We analyze particle velocity fluctuations in a simulated granular system subjected to homogeneous quasistatic shearing. We show that these fluctuations share the following scaling characteristics of fluid turbulence in spite of their different physical origins: (i) scale-dependent probability distribution with non-Gaussian broadening at small time scales; (ii) spatial power spectrum of the velocity field showing a power-law decay, reflecting long-range correlations and the self-affine nature of the fluctuations; and (iii) superdiffusion of particles with respect to the mean background flow.

• Received 23 January 2002

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.064302