paper

Orientational order and alignment of elongated particles induced by shear

arXiv:1204.5972

Abstract

Shear induced alignment of elongated particles is studied experimentally and numerically. We show that shear alignment of ensembles of macroscopic particles is comparable even on a quantitative level to simple molecular systems, despite the completely different types of particle interactions. We demonstrate that for dry elongated grains the preferred orientation forms a small angle with the streamlines, independent of shear rate across three decades. For a given particle shape, this angle decreases with increasing aspect ratio of the particles. The shear-induced alignment results in a considerable reduction of the effective friction of the granular material.

arXiv comment5 pages, 5 figures, accepted to Phys. Rev. Lett

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