Size segregation in granular media induced by phase transition

Details Size segregation in granular media induced by phase transition Size segregation in granular media induced by phase transition

2005-05-30

arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0505724v1

Physics

Condensed Matter

Statistical Mechanics

Submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett

Scientific paper

10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.078001

In order to study analytically the nature of the size segregation in granular mixtures, we introduce a mean field theory in the framework of a statistical mechanics approach, based on Edwards' original ideas. For simplicity we apply the theory to a lattice model for hard sphere binary mixture under gravity, and we find a new purely thermodynamic mechanism which gives rise to the size segregation phenomenon. By varying the number of small grains and the mass ratio, we find a crossover from Brasil nut to reverse Brasil nut effect, which becomes a true phase transition when the number of small grains is larger then a critical value. We suggest that this transition is induced by the effective attraction between large grains due to the presence of small ones (depletion force). Finally the theoretical results are confirmed by numerical simulations of the 3d system under taps.

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