2001/05/03 by Leonardo E. Silbert, L. E. Silbert, Deniz Ertaş +9 · 1,019 citations
Engineering · Environmental Science · Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Atomic packing factor #Flow (mathematics) #Geology #Geometry #Geotechnical engineering #Granular flow and fluidized beds #Granular material #Inclined plane #Landslides and related hazards #Mathematics #Mechanics #Physics #Pile #Plane (geometry) #Rheology #Scaling #Soil and Unsaturated Flow #Thermodynamics #cond-mat.stat-mech
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreve.64.051302
published in Physical review. E, Statistical physics, plasmas, fluids, and related interdisciplinary topics 64(5), 051302 (American Physical Society) · 17 pages, 20 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. E
arxiv created 2001/05/03 · openalex publication_date 2001/10/25 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We have performed a systematic, large-scale simulation study of granular media in two and three dimensions, investigating the rheology of cohesionless granular particles in inclined plane geometries, i.e., chute flows. We find that over a wide range of parameter space of interaction coefficients and inclination angles, a steady-state flow regime exists in which the energy input from gravity balances that dissipated from friction and inelastic collisions. In this regime, the bulk packing fraction (away from the top free surface and the bottom plate boundary) remains constant as a function of depth z, of the pile. The velocity profile in the direction of flow vx(z) scales with height of the pile H, according to vx(z) proportional to H(alpha), with alpha=1.52+/-0.05. However, the behavior of the normal stresses indicates that existing simple theories of granular flow do not capture all of the features evidenced in the simulations.