Mechanically driven particles as simple models for silo discharge, collective behavior of animate beings, and human egress dynamics

Mechanically driven particles as simple models for silo discharge, collective behavior of animate beings, and human egress dynamics | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Mechanically driven particles as simple models for silo discharge, collective behavior of animate beings, and human egress dynamics Ralf Stannarius, Tina Hanselka, Torsten Trittel This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7692443/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 27 Mar, 2026 Read the published version in Granular Matter → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The collective behavior of large ensembles of interacting dynamic objects is an ubiquitous phenomenon that is still not fully understood even today. For example, passages through bottlenecks are often crucial situations that may delay or inhibit the motion of particles, animals, humans, or vehicles. It is often difficult to obtain experimental data under systematic parameter variations, particularly when biological objects are involved. We introduce here purely mechanical experiments with symmetrically and asymmetrically shaped particles that are excited by a vibrating horizontal ground plate. Active and passive dynamics can be mimicked by proper adjustment of the weight distributions in the particles, and the level of activity can be controlled by excitation parameters. A slight tilt of the ground plate can simulate drag in a preferential direction. All these parameters can be conveniently varied in this kitchen-table experiment and optical particle tracking yields all relevant information for a statistical analysis. Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 27 Mar, 2026 Read the published version in Granular Matter → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7692443","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":542861375,"identity":"6c5210f5-dd9a-4a9d-a334-969c7dca0710","order_by":0,"name":"Ralf 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dynamics","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research 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For example, passages through bottlenecks are often crucial situations that may delay or inhibit the motion of particles, animals, humans, or vehicles.\nIt is often difficult to obtain experimental data under systematic parameter variations, particularly when biological\nobjects are involved.\nWe introduce here purely mechanical experiments with symmetrically and asymmetrically shaped particles that are excited by a vibrating horizontal ground plate.\nActive and passive dynamics can be mimicked by proper adjustment of the weight distributions in the particles, and\nthe level of activity can be controlled by excitation parameters. A slight tilt of the ground plate can simulate drag in a preferential direction.\nAll these parameters can be conveniently varied in this kitchen-table experiment\nand optical particle tracking yields all relevant information for a statistical analysis.","manuscriptTitle":"Mechanically driven particles as simple models for silo discharge, collective\nbehavior of animate beings, and human egress dynamics","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-11-12 15:00:13","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7692443/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"6e2b0cd9-540d-480c-a0aa-8871dfd72948","owner":[],"postedDate":"November 12th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-03-30T16:17:39+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-7692443","link":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10035-026-01631-1","journal":{"identity":"granular-matter","isVorOnly":false,"title":"Granular Matter"},"publishedOn":"2026-03-27 16:09:21","publishedOnDateReadable":"March 27th, 2026"},"versionCreatedAt":"2025-11-12 15:00:13","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1007/s10035-026-01631-1","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10035-026-01631-1","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7692443","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7692443","identity":"rs-7692443","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}