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Updated: Sep 22, 2025

Visually Based Characterization of the Incipient Particle Motion in Regular Substrates: From Laminar to Turbulent Conditions
Published on: February 22, 2018
Universal features of the stick-slip dynamics of an intruder moving through a confined granular medium
Luis A Pugnaloni1, C Manuel Carlevaro2, Ryan Kozlowski3
1Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de La Pampa, CONICET, Uruguay 151, 6300 Santa Rosa (La Pampa), Argentina.
Abstract:
Experiments and simulations of an intruder dragged by a spring through a two-dimensional annulus of granular material exhibit robust force fluctuations. At low packing fractions (ϕ<ϕ_{0}), the intruder clears an open channel. Above ϕ_{0}, stick-slip dynamics develop, with an average energy release that is independent of the particle-particle and particle-base friction coefficients but does depend on the width W of the annulus and the diameter D of the intruder. A simple model predicts the dependence of ϕ_{0} on W and D, allowing for a data collapse for the average energy release as a function of ϕ/ϕ_{0}. These results pose challenges for theories of mechanical failure in amorphous materials.
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