The granular jump

Abstract

When a fluid jet hits a solid surface, a hydraulic jumps occurs. This jump sharply delimits a thin film of liquid from a thicker film. We show here that a granular jet impinging on a solid surface also gives rise to several features reminiscent of the hydraulic jump and we refer to this situation as the granular jump. We describe, in detail, this phenomenon and show that if many of its features can be understood in analogy with the hydraulic jump, others are directly related to the granular nature of the medium and, in particular, the small-scale dynamics of the jump.