EFFECTS OF ATTRACTORS ON THE DYNAMICS OF GRANULAR SYSTEMS

Failing to satisfy Liouville's theorem, the dynamics of granular mater ials is affected by the attractors in their phase spaces. Motion of in elastic hard disks in a thin pipe with energy sources at both ends of the pipe is simulated and the statistical steady state is studied. We investigate the probability distribution function of the spacing l bet ween neighboring particles, and find that the attractors can lead to a phase of the cluster of particles with structures different from that of an ideal gas.