Additive rheology of complex granular flows

Type Article
Date 2020-03
Language English
Author(s) Trung Vo Thanh1, 2, Nezamabadi SaeidORCID2, 3, Mutabaruka PatrickORCID2, Delenne Jean-Yves3, Radjai Farhang2, 4
Affiliation(s) 1 : Danang Architecture Univ, Bridge & Rd Dept, Da Nang, Vietnam.
2 : Univ Montpellier, CNRS, LMGC, F-34060 Montpellier, France.
3 : Univ Montpellier, SupAgro, CIRAD, IATE,UMR1208,INRAE, F-34060 Montpellier, France.
4 : MIT, CNRS, UMI, MSE2, 77 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA.
Source Nature Communications (2041-1723) (Nature Research), 2020-03 , Vol. 11 , N. 1 , P. 1476 (8p.)
DOI 10.1038/s41467-020-15263-3
WOS© Times Cited 55
Keyword(s) Civil engineering, Colloids, Physics, Process chemistry, Rheology
Abstract

Granular flows are omnipresent in nature and industrial processes, but their rheological properties such as apparent friction and packing fraction are still elusive when inertial, cohesive and viscous interactions occur between particles in addition to frictional and elastic forces. Here we report on extensive particle dynamics simulations of such complex flows for a model granular system composed of perfectly rigid particles. We show that, when the apparent friction and packing fraction are normalized by their cohesion-dependent quasistatic values, they are governed by a single dimensionless number that, by virtue of stress additivity, accounts for all interactions. We also find that this dimensionless parameter, as a generalized inertial number, describes the texture variables such as the bond network connectivity and anisotropy. Encompassing various stress sources, this unified framework considerably simplifies and extends the modeling scope for granular dynamics, with potential applications to powder technology and natural flows. Granular materials are abundant in nature, but we haven't fully understood their rheological properties as complex interactions between particles are involved. Here, Vo et al. show that granular flows can be described by a generalized dimensionless number based on stress additivity.

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