Bouncing motion of spherical particles in fluids

We investigate experimentally the bouncing motion of solid spheres onto a solid plate in an ambient fluid which is either a gas or a liquid. In particular, we measure the coefficient of restitution e as a function of the Stokes number, St, ratio of the particle inertia to the viscous forces. The coefficient e is zero at small St, increases monotonically with St above the critical value St(c) and reaches an asymptotic value at high St corresponding to the classical "dry" value e(max) measured in air or vacuum. This behavior is observed for a large range of materials and a master curve e/e(max)=f(St) is obtained. If gravity is sufficient to describe the rebound trajectory (after the collision) in a gas, this is not the case in a liquid where drag and added-mass effect are important but not sufficient: History forces are shown to be non-negligible even at large Reynolds number. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.