Momentum transport in granular flows

Abstract

We investigate the error induced by considering only binary collisions in the momentum transport of hard-sphere granular materials, as is done in kinetic theories. In this process, we first present a general microscopic derivation of the momentum transport equation and compare it to the kinetic theory derivation, which relies on the binary collision assumption. These two derivations yield different microscopic expressions for the stress tensor, which we compare by using numerical simulations. This provides a quantitative bound on the regime where binary collisions dominate momentum transport and reveals that most realistic granular flows occur in the region of phase space where the binary collision assumption does not apply.