Microscopic models of energy dissipation by internal degrees of freedom in particle collisions

A microscopy model of energy dissipation in collisions of macroscopic bodies is investigated. Dissipation of translational energy is modelled by excitation of elastic vibrations of the bodies through collisions. The model is solved exactly in one dimension, resulting in a stochastic description of a collision process. This result is used to perform fast many-particle simulations of one-dimensional granular gases and equilibrium systems. the one-dimensional calculation is generalised to three dimensions and a simulation algrorithm for collisions of three-dimensional objects is developed. Results for spheres are presented, showing that the kind of dissipation considered plays a significant role for particle collisions, partiularly for spheres which differ in size