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Grainflow Poliquen
Grainflow Poliquen
Grainflow Poliquen
O. Pouliquen
Coarse-grained local and objective continuum description of three-dimensional granular flows down an inclined
surface
Physics of Fluids 25, 070605 (2013); 10.1063/1.4812809
PHYSICS OF FLUIDS VOLUME 11, NUMBER 3 MARCH 1999
FIG. 5. Froude number u/ Agh as a function of h/h stop( u ) for the four
systems of beads and for different inclination angles.
one measures the function h stop( u ), which does not involve stress on the plane, the force balance can be written in term
any velocity measurement. Notice that, for a constant incli- of a dynamic friction coefficient m defined as the ratio of the
nation u, the empirical fit 1 predicts a 3/2 power law for the shear to the normal stress:
variation of u with the thickness h which is compatible with
tan~ u ! 5 m ~ u,h ! . ~2!
other experimental or numerical results obtained by
Vallance14 and Azanza.17 It is important to note that the above dynamic friction
Another interesting observation is that the data of Fig. 5 coefficient m (u,h), which is assumed to be a function of the
do not converge to 0 when the thickness h/h stop tends to 1. thickness h and of the mean velocity u, is not a property of
This point seems contradictory with the definition of h stop as the bulk material but describes the interaction between the
the critical thickness when the flow stops in an experiment material and the rough surface.
carried out at a constant inclination and with a slowly de- When performing an experiment at a given angle u and
creasing thickness. However, experimentally the velocity with a thickness h, the granular layer adjusts its velocity in
does not evolve continuously to zero when approaching accordance with Eq. ~2!. In other terms, fixing the inclination
h stop : When the thickness h decreases, the flow gently slows is equivalent to fixing the friction coefficient. From the sys-
down and then suddenly freezes when h reaches h stop . Such tematic velocity measurements we have carried out, it is thus
behavior is certainly the signature of a velocity weakening possible to find the variation of m with u and h by simply
friction force30,31 at the bed, a point which will be discussed substituting tan u by m in Eq. ~1!. In order to do so, we need
later in the paper. an analytical expression for the function h stop( u ). A good fit
~Fig. 3! is given by
S D
B. Role of the rough bed
h stop
From a more fundamental point of view, the scaling tan u 5tan u 1 1 ~ tan u 2 2tan u 1 ! exp 2 , ~3!
Ld
properties we have put in evidence underline the role played
by the function h stop( u ). Not only does this curve limit the where d is the particle diameter, u 1 corresponds to the angle
flow region in the parameter space, but it also contains all the where h stop( u ) diverges, u 2 to the angle where h stop( u ) van-
information about the influence on the flow dynamics of the ishes, and L is a characteristic dimensionless thickness over
inclination and of the other parameters like bead size or the which u stop(h) varies. Values of u 1 , u 2 , and L for the dif-
roughness of the bed. This function h stop , which has been ferent systems of beads are given in Table I. By substituting
reported by other studies,14,27,28 is not yet fully understood tan u by m @Eq. ~2!# and h stop by b h Agh/u @Eq. ~1!# in Eq.
but is known to result from complex boundary effects. A ~3! one gets the following expression for the dynamic fric-
qualitative explanation27 has been given in terms of dila- tion coefficient:
S D
tancy. Near the bed, the medium has to dilate more in order
to flow than further away, which could explain the higher
b h Agh
m ~ u,h ! 5tan u 1 1 ~ tan u 2 2tan u 1 ! exp 2 . ~4!
resistance to flow close to the rigid rough surface. Ld u
As the function h stop( u ) is controlled by the boundary This empirical relation raises several issues. The first
conditions, it follows from the scaling presented here that one concerns the high velocity regime. Equation ~4! predicts
flow dynamics are probably also governed by boundary ef- that the friction coefficient tends to a limit equal to tan u2
fects. This means that granular flows down rough inclined when the velocity tends to infinity. The existence of an upper
planes result not only from intrinsic rheology of the granular limit for the friction coefficient implies according to Eq. ~2!
materials but also from the complex influence of the rough that no steady uniform flow can be obtained for inclination
bed. The importance of the rough bottom could explain the higher than u 2 . This prediction is compatible with other
difference between the scaling laws observed here and the laboratory experiments5,9 carried out at high inclinations and
scaling laws observed for the granular flow at the free sur- which have shown that in this regime the flow accelerates,
face of a pile in a rotating drum.32 In the last case, no rigid the friction coefficient between the flowing layer and the
boundary is present. rough surface being constant, independent of the velocity.
Notice that according to the empirical description, Eq. ~4!,
C. Description in terms of a dynamic friction this maximum friction coefficient tan u2 is simply equal to
coefficient the inclination angle when h stop vanishes.
From the scaling properties one can extract some infor- On the other hand, the low velocity regime is not well
mation about the friction forces that arise between the flow- described by Eq. ~4!. According to this empirical relation,
ing layer and the rough surface. In the steady uniform re- steady uniform flows can be observed for any thickness as
gime, the flow simply results from the balance between the soon as the inclination is higher than u 1 . This is in contra-
gravity and the shear stress that develops at the bed. A diction with the existence of the function h stop( u ). However,
simple depth averaged force balance on an elementary slice one has to keep in mind that expression ~4! for the friction
of material yields the following equality: coefficient derives from expression ~1! for the velocity,
which is only valid for h.h stop or equivalently for u/ Agh
r gh sin~ u ! 5 t ,
. b . Consequently, Eq. ~4! is also only valid for Froude
where r is the density of the granular medium and t the shear number greater than b. Below this limit, the friction coeffi-
stress at the bed. When divided by r gh cos(u), the normal cient certainly presents some velocity weakening variations,
Phys. Fluids, Vol. 11, No. 3, March 1999 O. Pouliquen 547
as suggested by the sudden stop of the material observed in assistance and the dynamism of Antoine Garcia. Many
experiments carried out with a decreasing thickness. Such a thanks also go to Olivier Pagnon and Sophie Pagnier, who
behavior, which has been put in evidence in other have carried out some of the measurements presented in this
configurations,31 cannot be captured from the study of the paper and to J. Vallance and E. Guazzelli for critical com-
steady uniform flows. ments on the manuscript.
26
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27
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rough surface: Dilatancy effects,’’ J. Phys. II 6, 923 ~1996!. stick-slip, and dry-friction dynamics: Experiments and a heuristic model,’’
28
S. Douady and A. Daerr, ‘‘Formation of sandpiles, avalanches on an in- Phys. Rev. E 49, 4973 ~1994!.
clined plane,’’ in Physics of Dry Granular Media, NATO ASI Series, 31
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32
29
F. X. Riguidel, R. Jullien, G. H. Ristow, A. Hansen, and D. Bideau, J. Rajchenbach, ‘‘Continuous flows and avalanches of grains,’’ in Ref. 28.