Maximum ceasing angle of inclination and flux formula for granular orifice flow

Abstract

This work measured mass flux of a granular sample (glass beads) discharged from an inclined orifice for various inclination angles and orifice diameters. It is found that irrespective the orifice sizes, the fluxes all vary linearly with cosine of the inclination angle,and the linearly extrapolated angle of zero-flux,namely the critical angle of flow ceasing, increases linearly with ratio between grain and orifice diameter, tends to the angle of repose in the limit of infinite orifice diameter within an approximation of the Bagnold angle. The results show that the flux formula varying linearly with cosine of inclination angle is capable to reveal behaviors of the critical ceasing angle, a property that the Beverloo formula of which parameters vary with cosine of inclination angle can not describe.