The bouncing ball problem was demonstrated to be a simple manner to experience chaotic behaviours. We studied a bouncing hollow ball which was filled with grains. On one hand, this procedure highly increases the number of freedom. On the other hand, the energy can be rapidly dissipated by the numerous inelastic collisions between the grains contained in the ball. We demonstrated that the bouncing of the hollow ball is very stable in some conditions. Moreover, we discover that bouncing modes can be coupled to natural excited states of the granular material like oscillons.

Reference :

 F.Pacheco-Vázquez, F.Ludewig, S.Dorbolo, Dynamics of a Grain-Filled Ball on a Vibrating Plate, Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 118001 (2014) – http://hdl.handle.net/2268/171939