Abstract
An important industrial problem that provides fascinating puzzles in pattern formation is the tendency for granular mixtures to de-mix or segregate. Small differences in either size or density lead to flow-induced segregation. Similar to fluids, noncohesive granular materials can display chaotic advection; when this happens chaos and segregation compete with each other, giving rise to a wealth of experimental outcomes. Segregated structures, obtained experimentally, display organization in the presence of disorder and are captured by a continuum flow model incorporating collisional diffusion and density-driven segregation. Under certain conditions, structures never settle into a steady shape. This may be the simplest experimental example of a system displaying competition between chaos and order.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 11701-11706 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
| Volume | 96 |
| Issue number | 21 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Oct 12 1999 |