Abstract
In this paper we exploit the fact that dense granular flow down an inclined chute exhibits a simple scaling property. This implies that the fundamental governing partial differential equation admits similarity profiles which are applicable to any general friction law \(\mu (I)\) of the material irrespective of the particular functional form under consideration, where \(\mu (I)\) is a function of the dimensionless parameter, called the inertial number I. We adopt a widely accepted constitutive model describing the material response that draws its original inspiration from the realms of classical visco-plasticity. The governing steady-state similarity solutions are however applicable for any friction law describing dense granular media. These steady-state solutions embody the key aspects of dense granular flow down an inclined chute that find wide usage in various industrial applications and will further aid in modelling natural geophysical phenomenon. We provide steady-state analytical solutions for some special cases and we emphasize the importance of similarity solutions as a benchmark standard for various numerical studies concerning the complex material behaviour of dense granular flows.
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Acknowledgements
JMH gratefully acknowledges the hospitality and the financial support provided by the Institute of Geotechnical Engineering, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, during which time this work was undertaken. DB wishes to acknowledge the financial support provided by a grant from the Otto Pregl Foundation for Fundamental Geotechnical Research in Vienna, Austria. The authors also thank the two reviewers for extensive commentary that has materially improved the presentation of the manuscript.
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Appendix A: Integral evaluation for analytical solution (\(\mu _{\infty } = \mu _{0}\))
Appendix A: Integral evaluation for analytical solution (\(\mu _{\infty } = \mu _{0}\))
In this appendix we evaluate the integral arising in Eq. (21) and given by,
On making the successive substitutions,
we might deduce
where \(a = {(1-\sigma ^2)^{1/2}}/{\sigma ^{1/2}}\). With the further substitution \(x = a \cosh \varTheta\) we might deduce
so that
and therefore,
The above expression may be simplified to give
where we have used,
and \({x}/{a} = ({\sigma t +1 })/{(1-\sigma ^2)^{1/2}}\). Further simplification gives
where C denotes a constant of integration, and
On using
we finally obtain
where \(C^{*}\) denotes a different constant of integration.
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Hill, J.M., Bhattacharya, D. & Wu, W. Steady-state similarity velocity profiles for dense granular flow down inclined chutes. Granular Matter 23, 27 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10035-020-01085-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10035-020-01085-z