Dynamics of wet granular hexagons

Title data

Baur, Manuel ; Huang, Kai:
Dynamics of wet granular hexagons.
In: Physical Review E. Vol. 95 (2017) Issue 3 . - No. 030901.
ISSN 2470-0053
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.95.030901

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Abstract in another language

The collective behavior of vibrated hexagonal disks confined in a monolayer is investigated experimentally. Due to the broken circular symmetry, hexagons prefer to rotate upon sufficiently strong driving. Due to the formation of liquid bridges, short-ranged cohesive interactions are introduced upon wetting. Consequently, a nonequilibrium stationary state with the rotating disks self-organized in a hexagonal structure arises. The bond length of the hexagonal structure is slightly smaller than the circumdiameter of a hexagon, indicating geometric frustration. This investigation provides an example where the collective behavior of granular matter is tuned by the shape of individual particles.