Dynamical and structural properties of a granular model for a magnetorheological fluid.

We study a two-dimensional nonvibrating granular system as a model of a magnetorheological fluid. The system is composed of magnetic steel particles on a horizontal plane under a vertical sinusoidal magnetic field and a horizontal static magnetic field. When the amplitude of the horizontal field is zero, we find that the motion of the particles has characteristics similar to those of Brownian particles. A slowing down of the dynamics is observed as the particle concentration increases or the magnitude of the vertical magnetic field decreases. When the amplitude of the horizontal field is nonzero, the particles interact through effective dipolar interactions. Above a threshold in the amplitude of the horizontal field, particles form chains that become longer and more stable as time increases. For some conditions, at short time intervals, the average chain length as a function of time exhibits scaling behavior. The chain length distribution at a given time is a decreasing exponential function. The behavior of this granular system is consistent with theoretical and experimental results for magnetorheological fluids.