Arch size distribution in a two-dimensional pile of disks

M. A. AGUIRRE; L. A. PUGNALONI; T. DIVOUX; J. G. GRANDE

Powders and Grains 2009

American Institute of Physics

Lugar: New York; Año: 2009; p. 227 - 230

Arch formation in a granular pile is a dynamical process. Staring at a static pile one cannot identify such structures. Indeed, it is necessary to know which grains are in contact, but also to access the whole history of the packing formation to distinguish the contacts which really sustain arches. In a recent article, arch formation has been studied numerically [Arévalo et al., Phys. Rev. E 74, 021303 (2006)]. Here, we report preliminary results of an experiment which consists of a time-resolved study of arch formation during the deposition of a disk assembly. The whole experiment is horizontally set. A conveyor belt makes it possible to tune the disk deposition-rate and thus to follow entirely the deposition dynamics. We compare our experimental findings to the previously cited numerical study.