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Updated: Mar 15, 2026

An Analog Macroscopic Technique for Studying Molecular Hydrodynamic Processes in Dense Gases and Liquids
Published on: December 4, 2017
Coupled Leidenfrost states as a monodisperse granular clock
Rui Liu1, Mingcheng Yang1, Ke Chen1
1Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics and CAS Key Laboratory of Soft Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190.
Abstract:
Using an event-driven molecular dynamics simulation, we show that simple monodisperse granular beads confined in coupled columns may oscillate as a different type of granular clock. To trigger this oscillation, the system needs to be driven against gravity into a density-inverted state, with a high-density clustering phase supported from below by a gaslike low-density phase (Leidenfrost effect) in each column. Our analysis reveals that the density-inverted structure and the relaxation dynamics between the phases can amplify any small asymmetry between the columns, and lead to a giant oscillation. The oscillation occurs only for an intermediate range of the coupling strength, and the corresponding phase diagram can be universally described with a characteristic height of the density-inverted structure. A minimal two-phase model is proposed and a linear stability analysis shows that the triggering mechanism of the oscillation can be explained as a switchable two-parameter Andronov-Hopf bifurcation. Numerical solutions of the model also reproduce similar oscillatory dynamics to the simulation results.
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