Smoothing out sandpiles: rotational bulldozing of granular material

Alban Sauret (1)

1 IRPHE - Institut de Recherche sur les Phénomènes Hors Equilibre

We investigate experimentally the bulldozing motion of a granular sandpile lying on a rotating table. Time-measurements of the topography of the dune are provided for different granular media which properties vary significantly. The dynamic of the gran- ular media can be separated in two mechanisms: the sandpile is carried perpendicularly to the blade adopting a well-defined profile and by the same time it spreads laterally along the blade in a longer timescale. An analytical model, based on the μ(I)-rheology, allows to capture, at first order, the shape of the profile perpendicular to the dune. Then, a depth-averaged model captures the spreading dynamic of the sandpile through an advection-diffusion equation. The present study provides a first insight in the motion of sandpile carried by a bulldozer.

Mots clés: Granular Flow

Domaines: Dynamique des Fluides [physics.flu-dyn]

Alban Sauret. Smoothing out sandpiles: rotational bulldozing of granular material. 2013. ⟨hal-00870176⟩