Microscopic picture of the erosion and sedimentation processes in dense granular flows

Pierre Soulard (1) , Denis Dumont (2) , Thomas Salez (3) , Elie Raphaël (1) , Pascal Damman (4)

1 Gulliver (UMR 7083)
2 LIFC - Laboratoire Interfaces et Fluides Complexes [Mons]
3 LOMA - Laboratoire Ondes et Matière d'Aquitaine
4 Laboratoire Interfaces and Fluides Complexes

We introduce a novel microscopic model for gravity-driven dense granular flows at small inertial numbers, involving friction, geometry, and nonlocal collisional effects. Through the detailed description of the exchange mechanisms between a fluid phase and a solid one, the model allows to build a complete phase diagram including erosion, sedimentation, and stationary-flow regimes. The predictions are confronted to original results from discrete-element-method simulations, and to experiments from the literature. The quantitative agreement allows to characterize the size and shape of the cooperative regions, and to unify various configurations, observations, and observables from the literature.

Domaines: Matière Molle [cond-mat.soft]; Science des matériaux [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]; Mécanique statistique [cond-mat.stat-mech]; Systèmes désordonnés et réseaux de neurones [cond-mat.dis-nn]; Dynamique des Fluides [physics.flu-dyn]; Mécanique des solides [physics.class-ph]; Mécanique des matériaux [physics.class-ph]; Mécanique des fluides [physics.class-ph]

Pierre Soulard, Denis Dumont, Thomas Salez, Elie Raphaël, Pascal Damman. Microscopic picture of the erosion and sedimentation processes in dense granular flows. 2019. ⟨hal-02419372v1⟩