Rheology of a granular system with capillary interactions

The rheology of granular systems is poorly understood, particularly in terms of single-particle behaviour. The present work examines a computational system with capillary interparticle interactions, mimicking granular particles at an interface. Depending on the detailed physics of the system, Newtonian or viscoelastic behaviour is observed; the latter case corresponds approximately to the Voigt model of a fluid. This behaviour hints at analogies with thermal systems.