Penetration depth scaling for impact into wet granular packings

Abstract: We present experimental measurements of penetration depths for the impact of spheres into wetted granular media. We observe that the penetration depth in the liquid saturated case scales with projectile density, size, and drop height in a fashion consistent with the scaling observed in the dry case, but that penetration depths into saturated packings tend to be smaller. This result suggests that, for the range of impact energies observed, the stopping force is set by static contact forces between grains within the bed, and that the presence of liquid serves, primarily, to enhance these contact forces. The enhancement to the stopping force has a complicated dependence on liquid fraction, accompanied by a change in the drop-height dependence, that must be the consequence of accompanying changes in the conformation of the liquid phase in the interstices.