Probing dense granular materials by space-time dependent perturbations

The manner in which signals propagate through dense granular systems in both space and time is not well understood. In order to probe this process, we carry out discrete element simulations of the system response to excitations where we control the driving frequency and wavelength independently. Fourier analysis shows that properties of the signal depend strongly on the space-time scales of the perturbation. The features of the response provide a test bed for models that predict statistical and continuum space-time properties. We illustrate this connection between microscale physics and macroscale behavior by comparing the system response to a simple elastic model with damping.