Rheological properties of a granular impurity in the Couette flow

We discuss in this work the validity of the theoretical solution of the nonlinear Couette flow for a granular impurity obtained in a recent work [preprint arXiv:0802.0526], in the range of large inelasticity and shear rate. We show there is a good agreement between the theoretical solution and Monte Carlo simulation data, even under these extreme conditions. We also discuss an extended theoretical solution that would work for large inelasticities in ranges of shear rate a not covered by our previous work (i.e., below the threshold value ath for which uniform shear flow may be obtained) and compare also with simulation data. Preliminary results in the simulations give useful insight in order to obtain an exact and general solution of the nonlinear Couette flow (both for a ≥ ath and a < ath).