Formation of clusters in granular streams – Toward collisional experiments of dust agglomerates
Speaker: Akiko Nakamura
Abstract:
Cluster formation in free-falling granular streams has been studied experimentally and numerically, mainly for spherical particles. We experimentally investigate the growth process and the physical properties of the clusters, especially the packing fraction, in the hope that these clusters can be used to study the collisional process of dust agglomerates in the early solar system and planetary rings. In a comparison of granular streams of spherical and irregular particles, we showed that the stream of irregular particles evolved faster and formed clusters of larger sizes with lower packing fraction.