A kinetic model for rapid flows of granular materials

A kinetic model for rapid flows of granular material is considered. An evolution equation for the first order distribution function is developed which includes the effects of intergranular friction force in an average sense. The collision operator is approximated by the BGK relaxation model. The fundamental equations of motion including an equation for dynamics of the fluctuation energy are derived and discussed. The gravity and the plane Couette flows of granular materials are treated as examples of the applications of the present theory.     

Nonlinear elasto-plastic model for dense granular flow

This work proposes a model for granular deformation that predicts the stress and velocity profiles in well-developed dense granular flows. Recent models for granular elasticity [Jiang, Y., Liu, M., 2003. Granular elasticity without the Coulomb condition. Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 144301] and rate-sensitive fluid-like flow [Jop, P., Forterre, Y., Pouliquen, O., 2006. A constitutive law for dense granular flows. Nature 441, 727] are reformulated and combined into one universal elasto-plastic law, capable of predicting flowing regions and stagnant zones simultaneously in any arbitrary 3D flow geometry. The unification is performed by justifying and implementing a Kröner–Lee decomposition, with care taken to ensure certain continuum physical principles are necessarily upheld. The model is then numerically implemented in multiple geometries and results are compared to experiments and discrete simulations.     

Smoothed particle hydrodynamics for coarse-grained modeling of rapid granular flow

We simulated rapid flow in transient plane Couette flows of granular particles using the smoothed particle hydrodynamics(SPH) solutions of a set of continuum equations.This simulation was performed to test the viability of SPH in solving the equations for the solid phase of the two-fluid model associated with fluidization.We found that SPH requires the handling of fewer particles in simulating the collective behavior of rapid granular flow,thereby bolstering expectations of solving the equations for the solid phase in the two-fluid modeling of fluidization.Further work is needed to investigate the effect of terms describing pressure and viscous stress of solids on stability in simulations.     

Assessment of the kinetic-frictional model for dense granular flow

This paper aims to quantitatively assess the application of kinetic-frictional model to simulate the motion of dry granular materials in dense condition, in particular, the annular shearing in Couette configuration. The weight of frictional stress was varied to study the contribution of the frictional stress in dense granular flows. The results show that the pure kinetic-theory-based computational fluid dynamics （CFD） model （without frictional stress） over-predicts the dominant solids motion of dense granular flow while adding frictional stress [Schaeffer, D. G. （1987）. Instability in the evolution equations describing incompressible granular flow. Journal of Differential Equations, 66（1）, 19-50] with the solids pressure of [Lun, C. NTK., Savage, S. B., Jeffrey, D. J., ＆ Chepurniy, N. （1984）. Kinetic theories for granular flow： Inelastic particles in Couette flow and slightly inelastic particles in a general flow field. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 140, 223-256] in the CFD model improves the simulation to better conform available experimental results. The results also suggest that frictional stress transmission plays an important role in dense granular flow and should not be neglected in granular flow simulations. Compatible simulation results to the experimental data are seen by increasing the weight of frictional stress to a factor of 1.25-1.5. These improved simulation results suggest the current constitutive relations （kinetic-frictional model） need to be improved in order to better reflect the real dense granular flow.     

New constitutive equations for the rapid flow of granular materials—II

This paper compliments a previous paper, (J. Non-Newtonian Fluid Mech.,9(1981) 147), which discussed new constitutive equations for rapid collisionally maintained flow of granular materials as a non-Newtonian microfluid in which the gradient of microrotation played an important role as a kinematic variable. In this article we discuss another variation of such constitutive equations; one for which we do not consider the effects of gradients of the mean microrotation of grains. Derived are expressions for the dispersive normal and shear stresses for a plane shear rapid flow of a granular material in the presence of intergranular slip and friction. These expressions reduce to classical results if friction is set equal to zero. A graph of the variation of stresses versus the friction factor is also presented which reveals a kind of choking phenomenon at larger values of μ_k.     

A new physical model on the capillary phenomenon of granular particles

Similar to the capillary phenomenon of liquid, granular particles can move up to a certain height along a vertically vibrating tube. The certain height, which is called the equilibrium height, is related to some parameters, e.g., the inner diameter of the tube, the amplitude, and the vibration frequency. In this paper, a theoretical model is proposed to explain the physical origin of the capillary phenomenon and the effects of the inner diameter of the tube, the amplitude, and the vibration frequency on the equilibrium height. In this model, the volumes of the inflowing and outflowing particles in a vibration period are calculated, which can significantly broaden our understanding in the flow of particles in the bottom of the tube. In order to prove the assumption of this physical model that the particles in the bottom of the tube move in the form of sine, several experiments are conducted. The granular climbing heights at different granular positions and different time stages are measured. The results show that granules move in the form of sine, which almost coincides with the motion of the tube. Moreover, motivated by the sampling on the asteroid regolith based on this mechanism, the sampling efficiencies for various vibration amplitudes and frequencies are discussed based on the new proposed model. It is found that there is an optimum frequency at which sampling is the most effective.     

A microstructural elastoplastic model for unsaturated granular materials

The homogenization technique is used to obtain an elastoplastic stress–strain relationship for dry, saturated and unsaturated granular materials. Deformation of a representative volume of material is generated by mobilizing particle contacts in all orientations. In this way, the stress–strain relationship can be derived as an average of the mobilization behavior of these local contact planes. The local behavior is assumed to follow a Hertz–Mindlin’s elastic law and a Mohr–Coulomb’s plastic law. For the non-saturated state, capillary forces at the grain contacts are added to the contact forces created by an external load. They are calculated as a function of the degree of saturation, depending on the grain size distribution and on the void ratio of the granular assembly. Numerical simulations show that the model is capable of reproducing the major trends of a partially saturated granular assembly under various stress and water content conditions. The model predictions are compared to experimental results on saturated and unsaturated samples of silty sands under undrained triaxial loading condition. This comparison shows that the model is able to account for the influence of capillary forces on the stress–strain response of the granular materials and therefore, to reproduce the overall mechanical behavior of unsaturated granular materials.     

A new look at the laminar flow of power law fluids through granular beds

Summary The paper deals with laminar flow of power law fluids through granular beds. A critical review of the assumptions concerning the capillary model of the bed, applied by various authors, led us to the conclusion that the derivation of the correlation eq. [13] given byChristopher andMiddleman was based on a too simplified model of the granular bed. Taking advantage of the approach presented in the classical works ofKozeny andCarman (which seems to be partly overlooked by some authors, including our own previous works) a modified correlation equation for power law fluids [21], a corrected formula for shear rate in the bed [29] and for Deborah number [32], as well as corrected correlation equation for fluids exhibiting memory effects [34] were presented.

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Zusammenfassung Diese Arbeit betrifft laminare Strömungen von Potenzgesetzflüssigkeiten durch Kornschüttungen. Eine kritische Prüfung der Annahmen, die von verschiedenen Autoren für das Kapillar-Modell der Schüttung gemacht worden sind, führt uns zu der Folgerung, daß die Herleitung der Korrelationsgleichung [13] nachChristopher undMiddleman auf einem übervereinfachten Modell der Kornschüttung basiert. Unter Nutzbarmachung der Annahmen, die in den klassischen Arbeiten vonKozeny undCarman dargestellt worden sind (sie wurden sowohl von manchen anderen Autoren als auch in unseren früheren Arbeiten nicht beachtet), werden nun eine modifizierte Korrelationsgleichung für die Potenzgesetzflüssigkeiten [21], eine korrigierte Formel für die Schergeschwindigkeit in der Schüttung [29], eine korrigierte Formel für die Deborah-Zahl [32] und eine korrigierte Korrelationsgleichung für Flüssigkeiten, die Gedächtnis-Effekte zeigen [34], angegeben.

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Notation A constant in eq. [9] - d _p effective particle diameterd _p = 6/a (wherea is the specific surface of the bed), m - f _BK modified friction factor, defined by eq. [1] - k power law parameter, N s ⁿ /m² - K Kozeny constant, defined by eq. [8] - K ₀ constant depending on the shape of the channel cross-section - K ₁ constant, defined by eq. [5] - l bed height, m - l _e channel length, m - n power law parameter - p pressure drop due to friction, N/m² - r _h hydraulic radius, defined by eq. [6], m - s bed permeability, defined by eq. [16], m² - v ₀ mean linear velocity related to an empty crosssection of the column, m/s - v _e mean linear velocity in the channel, m/s - shear rate at the wall of the channel, s^–1 - shear rate at the wall of the channel calculated according to the formula [29], s^–1 - bed porosity - characteristic time of the fluid, s - friction factor, defined by eq. [25] - µ dynamic viscosity of the fluid, N s/m² - parameter, defined by eq. [15], N s ⁿ /m¹⁺ⁿ - De Deborah number, defined by eq. [33] - De ^* Deborah number, defined by eq. [32] - Re _BK modified Reynolds number, defined by eq. [2] - Re _BK modified Reynolds number, defined by eq. [26] - Re _BK ^* modified Reynolds number, defined by eq. [23] - Re _CM modified Reynolds number byChristopher andMiddleman, defined by eq. [14] - Re _CM modified Reynolds number, defined by eq. [17] With 3 figures and 1 table     

A discrete element model for simulating saturated granular soil

A numerical model is developed to simulate saturated granular soil, based on the discrete element method. Soil particles are represented by Lagrangian discrete elements, and pore fluid, by appropriate discrete elements which represent alternately Lagrangian mass of water and Eulerian volume of space. Macro-scale behavior of the model is verified by simulating undrained biaxial compression tests. Micro-scale behavior is compared to previous literature through pore pressure pattern visualization during shear tests. It is demonstrated that dynamic pore pressure patterns are generated by superposed stress waves. These pore-pressure patterns travel much faster than average drainage rate of the pore fluid and may initiate soil fabric change, ultimately leading to liquefaction in loose sands. Thus, this work demonstrates a tool to roughly link dynamic stress wave patterns to initiation of liquefaction phenomena.     

A new constitutive model for fibre suspensions: flow past a sphere

A new phenomenological constitutive equation for homogeneous suspensions of macrosized fibres is proposed. In the model, the local averaged orientation of the fibres is represented by a director field, which evolves in time in a manner similar to the rotation of a prolate spheroid. The stress is linear in the strain rate, but the viscosity is a fourth-order tensor that is directly related to the director field. In the limit of low-volume fractions of fibres, the model reduces properly to the leading terms of the constitutive equation for dilute suspensions of spheroids. The model has three parameters: the aspect ratio R of the fibres, the volume fraction , and A, which plays the role of the maximum-volume fraction of the fibres. Experimental shear data are used to estimate the parameter A, and the resulting model is used in a boundary-element program to study the flow past a sphere placed at the centre line of a cylinder for the whole range of volume fractions from 0.01 to near maximum volume fraction. The agreement with experimental data from Milliken et al. [1] is good.     

A new dynamic subgrid-scale model using artificial neural network for compressible flow

The subgrid-scale (SGS) kinetic energy has been used to predict the SGS stress in compressible flow and it was resolved through the SGS kinetic energy transport equation in past studies. In this paper, a new SGS eddy-viscosity model is proposed using artificial neural network to obtain the SGS kinetic energy precisely, instead of using the SGS kinetic energy equation. Using the infinite series expansion and reserving the first term of the expanded term, we obtain an approximated SGS kinetic energy, which has a high correlation with the real SGS kinetic energy. Then, the coefficient of the modelled SGS kinetic energy is resolved by the artificial neural network and the modelled SGS kinetic energy is more accurate through this method compared to the SGS kinetic energy obtained from the SGS kinetic energy equation. The coefficients of the SGS stress and SGS heat flux terms are determined by the dynamic procedure. The new model is tested in the compressible turbulent channel flow. From the a posterior tests, we know that the new model can precisely predict the mean velocity, the Reynolds stress, the mean temperature and turbulence intensities, etc.     

Solutions of the kinetic theory for bounded collisional granular flows

We consider collisional granular flows of nearly elastic spheres featuring a single constituent or binary mixtures in various bounded geometries. We review the equations of the kinetic theory for the conservation of mass, momentum, fluctuation energy and species concentration. We illustrate their solutions for shear flows in rectilinear or axisymmetric rectangular channels with or without a body force. We show that proper boundary conditions yield numerical solutions in good agreement with molecular dynamical simulations and with data from physical experiments carried out in microgravity.Received: 3 December 2002, Accepted: 3 February 2003, Published online: 27 June 2003PACS: 45.70.Mg, 45.70.-n, 05.20.Dd, 83.10.Rs     

A micromechanical model for effective conductivity in granular electrode structures

Optimization of composition and microstructure is important to enhance performance of solid oxide fuel cells （SOFC） and lithium-ion batteries （LIB）. For this, the porous electrode structures of both SOFC and LIB are modeled as a binary mixture of electronic and ionic conducting particles to estimate effective transport properties. Particle packings of 10000 spherical, binary sized and randomly positioned particles are created numerically and densified considering the different manufacturing processes in SOFC and LIB： the sintering of SOFC electrodes is approximated geometrically, whereas the calendering process and volume change due to intercalation in LIB are modeled physically by a discrete el- ement approach. A combination of a tracking algorithm and a resistor network approach is developed to predict the con- nectivity and effective conductivity for the various densified structures. For SOFC, a systematic study of the influence of morphology on connectivity and conductivity is performed on a large number of assemblies with different compositions and particle size ratios between 1 and 10. In comparison to percolation theory, an enlarged percolation area is found, es- pecially for large size ratios. It is shown that in contrast to former studies the percolation threshold correlates to varying coordination numbers. The effective conductivity shows not only an increase with volume fraction as expected but also with size ratio. For LIB, a general increase of conductivity during the intercalation process was observed in correlation with increasing contact forces. The positive influence of cal- endering on the percolation threshold and the effective conductivity of carbon black is shown. The anisotropy caused by the calendering process does not influence the carbon black phase.     

Constitutive model for special granular structures

This work deals with novel “smart systems” that are based on granular materials. These systems consist of mechanical components, such as a beam or bar, enclosed in a tight flexible sleeve that is filled with a granular material. When air is pumped out of the sleeve, the resulting underpressure causes the compression of the granules making the system more rigid and changing its damping characteristics. This allows for quick, easy, and inexpensive control of the damping and stiffness of such a system. This paper presents the experimental results of uniaxial tensile tests of a sleeve filled with different granular materials. These results support the modeling of the mechanics of such a system with the Chaboche viscoplastic constitutive law. The experiments provide the quantitative and functional dependence of the model parameters on the underpressure, which acts as the control variable. The highly non-linear dependence of the system's fundamental mechanical properties on the underpressure is described and discussed. This basic work opens the way to applications in mechanical systems where effective control of vibrations or noise is important.     

Multi-mechanism anisotropic model for granular materials

By representing the assembly by a simplified column model, a constitutive theory, referred to as sliding–rolling theory, was recently developed for a two-dimensional assembly of rods subjected to biaxial loading, and then extended to a three-dimensional assembly of spheres subjected to triaxial (equibiaxial) loading. The sliding–rolling theory provides a framework for developing a phenomenological constitutive law for granular materials, which is the objective of the present work. The sliding–rolling theory provides information concerning yield and flow directions during radial and non-radial loading. In addition, the theory provides information on the role of fabric anisotropy on the stress–strain behavior and critical state shear strength. In the present paper, a multi-axial phenomenological model is developed within the sliding–rolling framework by utilizing the concepts of critical state, classical elasto-plasticity and bounding surface. The resulting theory involves two yield surfaces and falls within the definition of the multi-mechanism models. Computational issues concerning the solution uniqueness for stress states at the corner of yield surfaces are addressed. The effect of initial and induced fabric anisotropy on the constitutive behavior is incorporated. It is shown that the model is capable of simulating the effect of anisotropy, and the behavior of loose and dense sands under drained and undrained loading.     

A theoretical equation for the flow of granular solids from a hopper

Summary Failure in shear is responsible for the inception of flow in granular solids but once the particles cease to be in contact with each other the concept of shear has little validity and there is more resemblance to the flow of a fluid. Applied to the flow of cohesion-free material from a horizontal aperture at the base of a hopper, these ideas are shown to lead to a relatively simple means of calculating a pseudo-pressure at the base of the hopper, which can be substituted into a pressure-drop relationship of theBernouilli type to give a theoretical equation for the flow rate from the aperture.The derivation depends essentially on the treatment of the moving solids as a fluid, and on the existence of an active condition in the material at the moment when movement commences. Both of these concepts are examined in detail. The theoretical flow equation is shown to fit in well with published correlations.Paper presented at a meeting of the British Society of Rheology, University of Nottingham, April 6–8, 1965.     

On the modeling of granular traffic flow by the kinetic theory for active particles trend to equilibrium and macroscopic behavior

The modeling of vehicular traffic flow is developed by methods of the discrete mathematical kinetic theory for active particles. The discretization refers to the velocity variable in the case of spatially homogeneity. The discretization overcomes, at least in part, some technical difficulties related to the selection of the correct representation scale. Moreover, the modeling approach includes in the state equation of the vehicle an activity variable suitable to model the quality (low or high) of the vehicle-driver system. This paper aims to be the first of a project concerning traffic flow by active particles methods.     

Fracture of granular materials composed of arbitrary grain shapes: A new cohesive interaction model

Discrete Element Methods (DEM) are a useful tool to model the fracture of cohesive granular materials. For this kind of application, simple particle shapes (discs in 2D, spheres in 3D) are usually employed. However, dealing with more general particle shapes allows to account for the natural heterogeneity of grains inside real materials. We present a discrete model allowing to mimic cohesion between contacting or non-contacting particles whatever their shape in 2D and 3D. The cohesive interactions are made of cohesion points placed on interacting particles, with the aim of representing a cohesive phase lying between the grains. Contact situations are solved according to unilateral contact and Coulomb friction laws. In order to test the developed model, 2D uniaxial compression simulations are performed. Numerical results show the ability of the model to mimic the macroscopic behavior of an aggregate grain subject to axial compression, as well as fracture initiation and propagation. A study of the influence of model and sample parameters provides important information on the ability of the model to reproduce various behaviors.