Abstract
This paper describes computer simulation studies of granular materials under dense
conditions where particles are in persistent contact with their neighbours and the
elasticity of the material becomes an important rheological parameter. There are two
regimes at this limit, one for which the stresses scale with both elastic and inertial
properties (called the elastic–inertial regime), and a non-inertial quasi-static regime in
which the stresses scale purely elastically (elastic–quasi-static). In these elastic regimes,
the forces are generated by internal force chains. Reducing the concentration slightly
causes a transition from an elastic to a purely inertial behaviour. This transition
occurs so abruptly that a 2% concentration reduction can be accompanied by nearly
three orders of magnitude of stress reduction. This indicates that granular flows near
this limit are prone to instabilities such as those commonly observed in shear cells.
Unexpectedly, there is no path between inertial (rapid) flow and quasi-static flow by
varying the shear rate at a fixed concentration; only by reducing the concentration
can one cause a transition from quasi-static to inertial flow. The solid concentrations
at which this transition occurs as well as the magnitude of the stresses in the elastic
regimes are strong functions of the particle surface friction, because the surface
friction strongly affects the strength of the force chains. A parametric analysis of the
elastic regime generated flowmaps showing the various regimes that might be realized
in practice. Many common materials such as sand require such large shear rates to
reach the elastic–inertial regime that it is unattainable for all practical purposes; such
materials will demonstrate either an elastic–quasi-static behaviour or a pure inertial
behaviour depending on the concentration – with many orders of magnitude of stress
change between them. Finally, the effects of nonlinear contacts are investigated and
an appropriate scaling is proposed that accounts for the nonlinear behaviour in the
elastic–quasi-static regime.
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Subject
Mechanical Engineering,Mechanics of Materials,Condensed Matter Physics
Cited by
248 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献