THE RELAXATION OF THE 2ND MOMENTS IN RAPID SHEAR FLOWS OF SMOOTH DISKS

This paper compares the results of numerical simulations for two-dimen sional, rapid, homogeneous shear flows of identical, smooth, inelastic disks with the predictions of Jenkins and Richman ((1988), J. Fluid M ech. 192, 313-328) for the relaxation of the second moments of the vel ocity distribution function following a homogeneous, but anisotropic d isturbance of their steady values. For nearly elastic disks, the time- history of the relaxation is in excellent agreement with the theory in both its dense and dilute limits. However, deviations are observed in the case of inelastic particles.