Rising through the sand: penetration of a granular medium from below

ORAL

Abstract

We report measurements of the drag force experienced by a flat plate traveling upward through a dense granular medium. Our apparatus consists of a container in which a plunger can be pushed upward from the bottom of the grains. We present results as a function of plunger size, penetration speed, and overload weight. As expected, the largest forces are experienced during the initial jamming and reorganization as the plunger pushes from the bottom of the container.

–

Authors

  • Thomas Scheidemantel

    • The Pennsylvania State University and Materials Research Institute, University Park, PA 16802

  • Ke Chen

  • Matthew Lohr

  • Casey Conger

  • Kit Klein

  • Matthew Stone

  • Peter Schiffer