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Effect of dynamic and static friction on an asymmetric granular piston
1Laboratoire de Physique Théorique de la Matière Condensée, UPMC, CNRS UMR 7600, 4, place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France. talbot@lptmc.jussieu.fr
Abstract:
We investigate the influence of dry friction on an asymmetric, granular piston of mass M, composed of two materials, undergoing inelastic collisions with bath particles of mass m. Numerical simulations of the Boltzmann-Lorentz equation reveal the existence of two scaling regimes depending on the friction strength. In the large friction limit, we introduce an exact model giving the asymptotic behavior of the Boltzmann-Lorentz equation. For small friction and for large mass ratio M/m, we derive a Fokker-Planck equation for which the exact solution is also obtained. Static friction attenuates the motor effect and results in a discontinuous velocity distribution.
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