Studies of elasticity, sound propagation and attenuation of acoustic modes in granular media: final report

Technical Report · Wed Sep 03 04:00:00 EDT 2014

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1151803· OSTI ID:1151803

Makse, Hernan A. ^[1]; Johnson, David L. ^[2]

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1. City College of New York, NY (United States). Levich Inst., Dept. of Physcis; City College of New York
2. Schlumberger-Doll Research, Cambridge, MA (United States)

This is the final report describing the results of DOE Grant # DE-FG02-03ER15458 with original termination date of April 31, 2013, which has been extended to April 31, 2014. The goal of this project is to develop a theoretical and experimental understanding of sound propagation, elasticity and dissipation in granular materials. The topic is relevant for the efficient production of hydrocarbon and for identifying and characterizing the underground formation for storage of either CO₂ or nuclear waste material. Furthermore, understanding the basic properties of acoustic propagation in granular media is of importance not only to the energy industry, but also to the pharmaceutical, chemical and agricultural industries. We employ a set of experimental, theoretical and computational tools to develop a study of acoustics and dissipation in granular media. These include the concept effective mass of granular media, normal modes analysis, statistical mechanics frameworks and numerical simulations based on Discrete Element Methods. Effective mass measurements allow us to study the mechanisms of the elastic response and attenuation of acoustic modes in granular media. We perform experiments and simulations under varying conditions, including humidity and vacuum, and different interparticle force-laws to develop a fundamental understanding of the mechanisms of damping and acoustic propagation in granular media. A theoretical statistical approach studies the necessary phase space of configurations in pressure, volume fraction to classify granular materials.

• Research Organization: City College of New York, NY (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)
• DOE Contract Number: FG02-03ER15458
• OSTI ID: 1151803
• Report Number(s): DOE-CCNY--15458
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
elasticity
geomechanics
granular materials