的偶极子链的拉伸和剪切过程,并结合附着颗粒处颗粒的受力特点,深入分析了附着颗粒对偶极子链的影响。结果表明,拉伸过程中附着颗粒会逐渐进入链中,从而提高了链断裂时的正应变;剪切过程中,偶极子链会首先在附着颗粒处断开,相应的断裂强度和切应变也会变小。     

颗粒材料热力学理论在简单剪切流中的应用

颗粒物质由大量离散的粗大固体颗粒聚集而成,在外界作用下可能发生准静态变形、变形局部化和破坏,直至流动,其中采用固体力学和流体力学对准静态变形和流动开展的研究较为系统,而变形局部化和破坏的研究非常薄弱．分析内部结构演化规律,建立颗粒体系非平衡态热力学,统一描述颗粒体系力学行为是重要的基础研究课题,Granular Solid Hydrodynamics（GSH）理论为该研究提供了基础．本文完善了该理论涉及的颗粒温度表达式,确定了相应参数数值;与动理学理论和离散元模拟一起对恒定体积简单剪切流进行了分析,对比了三种方法得到的正应力与颗粒体积分数的关系,发现由于基本假设的限制,动理学理论只能适用于稀疏颗粒流,而完善后的颗粒体系热力学理论比动理学涵盖范围更广,可以从稀疏体系到密集体系．这样该理论可以连贯地描述颗粒体系准静态变形、变形局部化和破坏,直至流动的力学行为．     

水平管道内冰浆流体阻力特性CFD模拟

以水平管道内冰浆流体无相变流动过程为研究对象,运用计算流体力学（CFD）为工具,采用两相流双流体模型,研究了管道内冰浆流体阻力特性.结果表明,沿管道流动方向冰粒子浓度场滞后于其流场的充分发展.当存在湍动时,颗粒动力学理论模型可以很好地描述冰粒子间的剪切作用.当流动为层流时,基于Thomas方程的反推黏度模型的模拟效果优于前者.若浆体输送速度进一步降低,需对冰粒子间的剪切效应进行分段考虑.     

Dilatant shear bands in solidifying metals

Compacted granular materials expand in response to shear, and can exhibit different behaviour from that of the solids, liquids and gases of which they are composed. Application of the physics of granular materials has increased the understanding of avalanches, geological faults, flow in hoppers and silos, and soil mechanics. During the equiaxed solidification of metallic alloys, there exists a range of solid fractions where the microstructure consists of a geometrically crowded disordered assembly of crystals saturated with liquid. It is therefore natural to ask if such a microstructure deforms as a granular material and what relevance this might have to solidification processing. Here we show that partially solidified alloys can exhibit the characteristics of a cohesionless granular material, including Reynolds' dilatancy and strain localization in dilatant shear bands 7-18 mean crystals wide. We show that this behaviour is important in defect formation during high pressure die casting of Al and Mg alloys, a global industry that contributes over $7.3 billion to the USA's economy alone and is used in the manufacture of products that include mobile-phone covers and steering wheels. More broadly, these findings highlight the potential to apply the principles and modelling approaches developed in granular mechanics to the field of solidification processing, and also indicate the possible benefits that might be gained from exploring and exploiting further synergies between these fields.     

非规则颗粒与滚筒球磨机相互作用的离散元–有限元耦合分析

非规则颗粒形态显著影响球磨机中颗粒材料的运动行为，同时对球磨机结构产生不同的力学响应。采用超二次曲面方程描述非规则颗粒材料，并发展了离散元（discrete element method,DEM）–有限元（finite element method, FEM）耦合算法以分析非规则颗粒材料与滚筒球磨机间的相互作用。在该算法中，滚筒球磨机被划分为一系列四边形单元，并且超二次曲面颗粒与球磨机间的接触判断可转化为超二次曲面颗粒与四边形单元间的接触判断。将计算得到的碰撞力向节点插值，该节点力作为载荷条件在有限元中进行隐式动力学求解，并通过求解颗粒运动方程和有限元动力方程实现颗粒运动更新和结构力学响应分析。进一步分析了滚筒球磨机中球体、圆柱体和立方体颗粒材料的运动行为以及滚筒球磨机的变形及应力分布规律。研究结果表明：颗粒形状显著影响球磨机研磨效果和球磨机结构位移；立方体颗粒具有最好的研磨效果，而圆柱体颗粒比球体颗粒具有更好的研磨效果；在结构位移上，立方体颗粒有最大的峰值位移，其次是圆柱体和球体颗粒；相比于规则的球体颗粒，超二次曲面颗粒有不规则的表面形状，这会导致更好的研磨效果和更大的结构位移。     

Impact-activated solidification of dense suspensions via dynamic jamming fronts

Although liquids typically flow around intruding objects, a counterintuitive phenomenon occurs in dense suspensions of micrometre-sized particles: they become liquid-like when perturbed lightly, but harden when driven strongly. Rheological experiments have investigated how such thickening arises under shear, and linked it to hydrodynamic interactions or granular dilation. However, neither of these mechanisms alone can explain the ability of suspensions to generate very large, positive normal stresses under impact. To illustrate the phenomenon, such stresses can be large enough to allow a person to run across a suspension without sinking, and far exceed the upper limit observed under shear or extension. Here we show that these stresses originate from an impact-generated solidification front that transforms an initially compressible particle matrix into a rapidly growing jammed region, ultimately leading to extraordinary amounts of momentum absorption. Using high-speed videography, embedded force sensing and X-ray imaging, we capture the detailed dynamics of this process as it decelerates a metal rod hitting a suspension of cornflour (cornstarch) in water. We develop a model for the dynamic solidification and its effect on the surrounding suspension that reproduces the observed behaviour quantitatively. Our findings suggest that prior interpretations of the impact resistance as dominated by shear thickening need to be revisited.     

Spontaneous symmetry breaking in a quenched ferromagnetic spinor Bose-Einstein condensate

A central goal in condensed matter and modern atomic physics is the exploration of quantum phases of matter--in particular, how the universal characteristics of zero-temperature quantum phase transitions differ from those established for thermal phase transitions at non-zero temperature. Compared to conventional condensed matter systems, atomic gases provide a unique opportunity to explore quantum dynamics far from equilibrium. For example, gaseous spinor Bose-Einstein condensates (whose atoms have non-zero internal angular momentum) are quantum fluids that simultaneously realize superfluidity and magnetism, both of which are associated with symmetry breaking. Here we explore spontaneous symmetry breaking in 87Rb spinor condensates, rapidly quenched across a quantum phase transition to a ferromagnetic state. We observe the formation of spin textures, ferromagnetic domains and domain walls, and demonstrate phase-sensitive in situ detection of spin vortices. The latter are topological defects resulting from the symmetry breaking, containing non-zero spin current but no net mass current.     

土体颗粒破裂过程离散元模拟的新方法

土体颗粒的破碎对土体的宏观变形和强度性质有重要影响。数值模拟方法是研究土体颗粒破碎机理的重要手段。采用离散元数值软件PFC模拟土体颗粒的破碎。首先利用PFC内置Fish语言编写颗粒破坏准则,使得单个颗粒在满足破坏函数时破裂成为多个粒径更小的颗粒,从而实现PFC中颗粒的可破碎性,降低了传统方法"团聚颗粒"模拟颗粒破碎时建模和参数选取的复杂性。随后运用Fish编写的程序模拟土体在单轴压缩条件下颗粒破碎的过程;并对土体颗粒破碎特征进行分析。分析可知:颗粒破碎随着加载进行逐步从土体上部向下发展;土体中颗粒的破碎现象在空间上并不均匀发生,主要集中在试样的上部;加载过程中试样孔隙率的变化可以分为两个阶段,第一个阶段与颗粒的位置调整相关;而第二个阶段则与颗粒破碎相关,且第二阶段变化更为明显。颗粒破碎最终导致土体颗粒的粒径分布更为不均匀,最终形成级配较好的土体;但试样初始阶段的颗粒仍然为土体的主要成分。模拟结果与室内试验的部分成果比较,模拟结果与试验观察到的破裂现象基本一致,表明运用新方法模拟颗粒破碎过程合理、可行。     

颗粒物质剪切流动的类固-液转化特性及相变图的建立

颗粒物质类固-液相态间的转化现象广泛存在于工程地质、自然环境和工业生产等诸多领域,其力学特性在相态转化过程中会发生很大的变化,是目前颗粒物质力学研究的热点和难点.通过对颗粒物质类固-液转化过程中基本力学行为的研究,可建立表征颗粒物质类固-液转化的相变图,揭示类固-液转化的内在机理.颗粒物质的类固-液转化过程可大体分为两种,即阻塞与流动状态的转化,以及在流动过程中类固态与类液态力学行为的转化.本文以周期边界条件下的多分散颗粒系统为研究对象,采用离散单元方法数值模拟了单剪流动过程;分析了在不同体积分数和剪切速率下颗粒系统的平均应力、配位数、净接触时间数、有效摩擦系数、惯性指数和广义Savage数等宏观参数的分布规律;讨论了类固-液转化的内在机理,建立了一个以孔隙率、无量纲剪切应力和无量纲剪切速率为基本变量的相变图.该相变图不仅能够表征出颗粒物质由阻塞向流动状态的转变,同时也能够描述颗粒物质在剪切流动中发生类固-液转化的演化规律.     

河道交汇区涡旋结构研究

利用粒子图像测速技术(PIV)实现了基于涡量的剪切层和分离区位置的精确确定,同时对汇流区水平面内的涡旋结构进行系统观测和分析。研究发现:剪切层和分离区近水面和近底面水深平面的涡旋密度大,水深中部的涡旋密度小;支流流量增大的情况下涡旋密度均增大。槽底壁面湍流是近底面涡旋密度大的主要原因。剪切层由水流剪切产生的剪切涡以小旋转强度涡旋为主,分离区由水流分离产生的分离涡以中等及小旋转强度涡旋为主。     

脆性颗粒材料的超弹性软化模型及应变局部化模拟

在Volokh软化模型的基础上,考虑颗粒材料的变形和破坏机制,认为颗粒材料以剪切变形和破坏为主,提出了表示软化程度的软化因子概念,发展了两种能够部分表征颗粒材料力学行为特征的软化模式,并基于ABAQUS用户材料子程序(UMAT)开发相应程序.数值算例考察了上述模型模拟颗粒材料应变局部化现象和软化现象的能力.结果表明了所建议模型的有效性和可行性.     

含位形权重的磁流变液孤立链流变剪应力模型

为降低采用标准孤立链理论模型计算高体积分数磁流变液流变剪应力时的计算误差,提出一种通过距离权重系数评价磁链间相互作用的流变模型.编写Monte Carlo仿真程序计算颗粒位置与磁矩方向矢量、同时输出与系统颗粒间距有关的距离权重系数.按标准和距离权重这两种链结构模型计算磁流变液剪切应力数值,并和4种磁流变液(30.58%~44.79%)的流变仪剪应力测试数据进行比较,结果显示,权重模型在磁场全范围内具有更高的计算精度,并且和流变试验实际结果基本符合,证实了磁链微观结构间的相互作用力是影响磁流变液流变特性的主要因素之一.     

Microscopic study on stress-strain relation of granular materials

A biaxial shearing test on granular materials is numerically simulated by distinct element method （DEM）. The evolution of the microstructures of granular materials during isotropic compression and shearing is investigated, on which a yield function is derived. The new yield function has a similar form as the one used in the modified Cam-clay model and explains the yield characteristics of granular materials under the isotropic compression and shear process through the change of the contact distribution N（θ） defining the contacts at particle contact angle θ.