Eur. Phys. J. E 3, 291-294
Free cooling and inelastic collapse of granular gases in high dimensions
E. Trizac - A. Barrat
Laboratoire de Physique
Théorique,
Bâtiment 210, Université de Paris-Sud, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France
Emmanuel.Trizac@th.u-psud.fr,
Alain.Barrat@th.u-psud.fr
Received 17 April 2000 and Received in final form 7 June 2000
Abstract
The connection between granular gases and sticky gases has recently been
considered, leading to the conjecture that inelastic collapse is avoided
for space
dimensions higher than 4. We report Molecular Dynamics simulations of
hard inelastic spheres in dimensions 4, 5 and 6. The evolution of the
granular medium is monitored throughout the cooling process. The behaviour
is found to be very similar to that of a two-dimensional system, with
a shearing-like instability of the velocity field and inelastic collapse
when collisions are inelastic enough, showing that the connection
with sticky gases needs to be revised.
PACS
47.50.+d Non-Newtonian fluid flows -
05.20.Dd Kinetic theory -
51.10.+y Kinetic and transport theory of gases
Copyright EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag
