Phase transition in peristaltic transport of frictionless granular particles

Abstract

Flow of dissipative particles driven by peristaltic motion of a tube is numerically studied. A transition from slow unjammed flow to fast jammed flow is found through the observation of the mass flux if the minimum width of the peristaltic tube is smaller than a critical value. It is also found that average and fluctuation of the transition time, and the peak value of the second moment of the mass flux exhibit power-law divergences at the critical point and these variables satisfy scaling relationships near the critical point. Dependences of the critical width and exponents on peristaltic velocity and on density are also discussed.