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Towards probing velocity distributions in dense granular fluids: Utilizing fiber Bragg gratings

Marlo Kunzner1,*, Luis Henriques1,†, Fahad Puthalath1, Leonardo Facchini1, Mohammadhossein Shahsavari1, Léa Gommeringer1, Martin Angelmahr2, Peidong Yu1, Matthias Sperl1 et al.

Till Böhmer1 and Jan Philipp Gabriel1

  • *Present address: Department for Theoretical Physics, University of Cologne.
  • †Contact author: Marlo.Kunzner@dlr.de
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Phys. Rev. E 114, 025410 – Published 17 August, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/15g8-5dfd

Abstract

Granular gases are commonly characterized through their velocity distribution, which provides access to the granular temperature. In experiments, velocity distributions are typically obtained by particle tracking, which becomes, however, limited at moderate and high particle densities. As a way forward, we propose a new technique for measuring particle velocities in situ by using a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor, which remains applicable at significantly higher particle densities. The FBG sensor detects strain pulses induced by particle-fiber collisions, from which the velocity of the impacting particle can be derived. Applying this method to an ensemble of granular particles allows us to extract its velocity distributions, as we present for a granular system excited by a vibrational shaker. We validate the extracted velocity distribution against conventional particle-tracking measurements, confirming the reliability of the FBG-based technique.

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Phys. Rev. E 114, 025410– Published 17 August, 2026
  • Received 8 December 2025
  • Revised 19 May 2026
  • Accepted 9 July 2026
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