Interdisciplinary Summer School: Granular Flows-From Simulations to Astrophysical Applications; University of Maryland, College Park; June 13-17, 2011

University Of Maryland, College Park, College Park MD

Investigators

Abstract

An Interdisciplinary Summer School will take place at the University of Maryland College Park June 13-17 2011 entitled "Granular Flows - From Simulations to Astrophysical Applications". The aim is to bring together experts and students from both granular physics and astrophysics and focus on state-of-the-art experimental and simulation approaches for granular flows that are emerging in both physics and astrophysics. Granular flows are encountered in a wide range of astrophysical applications from asteroids to planetary rock avalanches. Our knowledge about these flows is exploding due to recent and planned robotic missions to various asteroids, comets, and other planetary bodies. The trove of data is being analyzed now, with patterns of granular arrangements and samples of granular materials returning for analysis. At the same time, significant progress has been made over the last two decades to elucidate the physics of granular flows, from the description of the jamming transition, to analysis of segregation and 3-D flows. For basic physics of granular flows, these new observations offer an unprecedented opportunity to apply the knowledge gained in the last decades on granular flows, and to expand the test of models into a regime of varying gravity, in particular the very low gravity of asteroids. The school will include hands-on components where students will learn how to simulate granular flows and how to evaluate results from flow simulations critically. Corey O?Hern (Yale University) and Derek Richardson (UMD) will lead hands-on afternoon training sessions for students on direct numerical simulations. In addition, experts in experimental studies of dense granular flows will train students in experimental measurements of granular flow fields and forces.