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Influence of angularity on dense granular flows

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Influence of angularity on dense granular flows
Laurent Tocquer, Sylvain Lavergne & François Chevoir
LMSGC, UMR LCPC-ENPC-CNRS, Institut Navier, 2 allée Kepler, 77420 Champs sur Marne, France
Yannick Descantes
TGCE, Laboratoire Central des Ponts et Chaussées, Route de Bouaye, 44341 Bouguenais cedex, France

ABSTRACT: Rheological laws describing dense granular flows down inclined planes have been recently de-
duced from experiments and numerical simulations performed with approximately spherical grains. However,
natural flows are usually made of grains of more complex shape. We have studied the influence of this shape
by comparing the flow down an inclined plane of two kinds of aggregates, well rounded and very angular. For
both materials, we have measured the stopping and starting height as a function of the inclination, and the de-
pendencies of the flow rate on the height and inclination. We have observed noticeable differences (up to a
factor of two for the flow rate). The usual scaling of the Froude number as a function of the ratio of flowing to
stopping height works well (with a significant decrease of the velocity near jamming), and provides nearly
identical curves for the two kinds of aggregates. Those experiments show the validity of the rheological law
for a large class of materials.

1 INTRODUCTION square hole sieves, then flat particles have been dis-
Rheological laws describing dense granular flows carded using bar sieves with 2.5 and 3.15 mm width
down inclined planes have been recently deduced of slots, according to EN 933. The remaining parti-
from experiments and numerical simulations per- cles belong to one of the two following classes or
formed with approximately spherical grains (Gdr size fractions : aggregates passing the 5 mm sieve
Midi, 2004; da Cruz, 2004). However, natural grains but retained on the 4 mm sieve, called 4/5 size frac-
have more complex shapes, characterized by surface tion, or aggregates passing the 6.3 mm sieve but re-
texture, shape index, flakiness index and angularity tained on the 5 mm sieve, called 5/6.3 size fraction.
(Descantes et al., 2003; EN 933 norm). The aggre-
gates used in civil engineering must be well rounded (a) (b)
for concrete, but crushed for bituminous mixtures.
The influence on the flow of angularity and faces
has been investigated by De Jaeger (1989), Cante-
laube et al. (1995), and Petit et al. (2001). A notice-
able effect on the flow rate at the exit of a vibrated
vertical chute has been evidenced (Garnier &
Marignier, 1994). In this study, we focus on the in-
fluence of angularity on the rheology, through an
experimental comparison of the flow down a rough
inclined plane of two kinds of aggregates, well
rounded and very angular. We first describe the flow Figure 1. Granular materials : (a) Angular, (b) Rounded.
thresholds, then the flow rate, and conclude on the
rheological law.
The inclined plane (Fig. 2) has a length of 125 cm
and a width L of 34 cm. The maximum height H of
the flowing layer is 10 cm, and the maximum incli-
2 EXPERIMENT nation θ is 37°. The granular material flows through
We compare two alluvial gravels, with very distinc- the flap of a reservoir, which height Hf controls the
tive shapes (see Fig. 1) : totally rounded and very flow rate Q. The roughness of the inclined plane is
angular (CNR/50 and C95/1, according to EN 933). The made of large rounded glued grains.
grains have been sieved using 4; 5 and 6.3 mm
 20
(a)
Hs
tar
18 tr
ou
Hs nd
ed
16 to Hs
p tar
ro
un ta
14 de ng
d ula
r
12 Hs

H (cm)
top
10 an
gu
lar
8

Figure 2. Inclined plane. 6

2.1 Measurement of the flow thresholds 2

It has been shown (Pouliquen, 1999; Gdr Midi, 0

22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38
2004) that, down a rough inclined plane, the flow θ (°)
thresholds (start and stop) depend both on the incli-
nation of the plane and on the height of the flowing
layer. They are described by two curves, Hstart(θ)
(b)
and Hstop(θ) : 20

θ2 -θ (1)
H (θ ) = B
18
,
θ - θ1 16

where the angles θ 1 and θ 2 are limits for thick and

Hs
14 ta Hsta
rt rt a
ro ng
thin layers, and B is a roughness dependent length. 12
un
de
ula
r
H (cm)

d
10
Starting from a layer of height H at rest with an 8 Hstop
Hst
op a
empty reservoir, we increase the inclination up to rou
nde
d
ngu
lar

the start which gives a point θstart(H). Then the 6

height decreases down to a stop, leading to 4

Hstop(θstart), and so on (up to H = 0). 2

0
30 32 34 36 38
Table 1. Parameters for H(θ) curves (5/6.3 fraction). θ (°)

B (cm) θ 1 (°) θ 2 (°)

______________________________________________ Figure 3. Influence of angularity on H(θ) curves
Angular Hstart 13.2 17.3 44.6 (a) 4/5 fraction, (b) 5/6.3 fraction.
Hstop 11.1 16.6 41.7
Rounded Hstart 7.4 22.4 41.8 20
Glass beads
Hstop 8.5 17.5 39.9
_____________________________________________ Mustard seeds
Sand
Angular 5/6,3
We observe that the surface of the flowing layer is 15 Rounded 5/6,3
not parallel to the rough bed, along the slope. We
measure the height on three positions along the
channel (see Fig. 2), but in this paper we only show
H(cm)

10
the measurements performed at the centre of the
channel (position 2). The data in the figure 3 are fit-
ted according to Eqn. (1), and the parameters for the 5
5/6.3 fraction are given in Table 1. We notice that
the angularity increases the flow threshold. In the
figure 4, we compare those results with experiments 0
on other granular materials (sand, glass beads and 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

mustard seeds, with diameter around 1 mm) flowing θ (°)

on a carpet (da Cruz, 2004). Those experiments al-
ready showed the influence of angularity.
Figure 4. Comparison of H(θ) curves with other experiments.
2.2 Measurement of the flow rate 2.3 Flow rule

Using a balance, we measure the flow rate Q of It has been shown (Pouliquen, 1999; Gdr Midi,
steady state flows as a function of the inclination θ 2004) that, above the flow threshold, the Froude
and the reservoir flap height Hf (Fig. 5). Then the number Fr is a simple function of the ratio of the
figure 6 compares the flow rates of angular and height of the flowing layer H and of the stopping
rounded grains as a function of θ, Hf and for both height Hstop(θ) :
sizes. As expected, the angular grains flow slower
than the rounded ones, but surprisingly, the ratio of V (θ , H ) H
Fr = =β⋅ (2)
flow rates is usually larger than 1.5 and can even be
g⋅H H stop (θ )
larger than 2, for small inclination.
where V(θ,H) is the surface velocity and g is gravity.
12
(a) The β factor both depends on the material and on the
Angular plane roughness. This law is valid for H/Hstop larger
Hf=10cm
10
Hf=8cm than around 4/3. Assuming a linear velocity profile
8
Hf=7cm
Rounded
and a constant density ρ (1500 kg/m³), the flow rate
Hf=10cm is given by Q ≈ ρ LHV / 2 , so that
Q (kg/s)

Hf=7cm
Fr ≈ 2Q /( ρ LH g ) . Comparing the three me-
3/ 2 1/ 2
6

4 surements of the heights, we obtain the flow rule

2
shown on the figure 7. The data are very dispersed
for H/Hstop larger than 2, and this part of the flow rule
0
30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38
would require further measurements.
θ (°)

1,6
(a)

(b) 1,4
12
Angular 1,2
H=10cm
10
H=8cm 1,0
H=7cm Angular
8 Rounded 0,8
Fr
Q (kg/s)

1
H=10cm
0,6 2
6 H=7cm
H=5cm 3
0,4 Rounded
4
1
0,2 2
2 3
0,0
0,8 1,2 1,6 2,0 2,4 2,8 3,2 3,6 4,0 4,4
0
30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 H/HSTOP
θ (°)

Figure 5. Flow rate as a function of θ and Hf

(a) 4/5 fraction, (b) 5/6.3 fraction. (b)
1,6

1,4
3,5
4/5 - Hf =10cm 1,2
3,0 4/5 - Hf =7cm
5/6.3 - Hf =10cm 1,0
2,5 5/6.3 - Hf =7cm Angular
Fr

0,8
1
2,0 2
QR/QA

0,6
3
1,5 0,4 Rounded
1
1,0 0,2 2
3
0,0
0,5
0,8 1,2 1,6 2,0 2,4 2,8 3,2 3,6 4,0 4,4
H/Hstop
0,0
32 33 34 35 36 37
θ (°)
Figure 7. Flow rule (a) 4/5 fraction, (b) 5/6.3 fraction.

Figure 6. Ratio of flow rates.

Near jamming (H/Hstop ≈ 1), there is a significant de-
viation from the linear flow rule Eqn. (2). The data
are fitted by Fr = a ( H / H stop − 1) . The parameters
α
a and α do not vary significantly with the granular
materials (a ≈ 1, α ≈ 0.4). It seems that there is no
influence of angularity for the small grains, contrar-
ily to the large ones. In figure 8, we compare our re-
sults with the experiments previously quoted (da
Cruz, 2004). Those experiments already showed a
deviation of the flow rule near jamming, as well as a
significant influence of the roughness (Goujon et al.,
2004): the smaller the roughness, the larger the
β factor.
3
Thin sand - roughness 2
Thin sand - roughness 1
Mustard seeds -
roughness 1
2 Glass beads -
roughness 1
Fr
REFERENCES
Cantelaube F., Limon-Duparcmeur Y., Bideau D. and Ristow
G.H. (1995), « Geometrical analysis of avalanches in a 2D
drum », Journal de Physique I France, 5, 581-596.
da Cruz F. (2004), “Friction and jamming in dense flows of dry
grains”, PhD Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées,
Paris.
De Jaeger J. (1989), “Determination of sand grain angularity
from a flow test”, in Powders and Grains 1989, edited by
Biarez and Gourves, Balkema, Rotterdam.
Descantes Y., Ducassou J-B and Blot G. (2003), « VDG Vi-
deograder, Synthesis of research and development issues
and perspectives », Etudes et recherches des Laboratoires
des Ponts et Chaussées, Paris.
EN 933 tests for geometrical properties of aggregates
European Standard EN 933 series, Test for geometrical proper-
ties of aggregates.
Garnier J. and Marignier J. (1994), « Determination of the flow
coefficient of gravels », Bulletin de liaison des Laboratoires
des Ponts et Chaussées, 191, 87-90.
Gdr Midi (2004), “On dense granular flows”, European Physi-
cal Journal E, 14, 341-365.
Goujon C., Thomas N. and Dalloz-Dubrujeaud B. (2003),
“Monodisperse dry granular flows on inclined planes : Role

This study
of roughness”, European Physical Journal E, 11, 147-157.
Above
H/Hstop=2
Petit D., Pradel F., Ferrer G. and Meimon Y. (2001), “Shape
1 effect of grain in a granular flow”, in Powders and Grains
2001, edited by Kishino, Swets & Zeitlinger, Lisse.
Pouliquen O. (1999), “Scaling laws in granular flows down
rough inclined planes”, Physics of Fluids, 11, 542-548.
0
0 1 2 3 4 5

H/Hstop

Figure 8. Flow rule – comparison with other granular materi-

als.

3 CONCLUSION

This experimental study has revealed a strong in-

fluence of the angularity of the flowing grains on the
flow rate down a rough inclined plane. The scaling
of the Froude number as a function of the ratio of
flowing to stopping height shows significant devia-
tion near jamming, and is not strongly affected by
the shape. This may provide a method to discrimi-
nate aggregates according to their shape, of interest
in civil engineering (with a better contrast for small
inclination and small flowing height). Further expe-
riments are required to investigate the influence of
other parameters, such as the plane roughness, the
shape and flakiness index.

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