Saturday, June 4, 2011

Granular Materials


Sand. Table Salt. Powders of any kind. These are classified as granular materials and this subject has been studied intensely by scientists and engineers in many fields (mechanical, chemical, materials, etc). From the perspective of a new researcher, this field has been beaten to death. The compaction of powders under pressure (aka jamming) is what differentiates the flow of powder from the flow of liquids. There are some other unique flow properties of powders such as the "Brazilian nut effect" where larger grained materials (Brazilian nuts) can flow to the top of a vibrating container that contains multiple grain sizes in it. So here is a very dorky powder simulation game. I spent more time playing around with it than I expected to.

http://dan-ball.jp/en/javagame/dust/

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