Humidity Effects and Aging Behavior in Granular Media

Abstract

We present a study of humidity effects on the maximum stability angle in granular media. We show that a granular medium of small glass beads exhibits aging properties : the first avalanche angle increases logarithmically with the resting time of the pile. This aging behavior is found to depend on the relative humidity of the surrounding atmosphere. A short interpretation of this effect, based on a model of activated capillary condensation, is proposed.

HTML document created by MSWORD (Sorry!). Published in: `Dynamics in Small Confining Systems IV', Editors: J.M. Drake, G.S. Grest, J. Klafter, R. Kopelman, ISBN: 1-55899-449-1