Hrenya Group Article on Formation of Clusters in Granular Flows Featured in JFM Focus on Fluids
titled “Kinetic-theory predictions of clustering instabilities in granular flows: beyond the small-Knudsen-number regime” (Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 738, R2, 2014) was selected as thewritten by Professor Michel Louge of Cornell University.
The original work, authored by Ph.D. candidate Peter Mitrano and collaborators, shows that kinetic-theory predictions of clustering instabilties perform well despite a violation of their low-Knudsen-number assumption (see figure). This surprising result, reminiscent of a debate in the gas dynamics community, bodes well for the widespread applicability of such models to practical systems – gasifiers used energy production, heat transfer in concentrating solar power plants, ejection of lunar soil upon spacecraft landing, dynamics of rings of Saturn, etc.