Abstract: 
In this talk, the speaker will give a brief introduction on gravity driven granular flow through hoppers and silos. Phase transitions of flow on reducing the size of the orifice of the hopper/silo will also be reviewed. Other factors such as modification of the outlet, vibration and so on that affect the flow rate and clogging will be discussed. New results [Phys. Rev. E96, 032906 (2017)] on clog prevention by the motion of the orifice will be presented.

​

Biography: 
Dr. Kiwing To, a research fellow in the Institute of Physics Academia Sinica, got his Ph.D. degree in Physics from the University of Pittsburgh (PA, USA) in 1990. After his postdoctoral research career in Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris, France) and the Institute of Physics Academia Sinica, he joined the latter as a permanent faculty. For nearly 20 years, Dr. To has been studying the physics of granular chains as macroscopic analog of biological molecules and granular flow through bottle neck. In particular, he is interested to understand the clogging and unclogging processes when grains are flowing out of a silo.