Creep Motion of a Granular Pile Induced by Thermal Cycling
Baptiste Blanc, Thibaut Divoux, Hervé Gayvallet, and J.-C. Géminard
We report a time-resolved study of the dynamics associated with the slow compaction of a granular column submitted to thermal cycles. The column height displays a complex behavior: for a large amplitude of the temperature cycles, the granular column settles continuously, experiencing a small settling at each cycle. By contrast, for a small-enough amplitude, the column exhibits a discontinuous and intermittent activity: successive collapses are separated by quiescent periods whose duration is exponentially distributed. We then discuss potential mechanisms which would account for both the compaction and the transition at finite amplitude.
Creep Motion of a Granular Pile Induced by Thermal Cycling,
T. Divoux, H. Gayvallet, and J.-C. Géminard, Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, (2008) 148303.