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Density Fluctuations In Vibrated Granular Materials , E.R. Nowak, J.B. Knight, E. Ben-Naim, H.M Jaeger, S.R. Nagel
Density Fluctuations In Vibrated Granular Materials , E.R. Nowak, J.B. Knight, E. Ben-Naim, H.M Jaeger, S.R. Nagel
Eli Ben-Naim
We report systematic measurements of the density of a vibrated granular material as a function of time. Monodisperse spherical beads were confined to a cylindrical container and shaken vertically. Under vibrations, the density of the pile slowly reaches a final steady-state value about which the density fluctuates. We have investigated the frequency dependence and amplitude of these fluctuations as a function of vibration intensity Γ. The spectrum of density fluctuations around the steady state value provides a probe of the internal relaxation dynamics of the system and a link to recent thermodynamic theories for the settling of granular material. In …