### Session GS: Jamming

8:00 AM–10:10 AM, Monday, November 24, 2008
Room: 203B

Chair: Lou Kondic, New Jersey Institute of Technology

Abstract ID: BAPS.2008.DFD.GS.5

### Abstract: GS.00005 : Anatomy of a Jam

8:52 AM–9:05 AM

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#### Authors:

Junyao Tang
(Department of Physics, Duke University)

Sepehr Sagdighpour
(Department of Physics, Duke University)

Robert Behringer
(Department of Physics, Duke University)

Flow in a hopper is both a fertile testing ground for understanding models for granular flow and industrially highly relevant. However, the formation of arches in the hopper opening, which halts the hopper flow unpredictably, is still poorly understood. In this work, we conduct a two-dimension hopper experiments, using photoelastic particles, and characterize these experiments in terms of a statistical model that considers the probability of jamming. The distribution of the hopper flow times exhibits an exponential decay, which shows the existence of a characteristic mean flow time.'' We then conduct further experiments to examine the connection between the mean flow time, the hopper geometry, the local density, and geometric structures and forces at the particle scale.

To cite this abstract, use the following reference: http://meetings.aps.org/link/BAPS.2008.DFD.GS.5