Angle of Repose and Angle of Marginal Stability: Molecular Dyanmics of Granular Particles

1992/11/23 by Joongku Lee, Jysoo Lee, Hans J. Herrmann · 3 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Geotechnical Engineering and Soil Mechanics #Granular flow and fluidized beds #Soil and Unsaturated Flow #cond-mat

paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/0305-4470/26/2/021

published as J.Phys. A26 (1993) 373-384 · 14 pages, Plain TeX

arxiv created 1992/11/23 · openalex publication_date 1993/01/21 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30

Abstract

We present an implementation of realistic static friction in molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of granular particles. In our model, to break contacts between two particles, one has to apply a finite amount of force, determined by the Coulomb criterion. Using a two dimensional model, we show that piles generated by avalanches have a \it finite angle of repose θ_R (finite slopes). Furthermore, these piles are stable under tilting by an angle smaller than a non-zero tilting angle θ_T, showing that θ_R is different from the angle of marginal stability θ_MS, which is the maximum angle of stable piles. These measured angles are compared to a theoretical approximation. We also measure θ_MS by continuously adding particles on the top of a stable pile.

Citations

• A discrete numerical model for granular assemblies

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