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Mass transport of impurities immersed in a confined quasi-two-dimensional moderately dense granular gas of inelastic hard spheres is studied. The effect of the confinement on granular particles is modeled through a collisional model (the so-called $\Delta$-model) that includes an effective mechanism to transfer the kinetic energy injected by vibration in the vertical direction to the horizontal degrees of freedom of grains. The impurity can differ in mass, diameter, inelasticity, or the energy injection at collisions, compared to the gas particles. The Enskog--Lorentz kinetic equation for the impurities is solved via the Chapman--Enskog method to first order in spatial gradients for states close to the homogeneous steady state. As usual, the three diffusion transport coefficients for tracer particles in a mixture are given in terms of the solutions of a set of coupled linear integral equations which are solved by considering the lowest Sonine approximation. The theoretical predictions for the tracer diffusion coefficient (relating the mass flux with the gradient of the number density of tracer particles) are compared with both direct simulation Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulations. The agreement is in general good, except for strong inelasticity and/or large contrast of energy injection at tracer-gas collisions compared to gas-gas collisions. Finally, as an application of our results, the segregation problem induced by both a thermal gradient and gravity is exhaustively analyzed., Comment: 26 pages, 12 figures, to be published in Physics of Fluids

The mean square displacement (MSD) of intruders (tracer particles) immersed in a multicomponent granular mixture made up of smooth inelastic hard spheres in a homogeneous cooling state is explicitly computed. The multicomponent granular mixture is constituted by $s$ species with different masses, diameters, and coefficients of restitution. In the hydrodynamic regime, the time decay of the granular temperature of the mixture gives rise to a time decay of the intruder's diffusion coefficient $D_0$. The corresponding MSD of the intruder is determined by integrating the corresponding diffusion equation. As expected from previous works on binary mixtures, we find a logarithmic time dependence of the MSD which involves the coefficient $D_0$. To analyze the dependence of the MSD on the parameter space of the system, the diffusion coefficient is explicitly determined by considering the so-called second Sonine approximation (two terms in the Sonine polynomial expansion of the intruder's distribution function). The theoretical results for $D_0$ are compared with those obtained by numerically solving the Boltzmann equation by means of the direct simulation Monte Carlo method. We show that the second Sonine approximation improves the predictions of the first Sonine approximation, especially when the intruders are much lighter than the particles of the granular mixture. In the long-time limit, our results for the MSD agree with those recently obtained by Bodrova [Phys. Rev. E \textbf{109}, 024903 (2024)] when $D_0$ is determined by considering the first Sonine approximation., Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures; A new section (Section VI) and two figures have been added; to be published in Phys. Rev. E

The Boltzmann kinetic equation for dilute granular suspensions under simple (or uniform) shear flow (USF) is considered to determine the non-Newtonian transport properties of the system. In contrast to previous attempts based on a coarse-grained description, our suspension model accounts for the real collisions between grains and particles of the surrounding molecular gas. The latter is modeled as a bath (or thermostat) of elastic hard spheres at a given temperature. Two independent but complementary approaches are followed to reach exact expressions for the rheological properties. First, the Boltzmann equation for the so-called inelastic Maxwell models (IMM) is considered. The fact that the collision rate of IMM is independent of the relative velocity of the colliding spheres allows us to exactly compute the collisional moments of the Boltzmann operator without the knowledge of the distribution function. Thanks to this property the transport properties of the sheared granular suspension can be \emph{exactly} determined. As a second approach, a Bhatnagar--Gross--Krook (BGK)-type kinetic model adapted to granular suspensions is solved to compute the velocity moments and the velocity distribution function of the system. The theoretical results show in general a good agreement with the approximate analytical results derived for inelastic hard spheres (IHS) by means of Grad's moment method and with computer simulations performed in the Brownian limiting case ($m/m_g\to \infty$, where $m_g$ and $m$ are the masses of the particles of the molecular and granular gases, respectively). In addition, as expected the IMM and BGK results show that the temperature and non-Newtonian viscosity exhibit and $S$ shape in a plane of stress-strain rate (discontinuous shear thickening, DST). The DST effect becomes more pronounced as the mass ratio $m/m_g$ increases., Comment: 24 pages, 5 figures

The mean square displacement per collision of a molecule immersed in a gas at equilibrium is given by its mean square displacement between two consecutive collisions (mean square free path) corrected by a prefactor in the form of a series. The $n$-th term of the series is proportional to the mean value of the scalar product $\rb_1 \cdot \rb_{n}$, where $\rb_i$ is the displacement of the molecule between the $(i-1)$-th and $i$-th collisions. Simple arguments are used to obtain approximate expressions for each term. The key finding is that the ratio of consecutive terms in the series closely approximates the so-called mean persistence ratio. Exact expressions for the terms in the series are considered and their ratios for several consecutive terms are calculated for the case of hard spheres, showing an excellent agreement with the mean persistence ratio. These theoretical results are confirmed by solving the Boltzmann equation by means of the direct simulation Monte Carlo method. By summing the series, the mean square displacement and the diffusion coefficient can be determined using only two quantities: the mean square free path and the mean persistence ratio. A simple and an improved expression for the diffusion coefficient $D$ are considered and compared with the so-called first and second Sonine approximations to $D$ as well as with computer simulations of the Boltzmann equation. It is found that the improved diffusion coefficient shows very good agreement with simulation results over all intruder and molecule mass ranges. When the intruder mass is smaller than that of the gas molecules, the improved formula even outperforms the first Sonine approximation., Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review E

Non-Newtonian transport properties of a dilute gas of inelastic hard spheres immersed in a molecular gas are determined. We assume that the granular gas is sufficiently rarefied and hence, the state of the molecular gas is not disturbed by the presence of the solid particles. In this situation, one can treat the molecular gas as a bath (or thermostat) of elastic hard spheres at a given temperature. Moreover, in spite of the fact that the number density of grains is quite small, we take into account their inelastic collisions among themselves in its kinetic equation. The system (granular gas plus a bath of elastic hard spheres) is subjected to a simple (or uniform) shear flow (USF). In the low-density regime, the rheological properties of the granular gas are determined by solving the Boltzmann kinetic equation by means of Grad's moment method. These properties turn out to be highly nonlinear functions of the shear rate and the remaining parameters of the system. Our results show that the kinetic granular temperature and the non-Newtonian viscosity present a discontinuous shear thickening (DST) effect for sufficiently high values of the mass ratio $m/m_g$ ($m$ and $m_g$ being the mass of grains and gas particles, respectively). This effect becomes more pronounced as the mass ratio $m/m_g$ increases. In particular, in the Brownian limit ($m/m_g\to \infty$) the expressions of the non-Newtonian transport properties derived here are consistent with those previously obtained by considering a coarse-grained approach where the effect of gas phase on grains is through an effective force. Theoretical results are compared against computer simulations showing an excellent agreement., Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures; to be published in Physical Review E

The Enskog kinetic equation is considered to determine the mobility $\lambda$ and diffusion $D$ transport coefficients of intruders immersed in a granular gas of inelastic hard spheres (grains). Intruders and grains are in contact with a thermal bath, which plays the role of a background gas. As usual, the influence of the latter on the dynamics of intruders and grains is accounted for via a viscous drag force plus a stochastic Langevin-like term proportional to the background temperature $T_\text{b}$. The transport coefficients $\lambda$ and $D$ are determined by solving the kinetic equation by means of the Chapman--Enskog method adapted to dissipative dynamics. Both transport coefficients are given in terms of the solutions of two integral equations which are approximately solved up to the second order in a Sonine polynomial expansion. Theoretical results are compared against numerical solutions of the inelastic Enskog equation by means of the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method. Good agreement between theory and simulations is in general found, specially in the case of the second Sonine approximation. The knowledge of the coefficients $\lambda$ and $D$ allow us to assess the departure of the Einstein relation $\epsilon=D/(T_{\text{b}}\lambda)$ from 1. As expected from previous results for driven granular gases, it is shown that the origin of the deviation of $\epsilon$ from 1 is only due to the non-Maxwellian behavior of reference state of intruders (measured by the cumulant $c_0$) when the bath temperature $T_\text{b}$ is replaced by the intruder temperature $T_0$ in the Einstein relation. Since the magnitude of $c_0$ is in general very small, deviations of the (modified) Einstein relation $\epsilon_0=D/(T_0\lambda)$ from 1 cannot be detected in computer simulations of dilute granular gases. This conclusion agrees well with previous computer simulation results., Comment: 21 pages, 7 figures

The diffusion transport coefficients of a binary granular suspension where one of the components is present in tracer concentration are determined from the (inelastic) Enskog kinetic equation. The effect of the interstitial gas on the solid particles is accounted for in the kinetic equation through two different terms: (i) a viscous drag force proportional to the particle velocity and (ii) stochastic Langevin-like term defined in terms of the background temperature. The transport coefficients are obtained as the solutions of a set of coupled linear integral equations recently derived for binary granular suspensions with arbitrary concentration [G\'omez Gonz\'alez \emph{et al.}, Phys. Rev. E \textbf{101}, 012904 (2020)]. To achieve analytical expressions for the diffusion coefficients, the above integral equations are approximately solved by considering the so-called second Sonine approximation. The theoretical results for the tracer diffusion coefficient $D_0$ (coefficient connecting the mass flux with the gradient of density of tracer particles) are compared with those obtained by numerically solving the Enskog equation by means of the direct simulation Monte Carlo method. Although the first-Sonine approximation to $D_0$ yields in general a good agreement with simulation results, we show that the second-Sonine approximation leads to an improvement over the first-Sonine correction, especially when the tracer particles are much lighter than the granular gas. The expressions derived here for the diffusion coefficients are also used for two different applications. First, the stability of the homogeneous steady state is discussed. Second, segregation induced by a thermal gradient is studied. As expected, the results show that the corresponding phase diagrams for segregation clearly differ from those found in previous works when the effect of gas phase on grains is neglected., Comment: 27 pages, 15 figures, published in Physics of Fluids

The Enskog kinetic theory is applied to compute the mean square displacement of intruders immersed in a granular gas of smooth inelastic hard spheres (grains). Both species (intruders and grains) are surrounded by an interstitial molecular gas (background) that plays the role of a thermal bath. The influence of the latter on the motion of intruders and grains is modeled via a standard viscous drag force supplemented by a stochastic Langevin-like force proportional to the background temperature. We solve the corresponding Enskog--Lorentz kinetic equation by means of the Chapman--Enskog expansion truncated to first order in the gradient of the intruder number density. The integral equation for the diffusion coefficient is solved by considering the first two Sonine approximations. To test these results, we also compute the diffusion coefficient from the numerical solution of the inelastic Enskog equation by means of the direct simulation Monte Carlo method. We find that the first Sonine approximation generally agrees well with the simulation results, although significant discrepancies arise when the intruders become lighter than the grains. Such discrepancies are largely mitigated by the use of the second-Sonine approximation, in excellent agreement with computer simulations even for moderately strong inelasticities and/or dissimilar mass and diameter ratios. We invoke a random walk picture of the intruders' motion to shed light on the physics underlying the intricate dependence of the diffusion coefficient on the main system parameters. This approach, recently employed to study the case of an intruder immersed in a granular gas, also proves useful in the present case of a granular suspension. Finally, we discuss the applicability of our model to real systems in the self-diffusion case. We conclude that collisional effects may strongly impact the diffusion coefficient of the grains., Comment: 24 pages, 16 figures; to be published in Physical Review E

The Enskog kinetic theory of multicomponent granular suspensions employed previously [G\'omez Gonz\'alez, Khalil, and Garz\'o, Phys. Rev. E \textbf{101}, 012904 (2020)] is considered further to determine the four transport coefficients associated with the heat flux. These transport coefficients are obtained by solving the Enskog equation by means of the application of the Chapman--Enskog method around the local version of the homogeneous state. Explicit forms of the heat flux transport coefficients are provided in steady-state conditions by considering the so-called second Sonine approximation to the distribution function of each species. Their quantitative variation on the control parameters of the mixture (masses and diameters, coefficients of restitution, concentration, volume fraction, and the background temperature) is demonstrated and the results show that in general the dependence of the heat flux transport coefficients on inelasticity is clearly different from that found in the absence of the gas phase (\emph{dry} granular mixtures). As an application of the general results, the stability of the homogeneous steady state is analyzed by solving the linearized Navier--Stokes hydrodynamic equations. The linear stability analysis (which holds for wavelengths long compared with the mean free path) shows that the transversal and longitudinal modes are always stable with respect to long-enough wavelength excitations. This conclusion agrees with previous results derived for monocomponent and (dilute) bidisperse granular suspensions but contrasts with the instabilities found in previous works in dry (no gas phase) granular mixtures., Comment: 21 pages; 6 figures; to be published in Phys. Rev. E

It is well-recognized that granular media under rapid flow conditions can be modeled as a gas of hard spheres with inelastic collisions. At moderate densities, a fundamental basis for the determination of the granular hydrodynamics is provided by the Enskog kinetic equation conveniently adapted to account for inelastic collisions. A surprising result (compared to its molecular gas counterpart) for granular mixtures is the failure of the energy equipartition, even in homogeneous states. This means that the partial temperatures $T_i$ (measuring the mean kinetic energy of each species) are different to the (total) granular temperature $T$. The goal of this paper is to provide an overview on the effect of different partial temperatures on the transport properties of the mixture. Our analysis addresses first the impact of energy nonequipartition on transport which is only due to the inelastic character of collisions. This effect (which is absent for elastic collisions) is shown to be significant in important problems in granular mixtures such as thermal diffusion segregation. Then, an independent source of energy nonequipartition due to the existence of a divergence of the flow velocity is studied. This effect (which was already analyzed in several pioneering works on dense hard-sphere molecular mixtures) affects to the bulk viscosity coefficient. Analytical (approximate) results are compared against Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulations, showing the reliability of kinetic theory for describing granular flows., Comment: 34 pages, 15 figures; to be published in Entropy in the section Entropy Reviews

The transport coefficients of a dilute gas of inelastic hard spheres immersed in a molecular gas are determined. We assume that the number density of the granular gas is much smaller than that of the surrounding molecular gas, so that the latter is not affected by the presence of solid particles. In this situation, the molecular gas may be treated as a thermostat (or bath) of elastic hard spheres at a fixed temperature. This system (granular gas thermostated by a bath of elastic hard spheres) can be considered as a reliable model for describing the dynamic properties of particle-laden suspensions. The Boltzmann kinetic equation is the starting point of the present work. First step is to characterise the reference state in the perturbation scheme, namely the homogeneous state. Theoretical results for the granular temperature and kurtosis obtained in the homogeneous steady state are compared against Monte Carlo simulations showing a good agreement. Then, the Chapman-Enskog method is employed to solve the Boltzmann equation to first order in spatial gradients. As expected, the Navier-Stokes-Fourier transport coefficients of the granular gas are given in terms of the solutions of a coupled set of linear integral equations which are approximately solved by considering the leading terms in a Sonine polynomial expansion. Our results show that the dependence of the transport coefficients on the coefficient of restitution is quite different from that found when the influence of the interstitial molecular gas is neglected (dry granular gas). When the granular particles are much more heavier than the gas particles (Brownian limit) the expressions of the transport coefficients are consistent with those previously derived from the Fokker-Planck equation. Finally, a linear stability analysis of the homogeneous steady state is performed showing this state is always linearly stable., Comment: 38 pages, 11 figures

The time evolution of a homogeneous bidisperse granular suspension is studied in the context of the Enskog kinetic equation. The influence of the surrounding viscous gas on the solid particles is modeled via a deterministic viscous drag force plus a stochastic Langevin-like term. It is found first that, regardless of the initial conditions, the system reaches (after a transient period lasting a few collisions per particle) a universal unsteady hydrodynamic regime where the distribution function of each species not only depends on the dimensionless velocity (as in the homogeneous cooling state) but also on the instantaneous temperature scaled with respect to the background temperature. To confirm this result, theoretical predictions for the time-dependent partial temperatures are compared against direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) results; the comparison shows an excellent agreement confirming the applicability of hydrodynamics in granular suspensions. Also, in the transient regime, the so-called Mpemba-like effect (namely, when an initially hotter sample cools sooner than the colder one) is analyzed for inelastic collisions. The theoretical analysis of the Mpemba effect is performed for initial states close to and far away from the asymptotic steady state. In both cases, a good agreement is found again between theory and DSMC results. As a complement of the previous studies, we determine in this paper the dependence of the steady values of the dynamic properties of the suspension on the parameter space of the system. More specifically, we focus on our attention in the temperature ratio $T_1/T_2$ and the fourth degree cumulants $c_1$ and $c_2$ (measuring the departure of the velocity distributions $f_1$ and $f_2$ from their Maxwellian forms). Finally, a linear stability analysis of the steady state solution is also carried out showing that the steady state is always linearly stable., Comment: 21 pages, 15 figures; to be published in Physics of Fluids

The Mpemba effect is a phenomenon in which an initially hotter sample cools sooner. In this paper, we show the emergence of a non-monotonic Mpemba-like effect in a molecular binary mixture immersed in a viscous gas. Namely, a crossover in the temperature evolution when at least one of the samples presents non-monotonic relaxation. The influence of the bath on the dynamics of the particles is modeled via a viscous drag force plus a stochastic Langevin-like term. Each component of the mixture interchanges energy with the bath depending on the mechanical properties of its particles. This discrimination causes the coupling between the time evolution of temperature with that of the partial temperatures of each component. The non-monotonic Mpemba effect -- and its inverse and mixed counterparts -- stems from this coupling. In order to obtain analytical results, the velocity distribution functions of each component are approximated by considering multitemperature Maxwellian distributions. The theoretical results derived from the Enskog kinetic theory show an excellent agreement with direct simulation Monte Carlo (DMSC) data., Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, submitted to Powders&Grains conference

The Mpemba effect occurs when two samples at different initial temperatures evolve in such a way that the temperatures cross each other during the relaxation towards equilibrium. In this paper we show the emergence of a Mpemba-like effect in a molecular binary mixture in contact with a thermal reservoir (bath). The interaction between the gaseous particles of the mixture and the thermal reservoir is modeled via a viscous drag force plus a stochastic Langevin-like term. The presence of the external bath couples the time evolution of the total and partial temperatures of each component allowing the appearance of the Mpemba phenomenon, even when the initial temperature differences are of the same order of the temperatures themselves. Analytical results are obtained by considering multitemperature Maxwellian approximations for the velocity distribution functions of each component. The theoretical analysis is carried out for initial states close to and far away (large Mpemba-like effect) from equilibrium. The former situation allows us to develop a simple theory where the time evolution equation for the temperature is linearized around its asymptotic equilibrium solution. This linear theory provides an expression for the crossover time. We also provide a qualitative description of the large Mpemba effect. Our theoretical results agree very well with computer simulations obtained by numerically solving the Enskog kinetic equation by means of the direct simulation Monte Carlo method and by performing molecular dynamics simulations. Finally, preliminary results for driven granular mixtures also show the occurrence of a Mpemba-like effect for inelastic collisions., Comment: 16 pages; 7 figures; the title has been changed; a new section devoted to granular mixtures has been added; to be published in Physics of Fluids

Non-Newtonian transport properties of an inertial suspension of inelastic rough hard spheres under simple shear flow are determined from the Boltzmann kinetic equation. The influence of the interstitial gas on rough hard spheres is modeled via a Fokker-Planck generalized equation for rotating spheres accounting for the coupling of both the translational and rotational degrees of freedom of grains with the background viscous gas. The generalized Fokker-Planck term is the sum of two ordinary Fokker-Planck differential operators in linear $\mathbf{v}$ and angular $\boldsymbol{\omega}$ velocity space. As usual, each Fokker-Planck operator is constituted by a drag force term (proportional to $\mathbf{v}$ and/or $\boldsymbol{\omega}$) plus a stochastic Langevin term defined in terms of the background temperature $T_\text{ex}$. The Boltzmann equation is solved by two different but complementary approaches: (i) by means of Grad's moment method, and (ii) by using a Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook (BGK)-type kinetic model adapted to inelastic rough hard spheres. As occurs in the case of \emph{smooth} inelastic hard spheres, our results show that both the temperature and the non-Newtonian viscosity increase drastically with increasing the shear rate (discontinuous shear thickening effect) while the fourth-degree velocity moments also exhibit an $S$-shape. In particular, while high levels of roughness may slightly attenuate the jump of the viscosity in comparison to the smooth case, the opposite happens for the rotational temperature. As an application of these results, a linear stability analysis of the steady simple shear flow solution is also carried out showing that there are regions of the parameter space where the steady solution becomes linearly unstable., Comment: 22 pages; 11 figures; to be published in Phys. Fluids

The Navier--Stokes transport coefficients of multicomponent granular suspensions at moderate densities are obtained in the context of the (inelastic) Enskog kinetic theory. The suspension is modeled as an ensemble of solid particles where the influence of the interstitial gas on grains is via a viscous drag force plus a stochastic Langevin-like term defined in terms of a background temperature. In the absence of spatial gradients, it is shown first that the system reaches a homogeneous steady state where the energy lost by inelastic collisions and viscous friction is compensated for by the energy injected by the stochastic force. Once the homogeneous steady state is characterized, a \emph{normal} solution to the set of Enskog equations is obtained by means of the Chapman--Enskog expansion around the \emph{local} version of the homogeneous state. To first-order in spatial gradients, the Chapman--Enskog solution allows us to identify the Navier--Stokes transport coefficients associated with the mass, momentum, and heat fluxes. In addition, the first-order contributions to the partial temperatures and the cooling rate are also calculated. Explicit forms for the diffusion coefficients, the shear and bulk viscosities, and the first-order contributions to the partial temperatures and the cooling rate are obtained in steady-state conditions by retaining the leading terms in a Sonine polynomial expansion. The results show that the dependence of the transport coefficients on inelasticity is clearly different from that found in its granular counterpart (no gas phase). The present work extends previous theoretical results for \emph{dilute} multicomponent granular suspensions [Khalil and Garz\'o, Phys. Rev. E \textbf{88}, 052201 (2013)] to higher densities., Comment: 26 pages, 7 figures; part of the technical details of the previous version have been relegated to a new Appendix; to be published in Phys. Rev. E

The Boltzmann kinetic equation is considered to evaluate the first-order contributions $T_i^{(1)}$ to the partial temperatures in binary granular suspensions at low density. The influence of the surrounding gas on the solid particles is modeled via a drag force proportional to the particle velocity plus a stochastic Langevin-like term. The Boltzmann equation is solved by means of the Chapman--Enskog expansion around the local version of the reference homogeneous base state. To first-order in spatial gradients, the coefficients $T_i^{(1)}$ are computed by considering the leading terms in a Sonine polynomial expansion. In addition, the influence of $T_i^{(1)}$ on the first-order contribution $\zeta^{(1)}$ to the cooling rate is also assessed. Our results show that the magnitude of both $T_i^{(1)}$ and $\zeta^{(1)}$ can be relevant for some values of the parameter space of the system., Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures

The Chapman--Enskog solution to the Enskog kinetic equation of polydisperse granular mixtures is revisited to determine the first-order contributions $\varpi_i$ to the partial temperatures. As expected, these quantities (which were neglected in previous attempts) are given in terms of the solution to a set of coupled integro-differential equations analogous to those for elastic collisions. The solubility condition for this set of equations is confirmed and the coefficients $\varpi_i$ are calculated by using the leading terms in a Sonine polynomial expansion. These coefficients are given as explicit functions of the sizes, masses, composition, density, and coefficients of restitution of the mixture. Within the context of small gradients, the results apply for arbitrary degree of inelasticity and are not restricted to specific values of the parameters of the mixture. In the case of elastic collisions, previous expressions of $\varpi_i$ for ordinary binary mixtures are recovered. Finally, the impact of the first-order coefficients $\varpi_i$ on the bulk viscosity $\eta_\text{b}$ and the first-order contribution $\zeta^{(1)}$ to the cooling rate is assessed. It is shown that the effect of $\varpi_i$ on $\eta_\text{b}$ and $\zeta^{(1)}$ is not negligible, specially for disparate mass ratios and strong inelasticity., Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures; to be published in Phys. Rev. E

Usual estimation methods for the parameters of extreme values distribution employ only a few values, wasting a lot of information. More precisely, in the case of the Gumbel distribution, only the block maxima values are used. In this work, we propose a method to seize all the available information in order to increase the accuracy of the estimations. This intent can be achieved by taking advantage of the existing relationship between the parameters of the baseline distribution, which generates data from the full sample space, and the ones for the limit Gumbel distribution. In this way, an informative prior distribution can be obtained. Different statistical tests are used to compare the behaviour of our method with the standard one, showing that the proposed method performs well when dealing with very shortened available data. The empirical effectiveness of the approach is demonstrated through a simulation study and a case study. Reduction in the credible interval width and enhancement in parameter location show that the results with improved prior adapt to very shortened data better than standard method does., Comment: 21 pages, 10 figures

The Enskog kinetic theory for moderately dense granular suspensions is considered as a model to determine the Navier-Stokes transport coefficients. The influence of the interstitial gas on solid particles is modeled by a viscous drag force term plus a stochastic Langevin-like term. The suspension model is solved by means of the Chapman--Enskog method conveniently adapted to dissipative dynamics. The momentum and heat fluxes as well as the cooling rate are obtained to first order in the deviations of the hydrodynamic field gradients from their values in the homogeneous steady state. Since the cooling terms (arising from collisional dissipation and viscous friction) cannot be compensated for by the energy gained by grains due to collisions with the interstitial gas, the reference distribution (zeroth-order approximation of the Chapman--Enskog solution) depends on time through its dependence on temperature. On the other hand, to simplify the analysis and given that we are interested in computing transport properties in the first order of deviations from the reference state, the steady-state conditions are considered. This simplification allows us to get explicit expressions for the Navier--Stokes transport coefficients. As expected, the results show that the dependence of the transport coefficients on both inelasticity and density is clearly different from that found in its granular counterpart (no gas phase). Finally, a linear stability analysis of the hydrodynamic equations with respect to the homogeneous steady state is performed. In contrast to the granular case (no gas-phase), no instabilities are found and hence, the homogeneous steady state is (linearly) stable., Comment: 25 pages, 9 figures; to be published in JSTAT

The Boltzmann kinetic equation for low-density granular suspensions under simple shear flow is considered to determine the velocity moments through the fourth degree. The influence of the interstitial gas on solid particles is modeled by a viscous drag force term plus a stochastic Langevin-like term. Two independent but complementary approaches are followed to achieve exact results. First, to keep the structure of the Boltzmann collision operator, the so-called inelastic Maxwell models (IMM) are considered. In this model, since the collision rate is independent of the relative velocity of the two colliding particles, the forms of the collisional moments can be obtained without the knowledge of the velocity distribution function. As a complement of the previous effort, a BGK-type kinetic model adapted to granular gases is solved to get the velocity moments of the velocity distribution function. The analytical predictions of the rheological properties (which are \emph{exactly} obtained in terms of the coefficient of restitution $\alpha$ and the reduced shear rate $a^*$) show in general an excellent agreement with event-driven simulations performed for inelastic hard spheres. In particular, both theoretical approaches show clearly that the temperature and non-Newtonian viscosity exhibit an $S$ shape in a plane of stress-strain rate (discontinuous shear thickening effect). With respect to the fourth-degree velocity moments, we find that while those moments have unphysical values for IMM in a certain region of the parameter space of the system, they are well defined functions of both $\alpha$ and $a^*$ in the case of the BGK kinetic model. The explicit shear-rate dependence of the fourth-degree moments beyond this critical region is also obtained and compared against available computer simulations., Comment: 23 pages, 9 figures, to be published in JSTAT

A linear stability analysis of the hydrodynamic equations with respect to the homogeneous cooling state is performed to study the conditions for stability of a suspension of solid particles immersed in a viscous gas. The dissipation in such systems arises from two different sources: inelasticity in particle collisions and viscous friction dissipation due to the influence of gas phase on solid particles. The starting point is a suspension model based on the (inelastic) Enskog kinetic equation where the effect of the interstitial gas phase on the dynamics of grains is modeled via a viscous drag force. The study is carried out in two different steps. First, the transport coefficients of the system are obtained by solving the Enskog equation by means of the Chapman-Enskog method up to first order in spatial gradients. Once the transport properties are known, then the corresponding linearized hydrodynamic equations are solved to get the dispersion relations. In contrast to previous studies [V. Garz\'o \emph{et al.}, Phys. Rev. E \textbf{93}, 012905 (2016)], the hydrodynamic modes are \emph{analytically} obtained as functions of the parameter space of the system. As expected, linear stability shows $d-1$ transversal (shear) modes (where $d$ is the dimensionality of the system) and a longitudinal "heat" mode to be unstable with respect to long enough wavelength excitations. The results also show that the main effect of gas phase is to decrease the value of the critical length $L_c$ (beyond which the system becomes unstable) with respect to its value for a dry granular fluid. Comparison with direct numerical simulations for $L_c$ shows a good agreement for conditions of practical interest., Comment: 19 pages; 9 Figures. To be published in J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1511.03988