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Clogging of Cohesive Particles in a Two-Dimensional Hopper

Johnathan Hoggarth1,*,†, Pablo E. Illing2,*,‡, Eric R. Weeks2, and Kari Dalnoki-Veress1,3,§

  • 1Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, L8S 4M1, Ontario, Canada
  • 2Department of Physics, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322, USA
  • 3UMR CNRS Gulliver 7083, ESPCI Paris, PSL Research University, Paris, 75005, France

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †Present address: Mechanical Engineering, Yale University, Connecticut 06511, USA.
  • ‡Present address: Department of Chemical Engineering, Auburn University, Alabama 36849, USA.
  • §Contact author: dalnoki@mcmaster.ca
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 088201 – Published 23 February, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/n68l-9b38

Abstract

We study clogging of cohesive particles in a two-dimensional hopper with experiments and simulations. The system consists of buoyant, monodisperse oil droplets in an aqueous solution, where the droplet size, buoyant force, cohesion, and hopper opening are varied. Stronger cohesion enhances clogging, a trend confirmed in simulations. Balancing buoyant and cohesive forces defines a cohesive length scale that collapses the data onto a master curve. Thus, under strong cohesion, we find that clogging is governed not by particle diameter, but by the cohesive length scale.

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 088201– Published 23 February, 2026
  • Received 15 October 2025
  • Accepted 21 January 2026
Article part of CHORUS
Accepted manuscript will be available starting 23 February, 2027.
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