Velocity distribution function and correlations in a granular Poiseuille flow

Abstract

Probability distribution functions of fluctuation velocities (P(ux) andP(uy), whereuxanduyare the fluctuation velocities in thex- andy-directions, respectively; the gravity is acting along the periodicx-direction and the flow is bounded by two walls parallel to they-direction) and the density and the spatial velocity correlations are studied using event-driven simulations for an inelastic smooth hard disk system undergoing gravity-driven granular Poiseuille flow (GPF). It is shown that for GPF with smooth and/or perfectly rough walls the Maxwellian/Gaussian is the leading-order distribution over a wide range of densities in the quasi-elastic limit, which is a surprising result, especially for a dilute granular gas for which the Knudsen number belongs to the transitional flow regime. The signature of wall-roughness-induced dissipation mainly shows up in theP(ux) distribution in the form of a sharp peak for negative velocities in the near-wall region. BothP(ux) andP(uy) distributions become asymmetric with increasing dissipation at any density, and the emergence of density waves, which appear in the form of sinuous wave/slug at low-to-moderate values of mean density, makes these asymmetries stronger, especially in the presence of a slug. At high densities, the flow degenerates into a dense plug (where the density approaches its maximum limit and the shear rate is negligibly small) around the channel centreline and two shear layers (where the shear rate is high and the density is low) near the walls. The distribution functions within the shear layer follow the characteristics of those at moderate mean densities. Within the dense plug, the high-velocity tails of bothP(ux) andP(uy) appear to undergo a transition from Gaussian in the quasi-elastic limit to power-law distributions at large inelasticity of particle collisions. For dense flows, it is shown that although the density correlations play a significant role in enhancing the velocity correlations when the collisions are sufficiently inelastic, they do not induce velocity correlations when the collisions are quasi-elastic for which the distribution functions are close to Gaussian. The combined effect of enhanced density and velocity correlations around the channel centreline with increasing inelastic dissipation seems to be responsible for the emergence of non-Gaussian high-velocity tails of distribution functions.