A branching process model for sand avalanches

Journal Article · Thu Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 1993 · Journal of Statistical Physics; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01048045· OSTI ID:5878042

Garcia-Pelayo, R; Salazar, I; Schieve, W C ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Texas, Austin (United States)

An analytically solvable model for sand avalanches of noninteracting grains of sand, based on the Chapman-Kolmogorov equations, is presented. For a single avalanche, distributions of lifetimes, sizes of overflows and avalanches, and correlation functions are calculated. Some of these are exponentials, some are power laws. Spatially homogeneous distributions of avalanches are also studied. Computer simulations of avalanches of interacting grains of sand are compared to the solutions to the Chapman-Kolmogorov equations. It is found that within the range of parameters explored in the simulation, the approximation of noninteracting grains of sand is a good one. 20 refs., 4 figs.

• OSTI ID: 5878042
• Journal Information: Journal of Statistical Physics; (United States), Vol. 72:1-2; ISSN 0022-4715
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS//MATHEMATICS, COMPUTING, AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
PARTICLE KINEMATICS
CHAPMAN-KOLMOGOROV EQUATION
SAND
EQUATIONS OF MOTION
BRANCHING RATIO
CORRELATION FUNCTIONS
PROBABILITY
RANDOMNESS
SIMULATION
STATISTICAL MECHANICS
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
EQUATIONS
FUNCTIONS
MECHANICS
PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
661300* - Other Aspects of Physical Science- (1992-)
990200 - Mathematics & Computers