Kinetic description of a fluidized one dimensional granular
system
Phys. Rev. E 59 656-664 (1999)
Index
In this paper we study, using Boltzmann's equation and molecular dynamic
simulations, a one dimensional column of $N$ inelastic point particles, in
the quasi-elastic limit, under the influence of gravity. The column has no
top boundary and it is subjected to a permanent energy injection at a fixed
base chosen to behave like a `hot wall''. The quasi-elastic condition plus
the boundary condition guarantee molecular chaos. The energy
injection is of intensity enough to keep the system permanently in a low
density state. The system---which would have a homogeneous temperature if it
were conservative---shows a temperature gradient because of dissipation. It
is shown that, after adimensionalizing, the physical properties in the
hydrodynamic limit (N tends to infinity) depend solely in the product
qN where q is an inelasticity coefficient. Comparison of our
molecular dynamic results with this theoretical picture is excellent.
Molecular Dynamics and Kinetic Theory Group
Physics Department
Facultad de Ciencias Físicas y Matemáticas
Universidad de Chile