Control of the fluctuation in the uniform granular flow by a random force field

Abstract

A normal distribution random force field is introduced into the study of granular flow, and its effect is observed by computer simulations. The results show that the random force almost does not cause changes in average density and velocity in a uniform granular flow, and affects little the fluctuation of the density. The main effect of the random force field is that it increases the fluctuation of the granular velocity and maintains the granular flow at a certain dispersed kinetic energy by competing with the dissipation of the granular system. It is also shown that the dispersed kinetic energy obtained by the random force field is not equally distributed in each degree of freedom, and that the equipartition of energy is difficult to realize in granular system because of its dissipation property.