Inelastic collapse

摘要

Inelastic (energy-dissipating) particles can collide an infinite number of times in finite time. This phenomenon, called inelastic collapse, is an extreme example of correlated collisions. Inelastic collapse is present in the "inelastic hard-sphere" model of granular materials, where granular particles are modeled as identical spheres which interact only via instantaneous collisions. Unlike the classical hard-sphere fluid, collisions are inelastic, they dissipate energy.