The objective of this course is to provide an introductory overview of granular engineering and science, by combining elements from granular physics and particle technology.
Granular Matter comprises all materials that consist of many particulate entities, each of which large enough not to be subject to thermal motion at room temperature. This somewhat technical definition comprises everyday materials such as sand, flour, gravel, snow, iron ore, and metal scrap. It is ubiquitous in nature, since mountains, soil and the bottom of the sea are predominantly granular. In industry, the most processed materials (with the exception of water) are in a granular form, and problems with their handling are causing a staggering loss of 5% of the world energy budget (which corresponds to over 300 billion euros every year). In contrast to its obvious relevance the behavior of granular materials remains poorly understood.
Granular matter can be studied from a fundamental and an engineering perspective, commonly denoted as Granular Physics and Particle Technology, respectively. Because of the strong connection between the two subjects, this course aims at giving a basic introduction to both. Topics that will be covered are:
- Particles, size analysis and characterization
- Contacts, inelasticity, restitution, and collision models
- Static granular materials, Rayleigh-Jansen law
- Dense flows and granular suspensions
- Micro/macro aspects and granular hydrodynamics
- Separation, mixing, and segregation
- Processing (granulation and fluidization)
- Storage and transport
For more content you see the program and description.