Internship: Mechanics and rheology of granular chain packings: numerical study of a model system of athermal polymer

The aim of this internship is to study numerically the mechanical properties of an athermal analogue of polymers: a packing of granular chains. By taking advantage of the analogy, polymer/granular chain, we will study the effect of the chain length and its concentration in this original macroscopic system, allowing straightforward comparison with experiments. 

The first part of this project will be devoted to the determination of the static mechanical properties of the packing, focusing in particular on the study of the jamming transition. The second objective of this project will focus on understanding the dynamical properties of granular chains. To this end, two types of protocols will be implemented: the vibration of the packing and its loading with different shear rates to study the variation of the effective viscosity of the system.

The simulations will use a particle dynamics code that we have just developed and validated. They will be compared with model experiments carried out in collaboration with the Interfaces and Complex Fluids Laboratory of the University of Mons in Belgium.

Reference:

[1] D. Dumont, M. Houze, P. Rambach, T. Salez, S. Patinet and P. Damman, Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 088001 (2018) [COVER, NEWS & VIEWS, PHYSICS, PRL EDITORS’ SUGGESTION].

Methods: Molecular dynamics, discrete lattice model, possibly finite element model.