Studying the Dynamics of Intermittency in Convergent Rapid Granular Flows

Convergent flows occur in many industrial applications. They represent an extremely important research field in fluids and in granular systems. For fluids, the dynamics is governed by a set of nonlinear partial differential equations and boundary conditions. Studying convergent flows in fluids poses a number of challenges, but the difficulty increases significantly when studying convergent flow in granular systems, in which the collisions between granular particles are inelastic. Many surprising and counterintuitive phenomena occur in such systems. However, the dynamics of convergent rapid granular flow is far from well understood. In this proposal, we plan to carry out a detailed study of the convergent rapid flows in a granular system. We will perform detailed numerical simulations for this complicated system to identify key phenomena and then achieve a good theoretical understanding of the fundamental mechanisms that underlie the behavior. In particular, we will conduct a careful study of the phenomena of intermittency in which a system alternates between two states. A good understanding of the phenomena of intermittency is very important in machine design in order to achieve stable operating conditions for the machine.