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Sample records for modeling granular materials

  1. HYPERELASTIC MODELS FOR GRANULAR MATERIALS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Humrickhouse, Paul W; Corradini, Michael L

    2009-01-29

    A continuum framework for modeling of dust mobilization and transport, and the behavior of granular systems in general, has been reviewed, developed and evaluated for reactor design applications. The large quantities of micron-sized particles expected in the international fusion reactor design, ITER, will accumulate into piles and layers on surfaces, which are large relative to the individual particle size; thus, particle-particle, rather than particle-surface, interactions will determine the behavior of the material in bulk, and a continuum approach is necessary and justified in treating the phenomena of interest; e.g., particle resuspension and transport. The various constitutive relations that characterize these solid particle interactions in dense granular flows have been discussed previously, but prior to mobilization their behavior is not even fluid. Even in the absence of adhesive forces between particles, dust or sand piles can exist in static equilibrium under gravity and other forces, e.g., fluid shear. Their behavior is understood to be elastic, though not linear. The recent “granular elasticity” theory proposes a non-linear elastic model based on “Hertz contacts” between particles; the theory identifies the Coulomb yield condition as a requirement for thermodynamic stability, and has successfully reproduced experimental results for stress distributions in sand piles. The granular elasticity theory is developed and implemented in a stand- alone model and then implemented as part of a finite element model, ABAQUS, to determine the stress distributions in dust piles subjected to shear by a fluid flow. We identify yield with the onset of mobilization, and establish, for a given dust pile and flow geometry, the threshold pressure (force) conditions on the surface due to flow required to initiate it. While the granular elasticity theory applies strictly to cohesionless granular materials, attractive forces are clearly important in the interaction of

  2. A hydrodynamic model for granular material flows including segregation effects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gilberg, Dominik; Klar, Axel; Steiner, Konrad

    2017-06-01

    The simulation of granular flows including segregation effects in large industrial processes using particle methods is accurate, but very time-consuming. To overcome the long computation times a macroscopic model is a natural choice. Therefore, we couple a mixture theory based segregation model to a hydrodynamic model of Navier-Stokes-type, describing the flow behavior of the granular material. The granular flow model is a hybrid model derived from kinetic theory and a soil mechanical approach to cover the regime of fast dilute flow, as well as slow dense flow, where the density of the granular material is close to the maximum packing density. Originally, the segregation model has been formulated by Thornton and Gray for idealized avalanches. It is modified and adapted to be in the preferred form for the coupling. In the final coupled model the segregation process depends on the local state of the granular system. On the other hand, the granular system changes as differently mixed regions of the granular material differ i.e. in the packing density. For the modeling process the focus lies on dry granular material flows of two particle types differing only in size but can be easily extended to arbitrary granular mixtures of different particle size and density. To solve the coupled system a finite volume approach is used. To test the model the rotational mixing of small and large particles in a tumbler is simulated.

  3. Editorial: Modelling and computational challenges in granular materials

    OpenAIRE

    Weinhart, Thomas; Thornton, Anthony Richard; Einav, Itai

    2015-01-01

    This is the editorial for the special issue on “Modelling and computational challenges in granular materials” in the journal on Computational Particle Mechanics (CPM). The issue aims to provide an opportunity for physicists, engineers, applied mathematicians and computational scientists to discuss the current progress and latest advancements in the field of advanced numerical methods and modelling of granular materials. The focus will be on computational methods, improved algorithms and the m...

  4. Impact Compaction of a Granular Material

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fenton, Gregg; Asay, Blaine; Todd, Steve; Grady, Dennis

    2017-06-01

    The dynamic behavior of granular materials has importance to a variety of engineering applications. Although, the mechanical behavior of granular materials have been studied extensively for several decades, the dynamic behavior of these materials remains poorly understood. High-quality experimental data are needed to improve our general understanding of granular material compaction physics. This paper describes how an instrumented plunger impact system can be used to measure the compaction process for granular materials at high and controlled strain rates and subsequently used for computational modelling. The experimental technique relies on a gas-gun driven plunger system to generate a compaction wave through a volume of granular material. This volume of material has been redundantly instrumented along the bed length to track the progression of the compaction wave, and the piston displacement is measured with Photon Doppler Velocimetry (PDV). Using the gathered experimental data along with the initial material tap density, a granular material equation of state can be determined.

  5. Modelling of Granular Materials Using the Discrete Element Method

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ullidtz, Per

    1997-01-01

    With the Discrete Element Method it is possible to model materials that consists of individual particles where a particle may role or slide on other particles. This is interesting because most of the deformation in granular materials is due to rolling or sliding rather that compression of the gra...

  6. An automata model of granular materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gutt, G.M.; Haff, P.K.

    1990-01-01

    In this paper a new modeling technique (the Lattice Grain Model) is presented for the simulation of two-dimensional granular systems involving large numbers of grains. These granular systems may include both high shear rate regions as well as static plugs of grains and cannot easily be handled within the framework of existing continuum theories such as soil mechanics. The Lattice Grain Model (LGrM) is similar to the Lattice Gas Model (LBM). This allows large simulations to be programmed onto a hypercube concurrent processor in a straightforward manner. However, it differs from LBM in that it includes the inelastic collisions and volume-filling properties of macroscopic grains. Examples to be presented will include Couette flow, flow through an hourglass, and gravity-driven flows around obstacles

  7. A thermomechanical constitutive model for cemented granular materials with quantifiable internal variables. Part II - Validation and localization analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Das, Arghya; Tengattini, Alessandro; Nguyen, Giang D.; Viggiani, Gioacchino; Hall, Stephen A.; Einav, Itai

    2014-10-01

    We study the mechanical failure of cemented granular materials (e.g., sandstones) using a constitutive model based on breakage mechanics for grain crushing and damage mechanics for cement fracture. The theoretical aspects of this model are presented in Part I: Tengattini et al. (2014), A thermomechanical constitutive model for cemented granular materials with quantifiable internal variables, Part I - Theory (Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, 10.1016/j.jmps.2014.05.021). In this Part II we investigate the constitutive and structural responses of cemented granular materials through analyses of Boundary Value Problems (BVPs). The multiple failure mechanisms captured by the proposed model enable the behavior of cemented granular rocks to be well reproduced for a wide range of confining pressures. Furthermore, through comparison of the model predictions and experimental data, the micromechanical basis of the model provides improved understanding of failure mechanisms of cemented granular materials. In particular, we show that grain crushing is the predominant inelastic deformation mechanism under high pressures while cement failure is the relevant mechanism at low pressures. Over an intermediate pressure regime a mixed mode of failure mechanisms is observed. Furthermore, the micromechanical roots of the model allow the effects on localized deformation modes of various initial microstructures to be studied. The results obtained from both the constitutive responses and BVP solutions indicate that the proposed approach and model provide a promising basis for future theoretical studies on cemented granular materials.

  8. Rheological Behavior of Dense Assemblies of Granular Materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sundaresan, Sankaran; Tardos, Gabriel I.; Subramaniam, Shankar

    2011-01-01

    Assemblies of granular materials behave differently when they are owing rapidly, from when they are slowly deforming. The behavior of rapidly owing granular materials, where the particle-particle interactions occur largely through binary collisions, is commonly related to the properties of the constituent particles through the kinetic theory of granular materials. The same cannot be said for slowly moving or static assemblies of granular materials, where enduring contacts between particles are prevalent. For instance, a continuum description of the yield characteristics of dense assemblies of particles in the quasistatic ow regime cannot be written explicitly on the basis of particle properties, even for cohesionless particles. Continuum models for this regime have been proposed and applied, but these models typically assume that the assembly is at incipient yield and they are expressed in terms of the yield function, which we do not yet know how to express in terms of particle-level properties. The description of the continuum rheology in the intermediate regime is even less understood. Yet, many practically important flows in nature and in a wide range of technological applications occur in the dense flow regime and at the transition between dilute and dense regimes; the lack of validated continuum rheological models for particle assemblies in these regimes limits predictive modeling of such flows. This research project is aimed at developing such rheological models.

  9. Mathematics and Mechanics of Granular Materials

    CERN Document Server

    Hill, James M

    2005-01-01

    Granular or particulate materials arise in almost every aspect of our lives, including many familiar materials such as tea, coffee, sugar, sand, cement and powders. At some stage almost every industrial process involves a particulate material, and it is usually the cause of the disruption to the smooth running of the process. In the natural environment, understanding the behaviour of particulate materials is vital in many geophysical processes such as earthquakes, landslides and avalanches. This book is a collection of current research from some of the major contributors in the topic of modelling the behaviour of granular materials. Papers from every area of current activity are included, such as theoretical, numerical, engineering and computational approaches. This book illustrates the numerous diverse approaches to one of the outstanding problems of modern continuum mechanics.

  10. Granular Materials and Risks In ISRU

    Science.gov (United States)

    Behringer, Robert P.; Wilkinson, R. Allen

    2004-01-01

    Working with soil, sand, powders, ores, cement and sintered bricks, excavating, grading construction sites, driving off-road, transporting granules in chutes and pipes, sifting gravel, separating solids from gases, and using hoppers are so routine that it seems straightforward to execute these operations on the Moon and Mars as we do on Earth. We discuss how little these processes are understood and point out the nature of trial-and-error practices that are used in today's massive over-design. Nevertheless, such designs have a high failure rate. Implementation and extensive incremental scaling up of industrial processes are routine because of the inadequate predictive tools for design. We present a number of pragmatic scenarios where granular materials play a role, the risks involved, what some of the basic issues are, and what understanding is needed to greatly reduce the risks. This talk will focus on a particular class of granular flow issues, those that pertain to dense materials, their physics, and the failure problems associated with them. In particular, key issues where basic predictability is lacking include stability of soils for the support of vehicles and facilities, ability to control the flow of dense materials (jamming and flooding/unjamming at the wrong time), the ability to predict stress profiles (hence create reliable designs) for containers such as bunkers or silos. In particular, stress fluctuations, which are not accounted for in standard granular design models, can be very large as granular materials flows, and one result is frequent catastrophic failure of granular devices.

  11. Thermal conductivity of granular materials

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Buyevich, Yu A

    1974-01-01

    Stationary heat transfer in a granular material consisting of a continuous medium containing spherical granules of other substances is considered under the assumption that the spatial distribution of granules is random. The effective thermal conductivity characterizing macroscopic heat transfer in such a material is expressed as a certain function of the conductivities and volume fractions of the medium and dispersed substances. For reasons of mathematical analogy, all the results obtained for the thermal conductivity are valid while computing the effective diffusivity of some admixture in granular materials as well as for evaluation of the effective electric conductivity or the mean dielectric and magnetic permeabilities of granular conductors and dielectrics. (23 refs.)

  12. Modelling transient 3D multi-phase criticality in fluidised granular materials - the FETCH code

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pain, C.C.; Gomes, J.L.M.A.; Eaton, M.D.; Ziver, A.K.; Umpleby, A.P.; Oliveira, C.R.E. de; Goddard, A.J.H.

    2003-01-01

    The development and application of a generic model for modelling criticality in fluidised granular materials is described within the Finite Element Transient Criticality (FETCH) code - which models criticality transients in spatial and temporal detail from fundamental principles, as far as is currently possible. The neutronics model in FETCH solves the neutron transport in full phase space with a spherical harmonics angle of travel representation, multi-group in neutron energy, Crank Nicholson based in time stepping, and finite elements in space. The fluids representation coupled with the neutronics model is a two-fluid-granular-temperature model, also finite element fased. A separate fluid is used to represent the liquid/vapour gas and the solid fuel particle phases, respectively. Particle-particle, particle-wall interactions are modelled using a kinetic theory approach on an analogy between the motion of gas molecules subject to binary collisions and granular flows. This model has been extensively validated by comparison with fluidised bed experimental results. Gas-fluidised beds involve particles that are often extremely agitated (measured by granular temperature) and can thus be viewed as a particularly demanding application of the two-fluid model. Liquid fluidised systems are of criticality interest, but these can become demanding with the production of gases (e.g. radiolytic and water vapour) and large fluid/particle velocities in energetic transients. We present results from a test transient model in which fissile material ( 239 Pu) is presented as spherical granules subsiding in water, located in a tank initially at constant temperature and at two alternative over-pressures in order to verify the theoretical model implemented in FETCH. (author)

  13. Granular packing as model glass formers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang Yujie

    2017-01-01

    Static granular packings are model hard-sphere glass formers. The nature of glass transition has remained a hotly debated issue. We review recent experimental progresses in using granular materials to study glass transitions. We focus on the growth of glass order with five-fold symmetry in granular packings and relate the findings to both geometric frustration and random first-order phase transition theories. (paper)

  14. Leaching models for multiple immersed materials and for granular materials flushed in a column

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Brouwers, H.J.H.

    1997-01-01

    The present paper addresses the leaching of hazardous contaminants from immersed and replenished materials and from granular materials flushed in a column. First, the leaching of an immersed material in contact with a limited volume of leachant is studied. The mass transfer from material to leachant

  15. Thermodynamical aspects of modeling the mechanical response of granular materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Elata, D.

    1995-01-01

    In many applications in rock physics, the material is treated as a continuum. By supplementing the related conservation laws with constitutive equations such as stress-strain relations, a well-posed problem can be formulated and solved. The stress-strain relations may be based on a combination of experimental data and a phenomenological or micromechanical model. If the model is physically sound and its parameters have a physical meaning, it can serve to predict the stress response of the material to unmeasured deformations, predict the stress response of other materials, and perhaps predict other categories of the mechanical response such as failure, permeability, and conductivity. However, it is essential that the model be consistent with all conservation laws and consistent with the second law of thermodynamics. Specifically, some models of the mechanical response of granular materials proposed in literature, are based on intergranular contact force-displacement laws that violate the second law of thermodynamics by permitting energy generation at no cost. This diminishes the usefulness of these models as it invalidates their predictive capabilities. [This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. DOE by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract No. W-7405-ENG-48.

  16. Failure evolution in granular material retained by rigid wall in active mode

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pietrzak, Magdalena; Leśniewska, Danuta

    2012-10-01

    This paper presents a detailed study of a selected small scale model test, performed on a sample of surrogate granular material, retained by a rigid wall (typical geotechnical problem of earth thrust on a retaining wall). The experimental data presented in this paper show that the deformation of granular sample behind retaining wall can undergo some cyclic changes. The nature of these cycles is not clear - it is probably related to some micromechanical features of granular materials, which are recently extensively studied in many research centers in the world. Employing very precise DIC (PIV) method can help to relate micro and macro-scale behavior of granular materials.

  17. Characterization of Unbound Granular Materials for Pavements

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Araya, A.A.

    2011-01-01

    This research is focused on the characterization of the mechanical behavior of unbound granular road base materials (UGMs). An extensive laboratory investigation is described, in which various methods for determination of the mechanical properties of granular materials are examined for their

  18. Analysis of Cylindrical Granular Material Silos under Seismic Excitation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christoph Butenweg

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Silos generally work as storage structures between supply and demand for various goods, and their structural safety has long been of interest to the civil engineering profession. This is especially true for dynamically loaded silos, e.g., in case of seismic excitation. Particularly thin-walled cylindrical silos are highly vulnerable to seismic induced pressures, which can cause critical buckling phenomena of the silo shell. The analysis of silos can be carried out in two different ways. In the first, the seismic loading is modeled through statically equivalent loads acting on the shell. Alternatively, a time history analysis might be carried out, in which nonlinear phenomena due to the filling as well as the interaction between the shell and the granular material are taken into account. The paper presents a comparison of these approaches. The model used for the nonlinear time history analysis considers the granular material by means of the intergranular strain approach for hypoplasticity theory. The interaction effects between the granular material and the shell is represented by contact elements. Additionally, soil–structure interaction effects are taken into account.

  19. Discrete Element study of granular material - Bumpy wall interface behavior

    Science.gov (United States)

    El Cheikh, Khadija; Rémond, Sébastien; Pizette, Patrick; Vanhove, Yannick; Djelal, Chafika

    2016-09-01

    This paper presents a DEM study of a confined granular material sheared between two parallel bumpy walls. The granular material consists of packed dry spherical particles. The bumpiness is modeled by spheres of a given diameter glued on horizontal planes. Different bumpy surfaces are modeled by varying diameter or concentration of glued spheres. The material is sheared by moving the two bumpy walls at fixed velocity. During shear, the confining pressure applied on each bumpy wall is controlled. The effect of wall bumpiness on the effective friction coefficient and on the granular material behavior at the bumpy walls is reported for various shearing conditions. For given bumpiness and confining pressure that we have studied, it is found that the shear velocity does not affect the shear stress. However, the effective friction coefficient and the behavior of the granular material depend on the bumpiness. When the diameter of the glued spheres is larger than about the average grains diameter of the medium, the latter is uniformly sheared and the effective friction coefficient remains constant. For smaller diameters of the glued spheres, the effective friction coefficient increases with the diameter of glued spheres. The influence of glued spheres concentration is significant only for small glued spheres diameters, typically half of average particle diameter of the granular material. In this case, increasing the concentration of glued spheres leads to a decrease in effective friction coefficient and to shear localization at the interface. For different diameters and concentrations of glued spheres, we show that the effect of bumpiness on the effective friction coefficient can be characterized by the depth of interlocking.

  20. Granular materials flow like complex fluids

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kou, Binquan; Cao, Yixin; Li, Jindong; Xia, Chengjie; Li, Zhifeng; Dong, Haipeng; Zhang, Ang; Zhang, Jie; Kob, Walter; Wang, Yujie

    2017-11-01

    Granular materials such as sand, powders and foams are ubiquitous in daily life and in industrial and geotechnical applications. These disordered systems form stable structures when unperturbed, but in the presence of external influences such as tapping or shear they `relax', becoming fluid in nature. It is often assumed that the relaxation dynamics of granular systems is similar to that of thermal glass-forming systems. However, so far it has not been possible to determine experimentally the dynamic properties of three-dimensional granular systems at the particle level. This lack of experimental data, combined with the fact that the motion of granular particles involves friction (whereas the motion of particles in thermal glass-forming systems does not), means that an accurate description of the relaxation dynamics of granular materials is lacking. Here we use X-ray tomography to determine the microscale relaxation dynamics of hard granular ellipsoids subject to an oscillatory shear. We find that the distribution of the displacements of the ellipsoids is well described by a Gumbel law (which is similar to a Gaussian distribution for small displacements but has a heavier tail for larger displacements), with a shape parameter that is independent of the amplitude of the shear strain and of the time. Despite this universality, the mean squared displacement of an individual ellipsoid follows a power law as a function of time, with an exponent that does depend on the strain amplitude and time. We argue that these results are related to microscale relaxation mechanisms that involve friction and memory effects (whereby the motion of an ellipsoid at a given point in time depends on its previous motion). Our observations demonstrate that, at the particle level, the dynamic behaviour of granular systems is qualitatively different from that of thermal glass-forming systems, and is instead more similar to that of complex fluids. We conclude that granular materials can relax

  1. Experimental and analytical investigations of granular materials: Shear flow and convective heat transfer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahn, Hojin

    1989-12-01

    Granular materials flowing down an inclined chute were studied experimentally and analytically. Characteristics of convective heat transfer to granular flows were also investigated experimentally and numerically. Experiments on continuous, steady flows of granular materials in an inclined chute were conducted with the objectives of understanding the characteristics of chute flows and of acquiring information on the rheological behavior of granular material flow. Existing constitutive equations and governing equations were used to solve for fully developed chute flows of granular materials, and thus the boundary value problem was formulated with two parameters (the coefficient of restitution between particles, and the chute inclination) and three boundary values at the chute base wall (the values of solid fraction, granular temperature, and mean velocity at the wall). The boundary value problem was numerically solved by the shooting method. These analytical results were also compared with the present experimental values and with the computer simulations by other investigators in their literature. Experiments on heat transfer to granular flows over a flat heating plate were conducted with three sizes of glass beads, polystyrene beads, and mustard seeds. A modification on the existing model for the convective heat transfer was made using the effective Nusselt number and the effective Peclet number, which include the effects of solid fraction variations. The slightly modified model could describe the heat transfer characteristics of both fast and slow flows (supercritical and subcritical). A numerical analysis of the transfer to granular flows was also performed. The results were compared with the present experimental data, and reasonable agreement was found in the comparison.

  2. Editorial: Modelling and computational challenges in granular materials

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Weinhart, Thomas; Thornton, Anthony Richard; Einav, Itai

    2015-01-01

    This is the editorial for the special issue on “Modelling and computational challenges in granular materials” in the journal on Computational Particle Mechanics (CPM). The issue aims to provide an opportunity for physicists, engineers, applied mathematicians and computational scientists to discuss

  3. Terminal velocity of liquids and granular materials dispersed by a high explosive

    Science.gov (United States)

    Loiseau, J.; Pontalier, Q.; Milne, A. M.; Goroshin, S.; Frost, D. L.

    2018-04-01

    The explosive dispersal of a layer of solid particles or a layer of liquid surrounding a spherical high-explosive charge generates a turbulent, multiphase flow. Shock compression of the material layer during the initial acceleration may partially consolidate the material, leading to the formation of jet-like structures when the layer fragments and sheds particles upon release. Similarly, release of a shock-compressed liquid shell causes the nucleation of cavitation sites, leading to the radial breakup of the shell and the formation of jets upon expansion. In the current study, a wide variety of granular materials and liquids were explosively dispersed. The maximum terminal jet tip or shell velocity was measured using high-speed videography. Charges were constructed using thin-walled glass bulbs of various diameters and contained a central C-4 charge surrounded by the material to be dispersed. This permitted variation of the ratio of material mass to charge mass (M/C) from 4 to 300. Results indicated that material velocity broadly correlates with predictions of the Gurney model. For liquids, the terminal velocity was accurately predicted by the Gurney model. For granular materials, Gurney over-predicted the terminal velocity by 25-60%, depending on the M/C ratio, with larger M/C values exhibiting larger deficits. These deficits are explained by energy dissipation during the collapse of voids in the granular material bed. Velocity deficits were insensitive to the degree of jetting and granular material properties. Empirical corrections to the Gurney model are presented with improved agreement with the dry powder experimental velocities.

  4. Terminal velocity of liquids and granular materials dispersed by a high explosive

    Science.gov (United States)

    Loiseau, J.; Pontalier, Q.; Milne, A. M.; Goroshin, S.; Frost, D. L.

    2018-05-01

    The explosive dispersal of a layer of solid particles or a layer of liquid surrounding a spherical high-explosive charge generates a turbulent, multiphase flow. Shock compression of the material layer during the initial acceleration may partially consolidate the material, leading to the formation of jet-like structures when the layer fragments and sheds particles upon release. Similarly, release of a shock-compressed liquid shell causes the nucleation of cavitation sites, leading to the radial breakup of the shell and the formation of jets upon expansion. In the current study, a wide variety of granular materials and liquids were explosively dispersed. The maximum terminal jet tip or shell velocity was measured using high-speed videography. Charges were constructed using thin-walled glass bulbs of various diameters and contained a central C-4 charge surrounded by the material to be dispersed. This permitted variation of the ratio of material mass to charge mass ( M/ C) from 4 to 300. Results indicated that material velocity broadly correlates with predictions of the Gurney model. For liquids, the terminal velocity was accurately predicted by the Gurney model. For granular materials, Gurney over-predicted the terminal velocity by 25-60%, depending on the M/ C ratio, with larger M/ C values exhibiting larger deficits. These deficits are explained by energy dissipation during the collapse of voids in the granular material bed. Velocity deficits were insensitive to the degree of jetting and granular material properties. Empirical corrections to the Gurney model are presented with improved agreement with the dry powder experimental velocities.

  5. Modeling compaction-induced energy dissipation of granular HMX

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gonthier, K.A. [Lamar Univ., Beaumont, TX (US). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; Menikoff, R.; Son, S.F.; Asay, B.W. [Los Alamos National Lab., NM (US)

    1998-12-31

    A thermodynamically consistent model is developed for the compaction of granular solids. The model is an extension of the single phase limit of two-phase continuum models used to describe Deflagration-to-Detonation Transition (DDT) experiments. The focus is on the energetics and dissipation of the compaction process. Changes in volume fraction are partitioned into reversible and irreversible components. Unlike conventional DDT models, the model is applicable from the quasi-static to dynamic compaction regimes for elastic, plastic, or brittle materials. When applied to the compaction of granular HMX (a brittle material), the model predicts results commensurate with experiments including stress relaxation, hysteresis, and energy dissipation. The model provides a suitable starting point for the development of thermal energy localization sub-scale models based on compaction-induced dissipation.

  6. Implicit integration of plasticity models for granular materials

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ahadi, A.; Krenk, Steen

    2003-01-01

    A stress integration algorithm for granular materials based on fully implicit integration with explicit updating is presented. In the implicit method the solution makes use of the gradient to the potential surface at the final stress state which is unknown. The final stress and hardening parameters...... stresses are not supported the functions and their derivatives are not representative outside the compressive octant of the principal stress space. The elastic predictor is therefore preconditioned in order to ensure that the first predictor is within the valid region. Capability and robustness...

  7. Effect of Anisotropy on the Resilient Behaviour of a Granular Material in Low Traffic Pavement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jing, Peng; Nowamooz, Hossein; Chazallon, Cyrille

    2017-12-03

    Granular materials are often used in pavement structures. The influence of anisotropy on the mechanical behaviour of granular materials is very important. The coupled effects of water content and fine content usually lead to more complex anisotropic behaviour. With a repeated load triaxial test (RLTT), it is possible to measure the anisotropic deformation behaviour of granular materials. This article initially presents an experimental study of the resilient repeated load response of a compacted clayey natural sand with three fine contents and different water contents. Based on anisotropic behaviour, the non-linear resilient model (Boyce model) is improved by the radial anisotropy coefficient γ ₃ instead of the axial anisotropy coefficient γ ₁. The results from both approaches ( γ ₁ and γ ₃) are compared with the measured volumetric and deviatoric responses. These results confirm the capacity of the improved model to capture the general trend of the experiments. Finally, finite element calculations are performed with CAST3M in order to validate the improvement of the modified Boyce model (from γ ₁ to γ ₃). The modelling results indicate that the modified Boyce model with γ ₃ is more widely available in different water contents and different fine contents for this granular material. Besides, based on the results, the coupled effects of water content and fine content on the deflection of the structures can also be observed.

  8. Numerical investigations on flow dynamics of prismatic granular materials using the discrete element method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hancock, W.; Weatherley, D.; Wruck, B.; Chitombo, G. P.

    2012-04-01

    The flow dynamics of granular materials is of broad interest in both the geosciences (e.g. landslides, fault zone evolution, and brecchia pipe formation) and many engineering disciplines (e.g chemical engineering, food sciences, pharmaceuticals and materials science). At the interface between natural and human-induced granular media flow, current underground mass-mining methods are trending towards the induced failure and subsequent gravitational flow of large volumes of broken rock, a method known as cave mining. Cave mining relies upon the undercutting of a large ore body, inducement of fragmentation of the rock and subsequent extraction of ore from below, via hopper-like outlets. Design of such mines currently relies upon a simplified kinematic theory of granular flow in hoppers, known as the ellipsoid theory of mass movement. This theory assumes that the zone of moving material grows as an ellipsoid above the outlet of the silo. The boundary of the movement zone is a shear band and internal to the movement zone, the granular material is assumed to have a uniformly high bulk porosity compared with surrounding stagnant regions. There is however, increasing anecdotal evidence and field measurements suggesting this theory fails to capture the full complexity of granular material flow within cave mines. Given the practical challenges obstructing direct measurement of movement both in laboratory experiments and in-situ, the Discrete Element Method (DEM [1]) is a popular alternative to investigate granular media flow. Small-scale DEM studies (c.f. [3] and references therein) have confirmed that movement within DEM silo flow models matches that predicted by ellipsoid theory, at least for mono-disperse granular material freely outflowing at a constant rate. A major draw-back of these small-scale DEM studies is that the initial bulk porosity of the simulated granular material is significantly higher than that of broken, prismatic rock. In this investigation, more

  9. Modeling granular phosphor screens by Monte Carlo methods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liaparinos, Panagiotis F.; Kandarakis, Ioannis S.; Cavouras, Dionisis A.; Delis, Harry B.; Panayiotakis, George S.

    2006-01-01

    The intrinsic phosphor properties are of significant importance for the performance of phosphor screens used in medical imaging systems. In previous analytical-theoretical and Monte Carlo studies on granular phosphor materials, values of optical properties, and light interaction cross sections were found by fitting to experimental data. These values were then employed for the assessment of phosphor screen imaging performance. However, it was found that, depending on the experimental technique and fitting methodology, the optical parameters of a specific phosphor material varied within a wide range of values, i.e., variations of light scattering with respect to light absorption coefficients were often observed for the same phosphor material. In this study, x-ray and light transport within granular phosphor materials was studied by developing a computational model using Monte Carlo methods. The model was based on the intrinsic physical characteristics of the phosphor. Input values required to feed the model can be easily obtained from tabulated data. The complex refractive index was introduced and microscopic probabilities for light interactions were produced, using Mie scattering theory. Model validation was carried out by comparing model results on x-ray and light parameters (x-ray absorption, statistical fluctuations in the x-ray to light conversion process, number of emitted light photons, output light spatial distribution) with previous published experimental data on Gd 2 O 2 S:Tb phosphor material (Kodak Min-R screen). Results showed the dependence of the modulation transfer function (MTF) on phosphor grain size and material packing density. It was predicted that granular Gd 2 O 2 S:Tb screens of high packing density and small grain size may exhibit considerably better resolution and light emission properties than the conventional Gd 2 O 2 S:Tb screens, under similar conditions (x-ray incident energy, screen thickness)

  10. Mathematical models of granular matter

    CERN Document Server

    Mariano, Paolo; Giovine, Pasquale

    2008-01-01

    Granular matter displays a variety of peculiarities that distinguish it from other appearances studied in condensed matter physics and renders its overall mathematical modelling somewhat arduous. Prominent directions in the modelling granular flows are analyzed from various points of view. Foundational issues, numerical schemes and experimental results are discussed. The volume furnishes a rather complete overview of the current research trends in the mechanics of granular matter. Various chapters introduce the reader to different points of view and related techniques. New models describing granular bodies as complex bodies are presented. Results on the analysis of the inelastic Boltzmann equations are collected in different chapters. Gallavotti-Cohen symmetry is also discussed.

  11. Flowability of granular materials with industrial applications - An experimental approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torres-Serra, Joel; Romero, Enrique; Rodríguez-Ferran, Antonio; Caba, Joan; Arderiu, Xavier; Padullés, Josep-Manel; González, Juanjo

    2017-06-01

    Designing bulk material handling equipment requires a thorough understanding of the mechanical behaviour of powders and grains. Experimental characterization of granular materials is introduced focusing on flowability. A new prototype is presented which performs granular column collapse tests. The device consists of a channel whose design accounts for test inspection using visualization techniques and load measurements. A reservoir is attached where packing state of the granular material can be adjusted before run-off to simulate actual handling conditions by fluidisation and deaeration of the pile. Bulk materials on the market, with a wide range of particle sizes, can be tested with the prototype and the results used for classification in terms of flowability to improve industrial equipment selection processes.

  12. Breakage mechanics for granular materials in surface-reactive environments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Yida; Buscarnera, Giuseppe

    2018-03-01

    It is known that the crushing behaviour of granular materials is sensitive to the state of the fluids occupying the pore space. Here, a thermomechanical theory is developed to link such macroscopic observations with the physico-chemical processes operating at the microcracks of individual grains. The theory relies on the hypothesis that subcritical fracture propagation at intra-particle scale is the controlling mechanism for the rate-dependent, water-sensitive compression of granular specimens. First, the fracture of uniaxially compressed particles in surface-reactive environments is studied in light of irreversible thermodynamics. Such analysis recovers the Gibbs adsorption isotherm as a central component linking the reduction of the fracture toughness of a solid to the increase of vapour concentration. The same methodology is then extended to assemblies immersed in wet air, for which solid-fluid interfaces have been treated as a separate phase. It is shown that this choice brings the solid surface energy into the dissipation equations of the granular matrix, thus providing a pathway to (i) integrate the Gibbs isotherm with the continuum description of particle assemblies and (ii) reproduce the reduction of their yield strength in presence of high relative humidity. The rate-effects involved in the propagation of cracks and the evolution of breakage have been recovered by considering non-homogenous dissipation potentials associated with the creation of surface area at both scales. It is shown that the proposed model captures satisfactorily the compression response of different types of granular materials subjected to varying relative humidity. This result was achieved simply by using parameters based on the actual adsorption characteristics of the constituting minerals. The theory therefore provides a physically sound and thermodynamically consistent framework to study the behaviour of granular solids in surface-reactive environments.

  13. Martian gullies: possible formation mechanism by dry granular material..

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cedillo-Flores, Y.; Durand-Manterola, H. J.

    section Some of the geomorphological features in Mars are the gullies Some theories developed tried explain its origin either by liquid water liquid carbon dioxide or flows of dry granular material We made a comparative analysis of the Martian gullies with the terrestrial ones We propose that the mechanism of formation of the gullies is as follows In winter CO 2 snow mixed with sand falls in the terrain In spring the CO 2 snow sublimate and gaseous CO 2 make fluid the sand which flows like liquid eroding the terrain and forming the gullies By experimental work with dry granular material we simulated the development of the Martian gullies injecting air in the granular material section We present the characteristics of some terrestrial gullies forms at cold environment sited at Nevado de Toluca Volcano near Toluca City M e xico We compare them with Martian gullies choose from four different areas to target goal recognize or to distinguish to identify possible processes evolved in its formation Also we measured the lengths of those Martian gullies and the range was from 24 m to 1775 meters Finally we present results of our experimental work at laboratory with dry granular material

  14. Resilient Modulus Characterization of Alaskan Granular Base Materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-08-01

    Resilient modulus (MR) of base course material is an important material input for : pavement design. In Alaska, due to distinctiveness of local climate, material source, : fines content and groundwater level, resilient properties of D-1 granular base...

  15. Mechanical strength model for plastic bonded granular materials at high strain rates and large strains

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Browning, R.V.; Scammon, R.J.

    1998-01-01

    Modeling impact events on systems containing plastic bonded explosive materials requires accurate models for stress evolution at high strain rates out to large strains. For example, in the Steven test geometry reactions occur after strains of 0.5 or more are reached for PBX-9501. The morphology of this class of materials and properties of the constituents are briefly described. We then review the viscoelastic behavior observed at small strains for this class of material, and evaluate large strain models used for granular materials such as cap models. Dilatation under shearing deformations of the PBX is experimentally observed and is one of the key features modeled in cap style plasticity theories, together with bulk plastic flow at high pressures. We propose a model that combines viscoelastic behavior at small strains but adds intergranular stresses at larger strains. A procedure using numerical simulations and comparisons with results from flyer plate tests and low rate uniaxial stress tests is used to develop a rough set of constants for PBX-9501. Comparisons with the high rate flyer plate tests demonstrate that the observed characteristic behavior is captured by this viscoelastic based model. copyright 1998 American Institute of Physics

  16. Dynamics of crater formations in immersed granular materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Varas, G.; Vidal, V.; Géminard, J.

    2009-12-01

    Craters are part of the widespread phenomena observed in nature. Among the main applications to natural phenomena, aside from meteorite impact craters, are the formation and growth of volcanic edifices, by successive ejecta emplacement and/or erosion. The time evolution and dynamics play a crucial role here, as the competition between volcanic-jet mass-flux (degassing and ejecta) and crater-size evolution may control directly the eruptive regime. Crater morphology in dry granular material has been extensively studied, both experimentally and theoretically. Most of these studies investigate the final, steady crater shape resulting from the collision of solid bodies with the material surface and scaling laws are derived. In immersed granular material, craters generated by an underwater vortex ring, or underwater impact craters generated by landslide, have been reported. In a previous experimental study, Gostiaux et al. [Gran. Matt., 2002] have investigated the dynamics of air flowing through an immersed granular layer. They reported that, depending on the flow rate, the system exhibits two qualitatively different regimes: At small flow rate, the bubbling regime during which bubbles escape the granular layer independently one from another; At large flow rate, the open-channel regime which corresponds to the formation of a channel crossing the whole thickness of the granular bed through which air escapes almost continuously. At intermediate flow rate, a spontaneous alternation between these two regimes is observed. Here, we report the dynamics of crater formations at the free surface of an immersed granular bed, locally crossed by an ascending gas flow. We reproduce the experimental conditions of Gostiaux et al. (2002) in two dimensions: In a vertical Hele-Shaw cell, the crater consists of two sand piles which develop around the location of the gas emission. We observe that the typical size of the crater increases logarithmically with time, independently of the gas

  17. Granular flow

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mitarai, Namiko; Nakanishi, Hiizu

    2012-01-01

    Granular material is a collection of macroscopic particles that are visible with naked eyes. The non-equilibrium nature of the granular materials makes their rheology quite different from that of molecular systems. In this minireview, we present the unique features of granular materials focusing...... on the shear flow of dry granular materials and granule-liquid mixture....

  18. Jetting and flooding of granular backfill materials : [summary].

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-03-01

    Granular backfill materials on highway projects are often compacted by mechanical methods. : This requires the contractor to place backfill material into loose lifts of varying thickness : and use compaction equipment to reduce air voids and increase...

  19. Granular model, percolation-resistivity, ESR and elastic modulus of carbonaceous materials application to the babassu endocarp heat treated up to 22000C

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Emmerich, F.G.

    1987-01-01

    A microscopic model (granular model) is presented to study heat treated carbons. A granular structure is defined in the carbon matrix, composed of turbostratic graphite-like microcrystallites, cross-linkings and micropores. A general expression is developed to calculate the volume fraction X of the conducting phase of the granular structure as a function of structural parameters obtained from X-ray diffraction small angle X-ray scattering. The granular model and the percolation theory are used to explain the electrical resistivity behaviour with the heat treatment temperature (HTT), where X is the fundamental parameter. An electron spin resonance (ESR) study of the low and high HTT ranges is presented, including the transition range (700-1300 0 C). The elucitation of the spin center nature in this range and the liking with the two adjacent ranges has been pursued. An expression to calculate the elastic modulus (Young's modulus), based on the microscopic granular model with the fundamental participation of the cross-linkings, is derived to account for the behavior of the modulus with the HTT. The granular model with the expression of X, the percolation-resistivity theory, the ESR study, and the expression of the elastic modulus are applied to the babassu endocarp carbon heat treated up to 2200 0 C. This material can be classified as a tipical non-graphitic carbon, being useful to search the validity of the model and the proposed expressions. It is observed that the theoretical expressions describe with reasonable accuracy the respective experimental behaviours. The measurements of physical and chemical parameters of the babassu endocarp treated up to 2200 0 C area also included. (author) [pt

  20. Consideration of reinforcement mechanism in the short fiber mixing granular materials by granular element simulations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mori, Kentaro; Kaneko, Kenji; Hashizume, Yutaka

    2017-06-01

    The short fiber mixing method is well known as one of the method to improve the strength of gran- ular soils in geotechnical engineering. Mechanical properties of the short fiber mixing granular materials are influenced by many factors, such as the mixture ratio of the short fiber, the material of short fiber, the length, and the orientation. In particular, the mixture ratio of the short fibers is very important in mixture design. In the past study, we understood that the strength is reduced by too much short fiber mixing by a series of tri-axial compression experiments. Namely, there is "optimum mixture ratio" in the short fiber mixing granular soils. In this study, to consider the mechanism of occurrence of the optimum mixture ratio, we carried out the numerical experiments by granular element method. As the results, we can understand that the strength decrease when too much grain-fiber contact points exist, because a friction coefficient is smaller than the grain-grain contact points.

  1. Suitability of granular carbon as an anode material for sediment microbial fuel cells

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Arends, Jan B.A.; Blondeel, Evelyne; Boon, Nico; Verstraete, Willy [Ghent Univ. (Belgium). Faculty of Bioscience Engineering; Tennison, Steve R. [Mast Carbon International Ltd., Basingstoke, Hampshire (United Kingdom)

    2012-08-15

    Purpose: Sediment microbial fuel cells (S-MFCs) are bio-electrochemical devices that are able to oxidize organic matter directly into harvestable electrical power. The flux of organic matter into the sediment is rather low; therefore, other researchers have introduced plants for a continuous supply of organic matter to the anode electrode. Until now only interconnected materials have been considered as anode materials in S-MFCs. Here, granular carbon materials were investigated for their suitability as an anode material in S-MFCs. Materials and methods: Laboratory microcosms with eight different electrode materials (granules, felts and cloths) were examined with controlled organic matter addition under brackish conditions. Current density, organic matter removal and microbial community composition were monitored using 16S rRNA gene PCR followed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). The main parameters investigated were the influence of the amount of electrode material applied to the sediment, the size of the granular material and the electrode configuration. Results and discussion: Felt material had an overall superior performance in terms of current density per amount of applied electrode material; felt and granular anode obtained similar current densities (approx. 50-60 mA m{sup -2}), but felt materials required 29 % less material to be applied. Yet, when growing plants, granular carbon is more suited because it is considered to restore, upon disturbance, the electrical connectivity within the anode compartment. Small granules (0.25-0.5 mm) gave the highest current density compared to larger granules (1-5 mm) of the same material. Granules with a rough surface had a better performance compared to smooth granules of the same size. The different granular materials lead to a selection of distinct microbial communities for each material, as shown by DGGE. Conclusions: Granular carbon is suitable as an anode material for S-MFCs. This opens the possibility

  2. Mechanical properties of granular materials: A variational approach to grain-scale simulations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Holtzman, R.; Silin, D.B.; Patzek, T.W.

    2009-01-15

    The mechanical properties of cohesionless granular materials are evaluated from grain-scale simulations. A three-dimensional pack of spherical grains is loaded by incremental displacements of its boundaries. The deformation is described as a sequence of equilibrium configurations. Each configuration is characterized by a minimum of the total potential energy. This minimum is computed using a modification of the conjugate gradient algorithm. Our simulations capture the nonlinear, path-dependent behavior of granular materials observed in experiments. Micromechanical analysis provides valuable insight into phenomena such as hysteresis, strain hardening and stress-induced anisotropy. Estimates of the effective bulk modulus, obtained with no adjustment of material parameters, are in agreement with published experimental data. The model is applied to evaluate the effects of hydrate dissociation in marine sediments. Weakening of the sediment is quantified as a reduction in the effective elastic moduli.

  3. A thermomechanical constitutive model for cemented granular materials with quantifiable internal variables. Part I-Theory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tengattini, Alessandro; Das, Arghya; Nguyen, Giang D.; Viggiani, Gioacchino; Hall, Stephen A.; Einav, Itai

    2014-10-01

    This is the first of two papers introducing a novel thermomechanical continuum constitutive model for cemented granular materials. Here, we establish the theoretical foundations of the model, and highlight its novelties. At the limit of no cement, the model is fully consistent with the original Breakage Mechanics model. An essential ingredient of the model is the use of measurable and micro-mechanics based internal variables, describing the evolution of the dominant inelastic processes. This imposes a link between the macroscopic mechanical behavior and the statistically averaged evolution of the microstructure. As a consequence this model requires only a few physically identifiable parameters, including those of the original breakage model and new ones describing the cement: its volume fraction, its critical damage energy and bulk stiffness, and the cohesion.

  4. Fuzzy batch controller for granular materials

    OpenAIRE

    Zamyatin Nikolaj; Smirnov Gennadij; Fedorchuk Yuri; Rusina Olga

    2018-01-01

    The paper focuses on batch control of granular materials in production of building materials from fluorine anhydrite. Batching equipment is intended for smooth operation and timely feeding of supply hoppers at a required level. Level sensors and a controller of an asynchronous screw drive motor are used to control filling of the hopper with industrial anhydrite binders. The controller generates a required frequency and ensures required productivity of a feed conveyor. Mamdani-type fuzzy infer...

  5. Micromechanical definition of an entropy for quasi-static deformation of granular materials

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rothenburg, L.; Kruyt, Nicolaas P.

    2009-01-01

    A micromechanical theory is formulated for quasi-static deformation of granular materials, which is based on information theory. A reasoning is presented that leads to the definition of an information entropy that is appropriate for quasi-static deformation of granular materials. This definition is

  6. Computational domain discretization in numerical analysis of flow within granular materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sosnowski, Marcin

    2018-06-01

    The discretization of computational domain is a crucial step in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) because it influences not only the numerical stability of the analysed model but also the agreement of obtained results and real data. Modelling flow in packed beds of granular materials is a very challenging task in terms of discretization due to the existence of narrow spaces between spherical granules contacting tangentially in a single point. Standard approach to this issue results in a low quality mesh and unreliable results in consequence. Therefore the common method is to reduce the diameter of the modelled granules in order to eliminate the single-point contact between the individual granules. The drawback of such method is the adulteration of flow and contact heat resistance among others. Therefore an innovative method is proposed in the paper: single-point contact is extended to a cylinder-shaped volume contact. Such approach eliminates the low quality mesh elements and simultaneously introduces only slight distortion to the flow as well as contact heat transfer. The performed analysis of numerous test cases prove the great potential of the proposed method of meshing the packed beds of granular materials.

  7. Advances in the simulation and automated measurement of well-sorted granular material: 1. Simulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daniel Buscombe,; Rubin, David M.

    2012-01-01

    1. In this, the first of a pair of papers which address the simulation and automated measurement of well-sorted natural granular material, a method is presented for simulation of two-phase (solid, void) assemblages of discrete non-cohesive particles. The purpose is to have a flexible, yet computationally and theoretically simple, suite of tools with well constrained and well known statistical properties, in order to simulate realistic granular material as a discrete element model with realistic size and shape distributions, for a variety of purposes. The stochastic modeling framework is based on three-dimensional tessellations with variable degrees of order in particle-packing arrangement. Examples of sediments with a variety of particle size distributions and spatial variability in grain size are presented. The relationship between particle shape and porosity conforms to published data. The immediate application is testing new algorithms for automated measurements of particle properties (mean and standard deviation of particle sizes, and apparent porosity) from images of natural sediment, as detailed in the second of this pair of papers. The model could also prove useful for simulating specific depositional structures found in natural sediments, the result of physical alterations to packing and grain fabric, using discrete particle flow models. While the principal focus here is on naturally occurring sediment and sedimentary rock, the methods presented might also be useful for simulations of similar granular or cellular material encountered in engineering, industrial and life sciences.

  8. Sealing of boreholes using natural, compatible materials: Granular salt

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Finley, R.E.; Zeuch, D.H.; Stormont, J.C.; Daemen, J.J.K.

    1994-01-01

    Granular salt can be used to construct high performance permanent seals in boreholes which penetrate rock salt formations. These seals are described as seal systems comprised of the host rock, the seal material, and the seal rock interface. The performance of these seal systems is defined by the complex interactions between these seal system components through time. The interactions are largely driven by the creep of the host formation applying boundary stress on the seal forcing host rock permeability with time. The immediate permeability of these seals is dependent on the emplaced density. Laboratory test results suggest that careful emplacement techniques could results in immediate seal system permeability on the order of 10 -16 m 2 to 10 -18 m 2 (10 -4 darcy to 10 -6 ). The visco-plastic behavior of the host rock coupled with the granular salts ability to ''heal'' or consolidate make granular salt an ideal sealing material for boreholes whose permanent sealing is required

  9. Compaction of granular HMX: P-α porosity model in CTH hydrocode

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K. S. Mahon

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Compaction waves traveling through porous cyclotetramethylene-tetranitramine (HMX are computationally modeled using the Eulerian hydrocode CTH and validated with gas gun experimental data. The method employed use of a newly generated set of P-α parameters for granular HMX in a Mie-Gruneisen equation of state. The P-α model adds a separate parameter to differentiate between the volume changes of a solid material due to compression from the volume change due to compaction, void collapse in a granular material. Computational results are compared via five validation schema for two different initial-porosity experiments. These schema include stress measurements, velocity rise times and arrival times, elastic sound speeds though the material and final compaction densities for a series of two different percent Theoretical Maximum Density (TMD HMX sets of experimental data. There is a good agreement between the simulations and the experimental gas gun data with the largest source of error being an 11% overestimate of the peak stress which may be due to impedance mismatch on the experimental gauge interface. Determination of these P-α parameters are important as they enable modeling of porosity and are a vital first step in modeling of precursory hotspots, caused by hydrodynamic collapse of void regions or grain interactions, prior to deflagration to detonation transition of granular explosives.

  10. Granular compaction and stretched exponentials - Experiments and a numerical stochastic model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicolas Maxime

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available We present a stochastic model to investigate the compaction kinetics of a granular material submitted to vibration. The model is compared to experimental results obtained with glass beads and with a cohesive powder. We also propose a physical interpretation of the characteristic time τ and the exponent β of the stretched exponential function widely used to represent the granular compaction kinetics, and we show that the characteristic time is proportional to the number of grains to move. The exponent β is expressed as a logarithmic compaction rate.

  11. Frost susceptibility of granular subbase materials contaminated by deicing chemicals

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jørgensen, Anders Stuhr; Orlander, Tobias; Doré, Guy

    2013-01-01

    The increase in urban population in arctic areas leads to an increased demand for transportation infrastructures (such as roads and airfields) in the regions. This challenges the road constructions in terms of condition, bearing capacity and maintenance. It is believed that deicing agents used...... on roads and airfields enter the granular subbase materials and thereby makes the soil more frost-susceptible. In this project a series of isothermal frost heave tests has been carried out on granular subbase material from the runway at Kuujjuaq Airport, Québec, Canada. The tests have been carried out...

  12. Grain-scale numerical modeling of granular mechanics and fluid dynamics and application in a glacial context

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Damsgaard, Anders; Egholm, David Lundbek; Beem, Lucas H.

    The macroscopic behavior of granular materials is the result of the self-organizing complexity of the constituent grains. Granular materials are known for their ability to change phase, where each phase is characterized by distinct mechanical properties. This rich generic phenomenology has made...... it difficult to constrain generalized and adequate mathematical models for their mechanical behavior. Glaciers and ice streams often move by deformation of underlying melt-water saturated sediments. Glacier flow models including subglacial sediment deformation use simplified a priori assumptions for sediment......, the method imposes intense computational requirements on the computational time step. The majority of steps in the granular dynamics algorithm are massively parallel, which makes the DEM an obvious candidate for exploiting the capabilities of modern GPUs. The granular computations are coupled to a fluid...

  13. A theoretical and numerical study of the flow of granular materials down an inclined plane. Final report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rajagopal, K.R.

    1995-12-31

    The mechanics of the flowing granular materials such as coal, agricultural products, at deal of attention as it has fertilizers, dry chemicals, metal ores, etc. have received a great deal of attention as it has relevance to several important technological problems. Despite wide interest and more than five decades of experimental and theoretical investigations, most aspects of the behavior of flowing granular materials are still not well understood. So Experiments have to be devised which quantify and describe the non-linear behavior of the modular materials, and theories developed which can explain the experimentally observed facts. As many models have been suggested for describing the behavior of granular materials, from both continuum and kinetic theory viewpoints, we proposed to investigate the validity and usefulness of representative models from both the continuum and kinetic theory points of view, by determining the prediction of such a theory, in a representative flow, with respect to existence, non-existence, multiplicity and stability of solutions. The continuum model to be investigated is an outgrowth of a model due to Goodman and Cowin (1971, 1972) and the kinetic theory models being those due to Jenkins and Richman (1985) and Boyle and Massoudi (1989). In this report we present detailed results regarding the same. Interestingly, we find that the predictions of all the theories, in certain parameter space associated with these models, are qualitatively similar. This ofcourse depends on the values assumed for various material parameters in the models, which as yet are unknown, as reliable experiments have not been carried out as yet for their determination.

  14. A theoretical and numerical study of the flow of granular materials down an inclined plane. [Quarterly progress report, January--March 1995

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rajagopal, K.R.

    1995-09-01

    The mechanics of the flowing granular materials such as coal, agricultural products, fertilizers, dry chemicals, metal ores, etc. have received a great deal of attention as it has relevance to several important technological problems. Despite wide interest and more than five decades of experimental and theoretical investigations, most aspects of the behavior of flowing granular materials are still not well understood. So Experiments have to be devised which quantify and describe the non-linear behavior of the granular materials, and theories developed which can explain the experimentally observed facts. Here we carry out a systematic numerical study of the flow of granular materials down an inclined plane using the models that stem from both the continuum theory approach and the kinetic theory approach. We also look at the existence of solutions, multiplicity and stability of solutions to the governing equations.

  15. An Emotional Agent Model Based on Granular Computing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jun Hu

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Affective computing has a very important significance for fulfilling intelligent information processing and harmonious communication between human being and computers. A new model for emotional agent is proposed in this paper to make agent have the ability of handling emotions, based on the granular computing theory and the traditional BDI agent model. Firstly, a new emotion knowledge base based on granular computing for emotion expression is presented in the model. Secondly, a new emotional reasoning algorithm based on granular computing is proposed. Thirdly, a new emotional agent model based on granular computing is presented. Finally, based on the model, an emotional agent for patient assistant in hospital is realized, experiment results show that it is efficient to handle simple emotions.

  16. Advanced Granular System Modeling, Phase I

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Spaceports of the future will utilize new granular materials in unique applications including insulation for cryogenic tanks and Lunar regolith processing for usable...

  17. Advances in the simulation and automated measurement of well-sorted granular material: 2. Direct measures of particle properties

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buscombe, D.; Rubin, D. M.

    2012-06-01

    In this, the second of a pair of papers on the structure of well-sorted natural granular material (sediment), new methods are described for automated measurements from images of sediment, of: 1) particle-size standard deviation (arithmetic sorting) with and without apparent void fraction; and 2) mean particle size in material with void fraction. A variety of simulations of granular material are used for testing purposes, in addition to images of natural sediment. Simulations are also used to establish that the effects on automated particle sizing of grains visible through the interstices of the grains at the very surface of a granular material continue to a depth of approximately 4 grain diameters and that this is independent of mean particle size. Ensemble root-mean squared error between observed and estimated arithmetic sorting coefficients for 262 images of natural silts, sands and gravels (drawn from 8 populations) is 31%, which reduces to 27% if adjusted for bias (slope correction between observed and estimated values). These methods allow non-intrusive and fully automated measurements of surfaces of unconsolidated granular material. With no tunable parameters or empirically derived coefficients, they should be broadly universal in appropriate applications. However, empirical corrections may need to be applied for the most accurate results. Finally, analytical formulas are derived for the one-step pore-particle transition probability matrix, estimated from the image's autocorrelogram, from which void fraction of a section of granular material can be estimated directly. This model gives excellent predictions of bulk void fraction yet imperfect predictions of pore-particle transitions.

  18. Static Friction Phenomena in Granular Materials: Coulomb Law vs. Particle Geometry

    OpenAIRE

    Poeschel, T.; Buchholtz, V.

    1993-01-01

    The static as well as the dynamic behaviour of granular material are determined by dynamic {\\it and} static friction. There are well known methods to include static friction in molecular dynamics simulations using scarcely understood forces. We propose an Ansatz based on the geometrical shape of nonspherical particles which does not involve an explicit expression for static friction. It is shown that the simulations based on this model are close to experimental results.

  19. Collisional model for granular impact dynamics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clark, Abram H; Petersen, Alec J; Behringer, Robert P

    2014-01-01

    When an intruder strikes a granular material from above, the grains exert a stopping force which decelerates and stops the intruder. Many previous studies have used a macroscopic force law, including a drag force which is quadratic in velocity, to characterize the decelerating force on the intruder. However, the microscopic origins of the force-law terms are still a subject of debate. Here, drawing from previous experiments with photoelastic particles, we present a model which describes the velocity-squared force in terms of repeated collisions with clusters of grains. From our high speed photoelastic data, we infer that "clusters" correspond to segments of the strong force network that are excited by the advancing intruder. The model predicts a scaling relation for the velocity-squared drag force that accounts for the intruder shape. Additionally, we show that the collisional model predicts an instability to rotations, which depends on the intruder shape. To test this model, we perform a comprehensive experimental study of the dynamics of two-dimensional granular impacts on beds of photoelastic disks, with different profiles for the leading edge of the intruder. We particularly focus on a simple and useful case for testing shape effects by using triangular-nosed intruders. We show that the collisional model effectively captures the dynamics of intruder deceleration and rotation; i.e., these two dynamical effects can be described as two different manifestations of the same grain-scale physical processes.

  20. Developing a Magnetic Resonance Imaging measurement of the forces within 3D granular materials under external loads

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elrington, Stefan; Bertrand, Thibault; Frey, Merideth; Shattuck, Mark; O'Hern, Corey; Barrett, Sean

    2014-03-01

    Granular materials are comprised of an ensemble of discrete macroscopic grains that interact with each other via highly dissipative forces. These materials are ubiquitous in our everyday life ranging in scale from the granular media that forms the Earth's crust to that used in agricultural and pharmaceutical industries. Granular materials exhibit complex behaviors that are poorly understood and cannot be easily described by statistical mechanics. Under external loads individual grains are jammed into place by a network of force chains. These networks have been imaged in quasi two-dimensional and on the outer surface of three-dimensional granular materials. Our goal is to use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to detect contact forces deep within three-dimensional granular materials, using hydrogen-1 relaxation times as a reporter for changes in local stress and strain. To this end, we use a novel pulse sequence to narrow the line width of hydrogen-1 in rubber. Here we present our progress to date, and prospects for future improvements.

  1. Physical modelling of granular flows at multiple-scales and stress levels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Take, Andy; Bowman, Elisabeth; Bryant, Sarah

    2015-04-01

    The rheology of dry granular flows is an area of significant focus within the granular physics, geoscience, and geotechnical engineering research communities. Studies performed to better understand granular flows in manufacturing, materials processing or bulk handling applications have typically focused on the behavior of steady, continuous flows. As a result, much of the research on relating the fundamental interaction of particles to the rheological or constitutive behaviour of granular flows has been performed under (usually) steady-state conditions and low stress levels. However, landslides, which are the primary focus of the geoscience and geotechnical engineering communities, are by nature unsteady flows defined by a finite source volume and at flow depths much larger than typically possible in laboratory experiments. The objective of this paper is to report initial findings of experimental studies currently being conducted using a new large-scale landslide flume (8 m long, 2 m wide slope inclined at 30° with a 35 m long horizontal base section) and at elevated particle self-weight in a 10 m diameter geotechnical centrifuge to investigate the granular flow behavior at multiple-scales and stress levels. The transparent sidewalls of the two flumes used in the experimental investigation permit the combination of observations of particle-scale interaction (using high-speed imaging through transparent vertical sidewalls at over 1000 frames per second) with observations of the distal reach of the landslide debris. These observations are used to investigate the applicability of rheological models developed for steady state flows (e.g. the dimensionless inertial number) in landslide applications and the robustness of depth-averaged approaches to modelling dry granular flow at multiple scales. These observations indicate that the dimensionless inertial number calculated for the flow may be of limited utility except perhaps to define a general state (e.g. liquid

  2. Exact Solutions of the Hierarchical Korteweg-de Vries Equation of Micro structured Granular Materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abourabia, A.M.; El-Danaf, T.S.; Morad, A.M.

    2008-01-01

    The problem under consideration are related to wave propagation in micro structured materials, characterized by higher-order nonlinear and higher-order dispersive effects; particularly, the wave propagation in dilatant granular materials. In the present paper the model equation is solved analytically by exact method called Jacobi elliptic method. The types of solutions are defined and discussed over a wide range of material parameters (two dispersion parameters and one microstructure parameter). The dispersion properties and the relation between group and phase velocities of the model equation are studied. The diagrams are drawn to illustrate the physical properties of the exact solutions

  3. Influence of granular material characteristics in the behaviour of “Bouregreg Valley” soft ground improved with stone columns

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nehab Noura

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The use of finite element analysis has become widespread in geotechnical practice as means of optimizing engineering tasks; it can be easily applied to the treated areas by stone columns, which are a method of improving the soil having low geotechnical properties and likely to deform significantly under load action, by incorporating granular material (commonly called ballast compacted by remounting passes, so they act mainly as inclusions with a higher stiffness, shear strength than the natural soil. Moreover the stone columns are highly permeable and act as vertical drains facilitating consolidation of the soft soil improving the performance of the foundation. However the characteristics of this granular material influence the behavior of soft soils treated by the stone columns technique, especially: the friction angle, the cohesion, the modular ratio and the constitutive model. The choice of the constitutive model depends on many factors but, in general, it is related to the type of analysis that we intend to perform. Numerical modeling must consider the diversity of the materials nature, the complex geometry of structures-land and the behavior of materials generally nonlinear (permanent deformation. It is a simple and effective alternative to approach the real behavior of soils reinforced by stone columns and the influence of materials characteristics, it allows settlement analysis, lateral deformation, vertical and horizontal stresses in order to understand the behavior of columns and soil. It also has the advantage of integrating the settlements of the underlying layers. This paper aims to study the mechanisms of functioning and interactions of stone columns with the surrounding ground, and vis-à-vis the various parameters characterizing the granular material "ballast" and the surrounding soil, which influence the behavior of the improved soil, The paper presents, in the first part, soil conditions and the parameters associated with

  4. Non-Steady Oscillatory Flow in Coarse Granular Materials

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, O. H.; Gent, M. R. A. van; Meer, J. W. van der

    1992-01-01

    Stationary and oscillatory flow through coarse granular materials have been investigated experimentally at Delft Hydraulics in their oscillating water tunnel with the objective of determining the coefficients of the extended Forchheimer equation. Cylinders, spheres and different types of rock have....... Further, for the non-stationary term, the virtual mass coefficient will be derived....

  5. Mechanics of Granular Materials : Constitutive Behavior and Pattern Transformation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Göncü, F.

    2012-01-01

    From pharmaceutical to mining or traveling desert dunes to earthquakes, granular materials are at the heart of many industries and natural phenomena. Improving the efficiency of the machines handling them or, constructing safer buildings requires a critical understanding of their behavior. However,

  6. Statics and kinematics of discrete Cosserat-type granular materials

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kruyt, Nicolaas P.

    2003-01-01

    A theoretical framework is presented for the statics and kinematics of discrete Cosserat-type granular materials. In analogy to the force and moment equilibrium equations for particles, compatibility equations for closed loops are formulated in the two-dimensional case for relative displacements and

  7. Temperature scaling in a dense vibrofluidized granular material.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sunthar, P; Kumaran, V

    1999-08-01

    The leading order "temperature" of a dense two-dimensional granular material fluidized by external vibrations is determined. The grain interactions are characterized by inelastic collisions, but the coefficient of restitution is considered to be close to 1, so that the dissipation of energy during a collision is small compared to the average energy of a particle. An asymptotic solution is obtained where the particles are considered to be elastic in the leading approximation. The velocity distribution is a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution in the leading approximation. The density profile is determined by solving the momentum balance equation in the vertical direction, where the relation between the pressure and density is provided by the virial equation of state. The temperature is determined by relating the source of energy due to the vibrating surface and the energy dissipation due to inelastic collisions. The predictions of the present analysis show good agreement with simulation results at higher densities where theories for a dilute vibrated granular material, with the pressure-density relation provided by the ideal gas law, are in error.

  8. A numerical toolkit to understand the mechanics of partially saturated granular materials

    OpenAIRE

    Roux , Jean-Noël

    2015-01-01

    ``Focus on Fluids'' section; International audience; The mechanisms by which a wetting, non-saturating liquid bestows macroscopic cohesion and strength to a granular material are usually not accessible to micromechanical investigations for saturations exceeding the pendular regime of isolated menisci, easily studied by discrete element models. The " JFM-Rapids " paper (vol. 762, R5, 2015) by Delenne, Richefeu and Radja¨ıRadja¨ı, exploiting a multiphase Lattice Boltzmann approach, pioneers the...

  9. Modelling of dc characteristics for granular semiconductors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Varpula, Aapo; Sinkkonen, Juha; Novikov, Sergey

    2010-01-01

    The dc characteristics of granular n-type semiconductors are calculated analytically with the drift-diffusion theory. Electronic trapping at the grain boundaries (GBs) is taken into account. The use of quadratic and linear GB potential profiles in the calculation is compared. The analytical model is verified with numerical simulation performed by SILVACO ATLAS. The agreement between the analytical and numerical results is excellent in a large voltage range. The results show that electronic trapping at the GBs has a remarkable effect on the highly nonlinear I-V characteristics of the material.

  10. Modelling of dc characteristics for granular semiconductors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Varpula, Aapo; Sinkkonen, Juha; Novikov, Sergey, E-mail: aapo.varpula@tkk.f [Department of Micro and Nanosciences, Aalto University, PO Box 13500, FI-00076 Aalto, Espoo (Finland)

    2010-11-01

    The dc characteristics of granular n-type semiconductors are calculated analytically with the drift-diffusion theory. Electronic trapping at the grain boundaries (GBs) is taken into account. The use of quadratic and linear GB potential profiles in the calculation is compared. The analytical model is verified with numerical simulation performed by SILVACO ATLAS. The agreement between the analytical and numerical results is excellent in a large voltage range. The results show that electronic trapping at the GBs has a remarkable effect on the highly nonlinear I-V characteristics of the material.

  11. Fuzzy batch controller for granular materials

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zamyatin Nikolaj

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper focuses on batch control of granular materials in production of building materials from fluorine anhydrite. Batching equipment is intended for smooth operation and timely feeding of supply hoppers at a required level. Level sensors and a controller of an asynchronous screw drive motor are used to control filling of the hopper with industrial anhydrite binders. The controller generates a required frequency and ensures required productivity of a feed conveyor. Mamdani-type fuzzy inference is proposed for controlling the speed of the screw that feeds mixture components. As related to production of building materials based on fluoride anhydrite, this method is used for the first time. A fuzzy controller is proven to be effective in controlling the filling level of the supply hopper. In addition, the authors determined optimal parameters of the batching process to ensure smooth operation and production of fluorine anhydrite materials of specified properties that can compete with gypsum-based products.

  12. A thermodynamically consistent model for granular-fluid mixtures considering pore pressure evolution and hypoplastic behavior

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hess, Julian; Wang, Yongqi

    2016-11-01

    A new mixture model for granular-fluid flows, which is thermodynamically consistent with the entropy principle, is presented. The extra pore pressure described by a pressure diffusion equation and the hypoplastic material behavior obeying a transport equation are taken into account. The model is applied to granular-fluid flows, using a closing assumption in conjunction with the dynamic fluid pressure to describe the pressure-like residual unknowns, hereby overcoming previous uncertainties in the modeling process. Besides the thermodynamically consistent modeling, numerical simulations are carried out and demonstrate physically reasonable results, including simple shear flow in order to investigate the vertical distribution of the physical quantities, and a mixture flow down an inclined plane by means of the depth-integrated model. Results presented give insight in the ability of the deduced model to capture the key characteristics of granular-fluid flows. We acknowledge the support of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) for this work within the Project Number WA 2610/3-1.

  13. On the submerging of a spherical intruder into granular beds

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wu Chuan-Yu

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Granular materials are complex systems and their mechanical behaviours are determined by the material properties of individual particles, the interaction between particles and the surrounding media, which are still incompletely understood. Using an advanced discrete element method (DEM, we simulate the submerging process of a spherical projectile (an intruder into granular materials of various properties with a zero penetration velocity (i.e. the intruder is touching the top surface of the granular bed and released from stationary and examine its settling behaviour. By systematically changing the density and size of the intruder and the particle density (i.e. the density of the particles in the granular bed, we find that the intruder can sink deep into the granular bed even with a zero penetration velocity. Furthermore, we confirm that under certain conditions the granular bed can behave like a Newtonian liquid and the submerging intruder can reach a constant velocity, i.e. the terminal velocity, identical to the settling of a sphere in a liquid, as observed experimentally. A mathematical model is also developed to predict the maximum penetration depth of the intruder. The model predictions are compared with experimental data reported in the literature,good agreement was obtained, demonstrating the model can accurately predict the submerging behaviour of the intruder in the granular media.

  14. A constitutive law for dense granular flows.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jop, Pierre; Forterre, Yoël; Pouliquen, Olivier

    2006-06-08

    A continuum description of granular flows would be of considerable help in predicting natural geophysical hazards or in designing industrial processes. However, the constitutive equations for dry granular flows, which govern how the material moves under shear, are still a matter of debate. One difficulty is that grains can behave like a solid (in a sand pile), a liquid (when poured from a silo) or a gas (when strongly agitated). For the two extreme regimes, constitutive equations have been proposed based on kinetic theory for collisional rapid flows, and soil mechanics for slow plastic flows. However, the intermediate dense regime, where the granular material flows like a liquid, still lacks a unified view and has motivated many studies over the past decade. The main characteristics of granular liquids are: a yield criterion (a critical shear stress below which flow is not possible) and a complex dependence on shear rate when flowing. In this sense, granular matter shares similarities with classical visco-plastic fluids such as Bingham fluids. Here we propose a new constitutive relation for dense granular flows, inspired by this analogy and recent numerical and experimental work. We then test our three-dimensional (3D) model through experiments on granular flows on a pile between rough sidewalls, in which a complex 3D flow pattern develops. We show that, without any fitting parameter, the model gives quantitative predictions for the flow shape and velocity profiles. Our results support the idea that a simple visco-plastic approach can quantitatively capture granular flow properties, and could serve as a basic tool for modelling more complex flows in geophysical or industrial applications.

  15. The influence of the fractal particle size distribution on the mobility of dry granular materials

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vallejo Luis E.

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This study presents an experimental analysis on the influence of the particle size distribution (psd on the mobility of dry granular materials. The psd obeys a power law of the form: N(L>d=kd-Df, where N is the number of particles with diameter L greater than a given diameter d, k is a proportionality constant, and Df is the fractal dimension of the psd. No laboratory or numerical study has been conducted to date analysing how a fractal psd influences the mobility of granular flows as in the case of rock avalanches. In this study, the flow characteristics of poly-dispersed granular materials that have a fractal psd were investigated in the laboratory. Granular mixtures having different fractal psd values were placed in a hollow cylinder. The cylinder was lifted and the distance of flow of the mixture was measured with respect to the original position of the cylinder. It was determined that the distance of flow of the mixtures was directly related to their fractal psd values. That is, the larger the distance of flow of the mixture, the larger is the fractal psd of the granular mixture tested. Thus, the fractal psd in dry granular mixtures seems to have a large influence on the easiness by which dry granular mixtures move in the field.

  16. Numerical insight into the micromechanics of jet erosion of a cohesive granular material

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cuéllar Pablo

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Here we investigate the physical mechanisms behind the surface erosion of a cohesive granular soil induced by an impinging jet by means of numerical simulations coupling fluid and grains at the microscale. The 2D numerical model combines the Discrete Element and Lattice Boltzmann methods (DEM-LBM and accounts for the granular cohesion with a contact model featuring a paraboloidal yield surface. Here we review first the hydrodynamical conditions imposed by the fluid jet on a solid granular packing, turning then the attention to the impact of cohesion on the erosion kinetics. Finally, the use of an additional subcritical debonding damage model based on the work of Silvani and co-workers provides a novel insight into the internal solicitation of the cohesive granular sample by the impinging jet.

  17. Numerical insight into the micromechanics of jet erosion of a cohesive granular material

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cuéllar, Pablo; Benseghier, Zeyd; Luu, Li-Hua; Bonelli, Stéphane; Delenne, Jean-Yves; Radjaï, Farhang; Philippe, Pierre

    2017-06-01

    Here we investigate the physical mechanisms behind the surface erosion of a cohesive granular soil induced by an impinging jet by means of numerical simulations coupling fluid and grains at the microscale. The 2D numerical model combines the Discrete Element and Lattice Boltzmann methods (DEM-LBM) and accounts for the granular cohesion with a contact model featuring a paraboloidal yield surface. Here we review first the hydrodynamical conditions imposed by the fluid jet on a solid granular packing, turning then the attention to the impact of cohesion on the erosion kinetics. Finally, the use of an additional subcritical debonding damage model based on the work of Silvani and co-workers provides a novel insight into the internal solicitation of the cohesive granular sample by the impinging jet.

  18. Stress distribution retrieval in granular materials: A multi-scale model and digital image correlation measurements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bruno, Luigi; Decuzzi, Paolo; Gentile, Francesco

    2016-01-01

    The promise of nanotechnology lies in the possibility of engineering matter on the nanoscale and creating technological interfaces that, because of their small scales, may directly interact with biological objects, creating new strategies for the treatment of pathologies that are otherwise beyond the reach of conventional medicine. Nanotechnology is inherently a multiscale, multiphenomena challenge. Fundamental understanding and highly accurate predictive methods are critical to successful manufacturing of nanostructured materials, bio/mechanical devices and systems. In biomedical engineering, and in the mechanical analysis of biological tissues, classical continuum approaches are routinely utilized, even if these disregard the discrete nature of tissues, that are an interpenetrating network of a matrix (the extra cellular matrix, ECM) and a generally large but finite number of cells with a size falling in the micrometer range. Here, we introduce a nano-mechanical theory that accounts for the-non continuum nature of bio systems and other discrete systems. This discrete field theory, doublet mechanics (DM), is a technique to model the mechanical behavior of materials over multiple scales, ranging from some millimeters down to few nanometers. In the paper, we use this theory to predict the response of a granular material to an external applied load. Such a representation is extremely attractive in modeling biological tissues which may be considered as a spatial set of a large number of particulate (cells) dispersed in an extracellular matrix. Possibly more important of this, using digital image correlation (DIC) optical methods, we provide an experimental verification of the model.

  19. Combined full field stress and strain measurement methods for granular materials

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Broere W.

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available The current paper re-introduces the photoelastic measurement method in experimental geomechanics. A full-field phase stepping polariscope suitable for geomechanical model tests has been developed. Additional constraints on the measurement and mechanical setup arising from geomechanical test conditions are outlined as well as the opportunity to measure the displacement fields in the sample with digital image correlation. The capability of the current setup in retrieving the stress and strain field in a granular material is demonstrated.

  20. COMPORTAMIENTO RESILIENTE DE MATERIALES GRANULARES EN PAVIMENTOS FLEXIBLES: ESTADO DEL CONOCIMIENTO RESILIENT BEHAVIOR OF GRANULAR MATERIALS IN FLEXIBLE PAVEMENTS: STATE OF THE ART

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hugo Alexander Rondón Quintana

    2007-07-01

    Full Text Available Los vehículos que circulan sobre una estructura de pavimento inducen ciclos de carga y descarga que generan dentro de las capas granulares deformaciones recuperables (resilientes y permanentes (plásticas. La ingeniería de pavimentos ha venido desarrollando estudios desde la década de los 60 con el fin de intentar comprender el comportamiento elastoplástico que experimentan materiales granulares cuando conforman capas de base y subbase en estructuras flexibles. La mayor parte de las investigaciones que se han realizado en esta área se han concentrado en estudiar su comportamiento resiliente. El estado del conocimiento de estudios desarrollados para medir la respuesta resiliente y la deformación permanente en materiales granulares es presentado en dos artículos por separado. En este primer artículo se presenta la forma como ha sido estudiado el comportamiento resiliente de materiales granulares y se discuten los factores que influyen en dicho comportamiento. Al final del artículo se presenta la evolución de las ecuaciones matemáticas desarrolladas a partir de resultados de estudios teóricos y experimentales. Un estado del conocimiento sobre el fenómeno de deformación permanente es presentado en un segundo artículo.When vehicles move on a pavement structure, they induce load cycles that generate resilient and permanent strains inside granular layers. Since the 60's, pavement engineering has developed studies in order to understand the elasto-plastic behavior that granular materials experiment on base and sub-base layers of flexible pavements. Most of the researches that have been made in this area have concentrated in studying their resilient behavior. A state of the art about the behavior of granular materials in flexible pavements is presented in two separate papers. This first paper tries on resilient stress-strain characteristics of such materials. The mathematical equations found in the literature to predict the resilient

  1. Continuum modelling of segregating tridisperse granular chute flow

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deng, Zhekai; Umbanhowar, Paul B.; Ottino, Julio M.; Lueptow, Richard M.

    2018-03-01

    Segregation and mixing of size multidisperse granular materials remain challenging problems in many industrial applications. In this paper, we apply a continuum-based model that captures the effects of segregation, diffusion and advection for size tridisperse granular flow in quasi-two-dimensional chute flow. The model uses the kinematics of the flow and other physical parameters such as the diffusion coefficient and the percolation length scale, quantities that can be determined directly from experiment, simulation or theory and that are not arbitrarily adjustable. The predictions from the model are consistent with experimentally validated discrete element method (DEM) simulations over a wide range of flow conditions and particle sizes. The degree of segregation depends on the Péclet number, Pe, defined as the ratio of the segregation rate to the diffusion rate, the relative segregation strength κij between particle species i and j, and a characteristic length L, which is determined by the strength of segregation between smallest and largest particles. A parametric study of particle size, κij, Pe and L demonstrates how particle segregation patterns depend on the interplay of advection, segregation and diffusion. Finally, the segregation pattern is also affected by the velocity profile and the degree of basal slip at the chute surface. The model is applicable to different flow geometries, and should be easily adapted to segregation driven by other particle properties such as density and shape.

  2. Rough – Granular Computing knowledge discovery models

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammed M. Eissa

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Medical domain has become one of the most important areas of research in order to richness huge amounts of medical information about the symptoms of diseases and how to distinguish between them to diagnose it correctly. Knowledge discovery models play vital role in refinement and mining of medical indicators to help medical experts to settle treatment decisions. This paper introduces four hybrid Rough – Granular Computing knowledge discovery models based on Rough Sets Theory, Artificial Neural Networks, Genetic Algorithm and Rough Mereology Theory. A comparative analysis of various knowledge discovery models that use different knowledge discovery techniques for data pre-processing, reduction, and data mining supports medical experts to extract the main medical indicators, to reduce the misdiagnosis rates and to improve decision-making for medical diagnosis and treatment. The proposed models utilized two medical datasets: Coronary Heart Disease dataset and Hepatitis C Virus dataset. The main purpose of this paper was to explore and evaluate the proposed models based on Granular Computing methodology for knowledge extraction according to different evaluation criteria for classification of medical datasets. Another purpose is to make enhancement in the frame of KDD processes for supervised learning using Granular Computing methodology.

  3. Subglacial sediment mechanics investigated by computer simulation of granular material

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Damsgaard, Anders; Egholm, David Lundbek; Tulaczyk, Slawek

    The mechanical properties of subglacial sediments are known to directly influence the stability of ice streams and fast-moving glaciers, but existing models of granular sediment deformation are poorly constrained. In addition, upscaling to generalized mathematical models is difficult due to the m......The mechanical properties of subglacial sediments are known to directly influence the stability of ice streams and fast-moving glaciers, but existing models of granular sediment deformation are poorly constrained. In addition, upscaling to generalized mathematical models is difficult due....... The numerical method is applied to better understand the mechanical properties of the subglacial sediment and its interaction with meltwater. The computational approach allows full experimental control and offers insights into the internal kinematics, stress distribution, and mechanical stability. During...

  4. The nature of quasistatic deformation in granular materials

    OpenAIRE

    ROUX, JN

    2005-01-01

    Strain in granular materials in quasistatic conditions under varying stress originate in (I) contact deformation and (II) rearrangements of the contact network. Depending on sample history and applied load, eiter mechanism might dominate. One may thus define rheological regimes I and II accordingly. Their porperties are presented and illustrated here with discrete numerical simulatiion results in 2 and 3 dimensions. This discussion of the microscopic physical origin of strain is shown to clar...

  5. Shear test on viscoelastic granular material using Contact Dynamics simulations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quezada, Juan Carlos; Sagnol, Loba; Chazallon, Cyrille

    2017-06-01

    By means of 3D contact dynamic simulations, the behavior of a viscoelastic granular material under shear loading is investigated. A viscoelastic fluid phase surrounding the solid particles is simulated by a contact model acting between them. This contact law was implemented in the LMGC90 software, based on the Burgers model. This model is able to simulate also the effect of creep relaxation. To validate the proposed contact model, several direct shear tests were performed, experimentally and numerically using the Leutner device. The numerical samples were created using spheres with two particle size distribution, each one identified for two layers from a road structure. Our results show a reasonable agreement between experimental and numerical data regarding the strain-stress evolution curves and the stress levels measured at failure. The proposed model can be used to simulate the mechanical behavior of multi-layer road structure and to study the influence of traffic on road deformation, cracking and particles pull-out induced by traffic loading.

  6. Relationship between electrical conductivity anisotropy and fabric anisotropy in granular materials during drained triaxial compressive tests: a numerical approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Niu, Qifei; Revil, André; Li, Zhaofeng; Wang, Yu-Hsing

    2017-07-01

    The anisotropy of granular media and its evolution during shearing are important aspects required in developing physics-based constitutive models in Earth sciences. The development of relationships between geoelectrical properties and the deformation of porous media has applications to the monitoring of faulting and landslides. However, such relationships are still poorly understood. In this study, we first investigate the definition of the electrical conductivity anisotropy tensor of granular materials in presence of surface conductivity of the grains. Fabric anisotropy is related to the components of the fabric tensor. We define an electrical anisotropy factor based on the Archie's exponent second-order symmetric tensor m of granular materials. We use numerical simulations to confirm a relationship between the evolution of electrical and fabric anisotropy factors during shearing. To realize the simulations, we build a virtual laboratory in which we can easily perform synthetic experiments. We first simulate drained compressive triaxial tests of loose and dense granular materials (porosity 0.45 and 0.38, respectively) using the discrete element method. Then, the electrical conductivity tensor of a set of deformed synthetic samples is computed using the finite-difference method. The numerical results show that shear strains are responsible for a measurable anisotropy in the bulk conductivity of granular media. The observed electrical anisotropy response, during shearing, is distinct for dense and loose synthetic samples. Electrical and fabric anisotropy factors exhibit however a unique linear correlation, regardless of the shear strain and the initial state (porosity) of the synthetic samples. The practical implication of this finding confirms the usefulness of the electrical conductivity method in studying the fabric tensor of granular media. This result opens the door in using time-lapse electrical resistivity to study non-intrusively the evolution of anisotropy

  7. Anisotropy in cohesive, frictional granular media

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Luding, Stefan

    2005-01-01

    The modelling of cohesive, frictional granular materials with a discrete particle molecular dynamics is reviewed. From the structure of the quasi-static granular solid, the fabric, stress, and stiffness tensors are determined, including both normal and tangential forces. The influence of the material properties on the flow behaviour is also reported, including relations between the microscopic attractive force and the macroscopic cohesion as well as the dependence of the macroscopic friction on the microscopic contact friction coefficient. Related to the dynamics, the anisotropy of both structure and stress are exponentially approaching the maximum

  8. DEM Simulation of Biaxial Compression Experiments of Inherently Anisotropic Granular Materials and the Boundary Effects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhao-Xia Tong

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The reliability of discrete element method (DEM numerical simulations is significantly dependent on the particle-scale parameters and boundary conditions. To verify the DEM models, two series of biaxial compression tests on ellipse-shaped steel rods are used. The comparisons on the stress-strain relationship, strength, and deformation pattern of experiments and simulations indicate that the DEM models are able to capture the key macro- and micromechanical behavior of inherently anisotropic granular materials with high fidelity. By using the validated DEM models, the boundary effects on the macrodeformation, strain localization, and nonuniformity of stress distribution inside the specimens are investigated using two rigid boundaries and one flexible boundary. The results demonstrate that the boundary condition plays a significant role on the stress-strain relationship and strength of granular materials with inherent fabric anisotropy if the stresses are calculated by the force applied on the wall. However, the responses of the particle assembly measured inside the specimens are almost the same with little influence from the boundary conditions. The peak friction angle obtained from the compression tests with flexible boundary represents the real friction angle of particle assembly. Due to the weak lateral constraints, the degree of stress nonuniformity under flexible boundary is higher than that under rigid boundary.

  9. Type-2 fuzzy granular models

    CERN Document Server

    Sanchez, Mauricio A; Castro, Juan R

    2017-01-01

    In this book, a series of granular algorithms are proposed. A nature inspired granular algorithm based on Newtonian gravitational forces is proposed. A series of methods for the formation of higher-type information granules represented by Interval Type-2 Fuzzy Sets are also shown, via multiple approaches, such as Coefficient of Variation, principle of justifiable granularity, uncertainty-based information concept, and numerical evidence based. And a fuzzy granular application comparison is given as to demonstrate the differences in how uncertainty affects the performance of fuzzy information granules.

  10. Granular patterns

    CERN Document Server

    Aranson, Igor S

    2009-01-01

    This title presents a review of experiments and novel theoretical concepts needed to understand the mechanisms of pattern formation in granular materials. An effort is made to connect concepts and ideas developed in granular physics with new emergent fields, especially in biology, such as cytoskeleton dynamics.

  11. Effective elasticity coefficients of native rocks and consolidated granular matter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schulz, Beatrix M.; Schulz, Michael

    2008-01-01

    The elastic coefficients of binary heterogeneous materials, such as several native rock materials or consolidated granular matter will be determined in terms of a perturbation expansion. Furthermore, in order to check the validity of the obtained results, these are compared with numerical investigations using Boole's model of randomly distributed spheres. Finally, we apply the results on several classes of native rocks and consolidated granular materials

  12. A numerical study of granular dam-break flow

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pophet, N.; Rébillout, L.; Ozeren, Y.; Altinakar, M.

    2017-12-01

    Accurate prediction of granular flow behavior is essential to optimize mitigation measures for hazardous natural granular flows such as landslides, debris flows and tailings-dam break flows. So far, most successful models for these types of flows focus on either pure granular flows or flows of saturated grain-fluid mixtures by employing a constant friction model or more complex rheological models. These saturated models often produce non-physical result when they are applied to simulate flows of partially saturated mixtures. Therefore, more advanced models are needed. A numerical model was developed for granular flow employing a constant friction and μ(I) rheology (Jop et al., J. Fluid Mech. 2005) coupled with a groundwater flow model for seepage flow. The granular flow is simulated by solving a mixture model using Finite Volume Method (FVM). The Volume-of-Fluid (VOF) technique is used to capture the free surface motion. The constant friction and μ(I) rheological models are incorporated in the mixture model. The seepage flow is modeled by solving Richards equation. A framework is developed to couple these two solvers in OpenFOAM. The model was validated and tested by reproducing laboratory experiments of partially and fully channelized dam-break flows of dry and initially saturated granular material. To obtain appropriate parameters for rheological models, a series of simulations with different sets of rheological parameters is performed. The simulation results obtained from constant friction and μ(I) rheological models are compared with laboratory experiments for granular free surface interface, front position and velocity field during the flows. The numerical predictions indicate that the proposed model is promising in predicting dynamics of the flow and deposition process. The proposed model may provide more reliable insight than the previous assumed saturated mixture model, when saturated and partially saturated portions of granular mixture co-exist.

  13. Granular boycott effect: How to mix granulates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duran, J.; Mazozi, T.

    1999-11-01

    Granular material can display the basic features of the Boycott effect in sedimentation. A simple experiment shows that granular material falls faster in an inclined tube than in a vertical tube, in analogy with the Boycott effect. As long as the inclination of the tube is above the avalanche threshold, descent of granular material in the tube causes internal convection which in turn results in an efficient mixture of the granular components. By contrast, as in analogous experiments in two dimensions, a vertical fall of granular material occurs via successive block fragmentation, resulting in poor mixing.

  14. Effect of cohesion on local compaction and granulation of sheared soft granular materials

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roy Sudeshna

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper results from an ongoing investigation of the effect of cohesion on the compaction of sheared soft wet granular materials. We compare dry non-cohesive and wet moderately-to-strongly cohesive soft almost frictionless granular materials and report the effect of cohesion between the grains on the local volume fraction. We study this in a three dimensional, unconfined, slowly sheared split-bottom ring shear cell, where materials while sheared are subject to compression under the confining weight of the material above. Our results show that inter-particle cohesion has a considerable impact on the compaction of soft materials. Cohesion causes additional stresses, due to capillary forces between particles, leading to an increase in volume fraction due to higher compaction. This effect is not visible in a system of infinitely stiff particles. In addition, acting oppositely, we observe a general decrease in volume fraction due to increased cohesion for frictional particle, which we attribute to the role of contact friction that enhances dilation.

  15. Granular gas dynamics

    CERN Document Server

    Brilliantov, Nikolai

    2003-01-01

    While there is not yet any general theory for granular materials, significant progress has been achieved for dilute systems, also called granular gases. The contributions in this book address both the kinetic approach one using the Boltzmann equation for dissipative gases as well as the less established hydrodynamic description. The last part of the book is devoted to driven granular gases and their analogy with molecular fluids. Care has been taken so as to present the material in a pedagogical and self-contained way and this volume will thus be particularly useful to nonspecialists and newcomers to the field.

  16. Quasi-static incremental behavior of granular materials: Elastic-plastic coupling and micro-scale dissipation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuhn, Matthew R.; Daouadji, Ali

    2018-05-01

    The paper addresses a common assumption of elastoplastic modeling: that the recoverable, elastic strain increment is unaffected by alterations of the elastic moduli that accompany loading. This assumption is found to be false for a granular material, and discrete element (DEM) simulations demonstrate that granular materials are coupled materials at both micro- and macro-scales. Elasto-plastic coupling at the macro-scale is placed in the context of thermomechanics framework of Tomasz Hueckel and Hans Ziegler, in which the elastic moduli are altered by irreversible processes during loading. This complex behavior is explored for multi-directional loading probes that follow an initial monotonic loading. An advanced DEM model is used in the study, with non-convex non-spherical particles and two different contact models: a conventional linear-frictional model and an exact implementation of the Hertz-like Cattaneo-Mindlin model. Orthotropic true-triaxial probes were used in the study (i.e., no direct shear strain), with tiny strain increments of 2 ×10-6 . At the micro-scale, contact movements were monitored during small increments of loading and load-reversal, and results show that these movements are not reversed by a reversal of strain direction, and some contacts that were sliding during a loading increment continue to slide during reversal. The probes show that the coupled part of a strain increment, the difference between the recoverable (elastic) increment and its reversible part, must be considered when partitioning strain increments into elastic and plastic parts. Small increments of irreversible (and plastic) strain and contact slipping and frictional dissipation occur for all directions of loading, and an elastic domain, if it exists at all, is smaller than the strain increment used in the simulations.

  17. PFEM-based modeling of industrial granular flows

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cante, J.; Dávalos, C.; Hernández, J. A.; Oliver, J.; Jonsén, P.; Gustafsson, G.; Häggblad, H.-Å.

    2014-05-01

    The potential of numerical methods for the solution and optimization of industrial granular flows problems is widely accepted by the industries of this field, the challenge being to promote effectively their industrial practice. In this paper, we attempt to make an exploratory step in this regard by using a numerical model based on continuous mechanics and on the so-called Particle Finite Element Method (PFEM). This goal is achieved by focusing two specific industrial applications in mining industry and pellet manufacturing: silo discharge and calculation of power draw in tumbling mills. Both examples are representative of variations on the granular material mechanical response—varying from a stagnant configuration to a flow condition. The silo discharge is validated using the experimental data, collected on a full-scale flat bottomed cylindrical silo. The simulation is conducted with the aim of characterizing and understanding the correlation between flow patterns and pressures for concentric discharges. In the second example, the potential of PFEM as a numerical tool to track the positions of the particles inside the drum is analyzed. Pressures and wall pressures distribution are also studied. The power draw is also computed and validated against experiments in which the power is plotted in terms of the rotational speed of the drum.

  18. Shear failure of granular materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Degiuli, Eric; Balmforth, Neil; McElwaine, Jim; Schoof, Christian; Hewitt, Ian

    2012-02-01

    Connecting the macroscopic behavior of granular materials with the microstructure remains a great challenge. Recent work connects these scales with a discrete calculus [1]. In this work we generalize this formalism from monodisperse packings of disks to 2D assemblies of arbitrarily shaped grains. In particular, we derive Airy's expression for a symmetric, divergence-free stress tensor. Using these tools, we derive, from first-principles and in a mean-field approximation, the entropy of frictional force configurations in the Force Network Ensemble. As a macroscopic consequence of the Coulomb friction condition at contacts, we predict shear failure at a critical shear stress, in accordance with the Mohr-Coulomb failure condition well known in engineering. Results are compared with numerical simulations, and the dependence on the microscopic geometric configuration is discussed. [4pt] [1] E. DeGiuli & J. McElwaine, PRE 2011. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.84.041310

  19. Partitioning of fresh crude oil between floating, dispersed and sediment phases: Effect of exposure order to dispersant and granular materials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boglaienko, Daria; Tansel, Berrin

    2016-06-15

    When three or more high and low energy substrates are mixed, wetting order can significantly affect the behavior of the mixture. We analyzed the phase distribution of fresh floating Louisiana crude oil into dispersed, settled and floating phases depending on the exposure sequence to Corexit 9500A (dispersant) and granular materials. In the experiments artificial sea water at salinity 34‰ was used. Limestone (2.00-0.300 mm) and quartz sand (0.300-0.075 mm) were used as the natural granular materials. Dispersant Corexit 9500A increased the amount of dispersed oil up to 33.76 ± 7.04%. Addition of granular materials after the dispersant increased dispersion of oil to 47.96 ± 1.96%. When solid particles were applied on the floating oil before the dispersant, oil was captured as oil-particle aggregates and removed from the floating layer. However, dispersant addition led to partial release of the captured oil, removing it from the aggregated form to the dispersed and floating phases. There was no visible oil aggregation with the granular materials when quartz or limestone was at the bottom of the flask before the addition of oil and dispersant. The results show that granular materials can be effective when applied from the surface for aggregating or dispersing oil. However, the granular materials in the sediments are not effective neither for aggregating nor dispersing floating oil. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. An automatic granular structure generation and finite element analysis of heterogeneous semi-solid materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sharifi, Hamid; Larouche, Daniel

    2015-01-01

    The quality of cast metal products depends on the capacity of the semi-solid metal to sustain the stresses generated during the casting. Predicting the evolution of these stresses with accuracy in the solidification interval should be highly helpful to avoid the formation of defects like hot tearing. This task is however very difficult because of the heterogeneous nature of the material. In this paper, we propose to evaluate the mechanical behaviour of a metal during solidification using a mesh generation technique of the heterogeneous semi-solid material for a finite element analysis at the microscopic level. This task is done on a two-dimensional (2D) domain in which the granular structure of the solid phase is generated surrounded by an intergranular and interdendritc liquid phase. Some basic solid grains are first constructed and projected in the 2D domain with random orientations and scale factors. Depending on their orientation, the basic grains are combined to produce larger grains or separated by a liquid film. Different basic grain shapes can produce different granular structures of the mushy zone. As a result, using this automatic grain generation procedure, we can investigate the effect of grain shapes and sizes on the thermo-mechanical behaviour of the semi-solid material. The granular models are automatically converted to the finite element meshes. The solid grains and the liquid phase are meshed properly using quadrilateral elements. This method has been used to simulate the microstructure of a binary aluminium–copper alloy (Al–5.8 wt% Cu) when the fraction solid is 0.92. Using the finite element method and the Mie–Grüneisen equation of state for the liquid phase, the transient mechanical behaviour of the mushy zone under tensile loading has been investigated. The stress distribution and the bridges, which are formed during the tensile loading, have been detected. (paper)

  1. Measurements of Acoustic Properties of Porous and Granular Materials and Application to Vibration Control

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Junhong; Palumbo, Daniel L.

    2004-01-01

    For application of porous and granular materials to vibro-acoustic controls, a finite dynamic strength of the solid component (frame) is an important design factor. The primary goal of this study was to investigate structural vibration damping through this frame wave propagation for various poroelastic materials. A measurement method to investigate the vibration characteristics of the frame was proposed. The measured properties were found to follow closely the characteristics of the viscoelastic materials - the dynamic modulus increased with frequency and the degree of the frequency dependence was determined by its loss factor. The dynamic stiffness of hollow cylindrical beams containing porous and granular materials as damping treatment was measured also. The data were used to extract the damping materials characteristics using the Rayleigh-Ritz method. The results suggested that the acoustic structure interaction between the frame and the structure enhances the dissipation of the vibration energy significantly.

  2. Surface instabilities in shock loaded granular media

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kandan, K.; Khaderi, S. N.; Wadley, H. N. G.; Deshpande, V. S.

    2017-12-01

    The initiation and growth of instabilities in granular materials loaded by air shock waves are investigated via shock-tube experiments and numerical calculations. Three types of granular media, dry sand, water-saturated sand and a granular solid comprising PTFE spheres were experimentally investigated by air shock loading slugs of these materials in a transparent shock tube. Under all shock pressures considered here, the free-standing dry sand slugs remained stable while the shock loaded surface of the water-saturated sand slug became unstable resulting in mixing of the shocked air and the granular material. By contrast, the PTFE slugs were stable at low pressures but displayed instabilities similar to the water-saturated sand slugs at higher shock pressures. The distal surfaces of the slugs remained stable under all conditions considered here. Eulerian fluid/solid interaction calculations, with the granular material modelled as a Drucker-Prager solid, reproduced the onset of the instabilities as seen in the experiments to a high level of accuracy. These calculations showed that the shock pressures to initiate instabilities increased with increasing material friction and decreasing yield strain. Moreover, the high Atwood number for this problem implied that fluid/solid interaction effects were small, and the initiation of the instability is adequately captured by directly applying a pressure on the slug surface. Lagrangian calculations with the directly applied pressures demonstrated that the instability was caused by spatial pressure gradients created by initial surface perturbations. Surface instabilities are also shown to exist in shock loaded rear-supported granular slugs: these experiments and calculations are used to infer the velocity that free-standing slugs need to acquire to initiate instabilities on their front surfaces. The results presented here, while in an idealised one-dimensional setting, provide physical understanding of the conditions required to

  3. Centrifuge modelling of granular flows

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cabrera, Miguel Angel; Wu, Wei

    2015-04-01

    A common characteristic of mass flows like debris flows, rock avalanches and mudflows is that gravity is their main driving force. Gravity defines the intensity and duration of the main interactions between particles and their surrounding media (particle-particle, particle-fluid, fluid-fluid). At the same time, gravity delimits the occurrence of phase separation, inverse segregation, and mass consolidation, among other phenomena. Therefore, in the understanding of the flow physics it is important to account for the scaling of gravity in scaled models. In this research, a centrifuge model is developed to model free surface granular flows down an incline at controlled gravity conditions. Gravity is controlled by the action of an induced inertial acceleration field resulting from the rotation of the model in a geotechnical centrifuge. The characteristics of the induced inertial acceleration field during flow are discussed and validated via experimental data. Flow heights, velocity fields, basal pressure and impact forces are measured for a range of channel inclinations and gravity conditions. Preliminary results enlighten the flow characteristics at variable gravity conditions and open a discussion on the simulation of large scale processes at a laboratory scale. Further analysis on the flow physics brings valuable information for the validation of granular flows rheology.

  4. Assessing continuum postulates in simulations of granular flow

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rycroft, Chris; Kamrin, Ken; Bazant, Martin

    2008-08-26

    Continuum mechanics relies on the fundamental notion of a mesoscopic volume"element" in which properties averaged over discrete particles obey deterministic relationships. Recent work on granular materials suggests a continuum law may be inapplicable, revealing inhomogeneities at the particle level, such as force chains and slow cage breaking. Here, we analyze large-scale three-dimensional Discrete-Element Method (DEM) simulations of different granular flows and show that an approximate"granular element" defined at the scale of observed dynamical correlations (roughly three to five particle diameters) has a reasonable continuum interpretation. By viewing all the simulations as an ensemble of granular elements which deform and move with the flow, we can track material evolution at a local level. Our results confirm some of the hypotheses of classical plasticity theory while contradicting others and suggest a subtle physical picture of granular failure, combining liquid-like dependence on deformation rate and solid-like dependence on strain. Our computational methods and results can be used to guide the development of more realistic continuum models, based on observed local relationships betweenaverage variables.

  5. A trans-phase granular continuum relation and its use in simulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kamrin, Ken; Dunatunga, Sachith; Askari, Hesam

    The ability to model a large granular system as a continuum would offer tremendous benefits in computation time compared to discrete particle methods. However, two infamous problems arise in the pursuit of this vision: (i) the constitutive relation for granular materials is still unclear and hotly debated, and (ii) a model and corresponding numerical method must wear ``many hats'' as, in general circumstances, it must be able to capture and accurately represent the material as it crosses through its collisional, dense-flowing, and solid-like states. Here we present a minimal trans-phase model, merging an elastic response beneath a fictional yield criterion, a mu(I) rheology for liquid-like flow above the static yield criterion, and a disconnection rule to model separation of the grains into a low-temperature gas. We simulate our model with a meshless method (in high strain/mixing cases) and the finite-element method. It is able to match experimental data in many geometries, including collapsing columns, impact on granular beds, draining silos, and granular drag problems.

  6. A new perspective of particle adsorption: Dispersed oil and granular materials interactions in simulated coastal environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meng, Long; Bao, Mutai; Sun, Peiyan

    2017-09-15

    This study, adsorption behaviors of dispersed oil in seawaters by granular materials were explored in simulation environment. We quantitatively demonstrated the dispersed oil adsorbed by granular materials were both dissolved petroleum hydrocarbons (DPHs) and oil droplets. Furthermore, DPHs were accounted for 42.5%, 63.4%, and 85.2% (35.5% was emulsion adsorption) in the adsorption of dispersed oil by coastal rocks, sediments, and bacterial strain particles respectively. Effects of controlling parameters, such as temperature, particle size and concentration on adsorption of petroleum hydrocarbons were described in detail. Most strikingly, adsorption concentration was followed a decreasing order of bacterial strain (0.5-2μm)>sediments (0.005-0.625mm)>coastal rocks (0.2-1cm). With particle concentration or temperature increased, adsorption concentration increased for coastal rocks particle but decreased for sediments particle. Besides, particle adsorption rate of petroleum hydrocarbons (n-alkanes and PAHs) was different among granular materials during 60 days. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Controlling wave propagation through nonlinear engineered granular systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leonard, Andrea

    We study the fundamental dynamic behavior of a special class of ordered granular systems in order to design new, structured materials with unique physical properties. The dynamic properties of granular systems are dictated by the nonlinear, Hertzian, potential in compression and zero tensile strength resulting from the discrete material structure. Engineering the underlying particle arrangement of granular systems allows for unique dynamic properties, not observed in natural, disordered granular media. While extensive studies on 1D granular crystals have suggested their usefulness for a variety of engineering applications, considerably less attention has been given to higher-dimensional systems. The extension of these studies in higher dimensions could enable the discovery of richer physical phenomena not possible in 1D, such as spatial redirection and anisotropic energy trapping. We present experiments, numerical simulation (based on a discrete particle model), and in some cases theoretical predictions for several engineered granular systems, studying the effects of particle arrangement on the highly nonlinear transient wave propagation to develop means for controlling the wave propagation pathways. The first component of this thesis studies the stress wave propagation resulting from a localized impulsive loading for three different 2D particle lattice structures: square, centered square, and hexagonal granular crystals. By varying the lattice structure, we observe a wide range of properties for the propagating stress waves: quasi-1D solitary wave propagation, fully 2D wave propagation with tunable wave front shapes, and 2D pulsed wave propagation. Additionally the effects of weak disorder, inevitably present in real granular systems, are investigated. The second half of this thesis studies the solitary wave propagation through 2D and 3D ordered networks of granular chains, reducing the effective density compared to granular crystals by selectively placing wave

  8. Shear test results for cohesion and friction coefficients for different granular materials : Scaling implications for their usage in analogue modelling

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schellart, W. P.

    2000-01-01

    Laboratory tests have been carried out on dry granular materials such as quartz sand, glass microspheres and sugar with different grain size, rounding and sphericity. The measurements have been made with a simple shear test machine for different values of normal stress (~ 50-900 Pa). Shear stress

  9. REFINEMENT AND GRANULATING OF COHERENT-GRANULAR MATERIALS IN MACHINES OF ROLL TYPE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E. B. Lozhechnikov

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available The way of selective break of heterogeneous compositions, in particular slags of copper-smelting production and also granular metal-containing powder materials, is based and developed. Calibration of the rolls, providing contrilled granulating of metal-containing powders by rolling.

  10. Granularity as a Cognitive Factor in the Effectiveness of Business Process Model Reuse

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holschke, Oliver; Rake, Jannis; Levina, Olga

    Reusing design models is an attractive approach in business process modeling as modeling efficiency and quality of design outcomes may be significantly improved. However, reusing conceptual models is not a cost-free effort, but has to be carefully designed. While factors such as psychological anchoring and task-adequacy in reuse-based modeling tasks have been investigated, information granularity as a cognitive concept has not been at the center of empirical research yet. We hypothesize that business process granularity as a factor in design tasks under reuse has a significant impact on the effectiveness of resulting business process models. We test our hypothesis in a comparative study employing high and low granularities. The reusable processes provided were taken from widely accessible reference models for the telecommunication industry (enhanced Telecom Operations Map). First experimental results show that Recall in tasks involving coarser granularity is lower than in cases of finer granularity. These findings suggest that decision makers in business process management should be considerate with regard to the implementation of reuse mechanisms of different granularities. We realize that due to our small sample size results are not statistically significant, but this preliminary run shows that it is ready for running on a larger scale.

  11. Friction law and hysteresis in granular materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeGiuli, E.; Wyart, M.

    2017-08-01

    The macroscopic friction of particulate materials often weakens as the flow rate is increased, leading to potentially disastrous intermittent phenomena including earthquakes and landslides. We theoretically and numerically study this phenomenon in simple granular materials. We show that velocity weakening, corresponding to a nonmonotonic behavior in the friction law, μ(I), is present even if the dynamic and static microscopic friction coefficients are identical, but disappears for softer particles. We argue that this instability is induced by endogenous acoustic noise, which tends to make contacts slide, leading to faster flow and increased noise. We show that soft spots, or excitable regions in the materials, correspond to rolling contacts that are about to slide, whose density is described by a nontrivial exponent θs. We build a microscopic theory for the nonmonotonicity of μ(I), which also predicts the scaling behavior of acoustic noise, the fraction of sliding contacts χ, and the sliding velocity, in terms of θs. Surprisingly, these quantities have no limit when particles become infinitely hard, as confirmed numerically. Our analysis rationalizes previously unexplained observations and makes experimentally testable predictions.

  12. Discrete element modeling of triggered slip in faults with granular gouge: application to dynamic earthquake triggering

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ferdowsi, B.

    2014-01-01

    Recent seismological observations based on new, more sensitive instrumentation show that seismic waves radiated from large earthquakes can trigger other earthquakes globally. This phenomenon is called dynamic earthquake triggering and is well-documented for over 30 of the largest earthquakes worldwide. Granular materials are at the core of mature earthquake faults and play a key role in fault triggering by exhibiting a rich nonlinear response to external perturbations. The stick-slip dynamics in sheared granular layers is analogous to the seismic cycle for earthquake fault systems. In this research effort, we characterize the macroscopic scale statistics and the grain-scale mechanisms of triggered slip in sheared granular layers. We model the granular fault gouge using three dimensional discrete element method simulations. The modeled granular system is put into stick-slip dynamics by applying a conning pressure and a shear load. The dynamic triggering is simulated by perturbing the spontaneous stick-slip dynamics using an external vibration applied to the boundary of the layer. The influences of the triggering consist in a frictional weakening during the vibration interval, a clock advance of the next expected large slip event and long term effects in the form of suppression and recovery of the energy released from the granular layer. Our study suggests that above a critical amplitude, vibration causes a significant clock advance of large slip events. We link this clock advance to a major decline in the slipping contact ratio as well as a decrease in shear modulus and weakening of the granular gouge layer. We also observe that shear vibration is less effective in perturbing the stick-slip dynamics of the granular layer. Our study suggests that in order to have an effective triggering, the input vibration must also explore the granular layer at length scales about or less than the average grain size. The energy suppression and the subsequent recovery and increased

  13. Deformación permanente de materiales granulares en pavimentos flexibles: estado del conocimiento Permanent strain of granular materials in flexible pavements: state of the art

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hugo Alexánder Rondón

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Diversos estudios han sido desarrollados en el área de los pavimentos para comprender el comportamiento elastoplástico que experimentan materiales granulares bajo carga cíclica. Este es el segundo de dos artículos que presentan el estado del conocimiento de investigaciones desarrolladas en esta área. Basado en una amplia revisión bibliográfica, este artículo da cuenta de la forma como ha sido estudiado el fenómeno de deformación permanente en materiales granulares empleados para conformar capas de base y sub-base de estructuras de pavimentos flexibles. Además, se exponen y se discuten los factores que afectan la resistencia a la deformación permanente y la evolución de las ecuaciones matemáticas desarrolladas para predecir la deformación que experimentan estos materiales bajo carga cíclica. Un estado del conocimiento sobre el comportamiento resiliente de estos materiales es presentado en el primer artículo (Rondón y Reyes, 2007.Several studies have been conducted in pavement field for trying to understand the elastoplastic behavior experienced by granular materials under a cyclic load. This is the second out of two articles which show state-of-the-art of researches conducted in this field. Based on a wide literature review, this article accounts for the way how permanent strain phenomenon has been studied in granular materials used for creating base and sub-base layers of flexible pavement structures. Besides, this article displays and discusses factors which affect resistance to permanent strain and evolution of mathematical equations developed for predicting that strain experienced by these materials under a cyclic load. A state-of-the-art about resilient behavior of these materials has been presented in the first article (Rondón and Reyes, 2007.

  14. Granular flows in constrained geometries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murthy, Tejas; Viswanathan, Koushik

    Confined geometries are widespread in granular processing applications. The deformation and flow fields in such a geometry, with non-trivial boundary conditions, determine the resultant mechanical properties of the material (local porosity, density, residual stresses etc.). We present experimental studies of deformation and plastic flow of a prototypical granular medium in different nontrivial geometries- flat-punch compression, Couette-shear flow and a rigid body sliding past a granular half-space. These geometries represent simplified scaled-down versions of common industrial configurations such as compaction and dredging. The corresponding granular flows show a rich variety of flow features, representing the entire gamut of material types, from elastic solids (beam buckling) to fluids (vortex-formation, boundary layers) and even plastically deforming metals (dead material zone, pile-up). The effect of changing particle-level properties (e.g., shape, size, density) on the observed flows is also explicitly demonstrated. Non-smooth contact dynamics particle simulations are shown to reproduce some of the observed flow features quantitatively. These results showcase some central challenges facing continuum-scale constitutive theories for dynamic granular flows.

  15. Resilient modulus for unbound granular materials and subgrade soils in Egypt

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mousa Rabah

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Mechanistic Empirical (ME pavement design methods started to gain attention especially the last couple of years in Egypt and the Middle East. One of the challenges facing the spread of these methods in Egypt is lack of advanced properties of local soil and asphalt, which are needed as input data in ME design. Resilient modulus (Mr for example is an important engineering property that expresses the elastic behavior of soil/unbound granular materials (UGMs under cyclic traffic loading for ME design. In order to overcome the scarcity of the resilient modulus data for soil/UGMs in Egypt, a comprehensive laboratory testing program was conducted to measure resilient modulus of typical UGMs and subgrade soils typically used in pavement construction in Egypt. The factors that affect the resilient modulus of soil/UGMs were reviewed, studied and discussed. Finally, the prediction accuracy of the most well-known Mr Prediction models for the locally investigated materials was investigated.

  16. Shear dilatancy and acoustic emission in dry and saturated granular materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brodsky, E. E.; Siman-Tov, S.

    2017-12-01

    Shearing of granular materials plays a strong role in naturally sheared systems as landslides and faults. Many works on granular flows have concentrated on dry materials, but relatively little work has been done on water saturated sands. Here we experimentally investigate dry versus saturated quartz-rich sand to understand the effect of the fluid medium on the rheology and acoustic waves emission of the sheared sand. The sand was sheared in a rotary shear rheometer under applied constant normal stress boundary at low (100 µm/s) to high (1 m/s) velocities. Mechanical, acoustic data and deformation were continuously recorded and imaged. For dry and water saturated experiments the granular volume remains constant for low shear velocities ( 10-3 m/s) and increases during shearing at higher velocities ( 1 m/s). Continuous imaging of the sheared sand show that the steady state shear band thickness is thicker during the high velocity steps. No significant change observed in the shear band thickness between dry and water saturated experiments. In contrast, the amount of dilation during water saturated experiments is about half the value measured for dry material. The measured decrease cannot be explained by shear band thickness change as such is not exist. However, the reduced dilation is supported by our acoustic measurements. In general, the event rate and acoustic event amplitudes increase with shear velocity. While isolated events are clearly detected during low velocities at higher the events overlap, resulting in a noisy signal. Although detection is better for saturated experiments, during the high velocity steps the acoustic energy measured from the signal is lower compared to that recorded for dry experiments. We suggest that the presence of fluid suppresses grain motion and particles impacts leading to mild increase in the internal pressure and therefore for the reduced dilation. In addition, the viscosity of fluids may influence the internal pressure via

  17. Anomalous infrared absorption in granular superconductors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carr, G.L.; Garland, J.C.; Tanner, D.B.

    1983-01-01

    Granular superconductors are shown to have a far-infrared absorption that is larger when the samples are superconducting than when they are normal. By constrast, theoretical models for these materials predict that when the samples become superconducting, the absorption should decrease

  18. Friction law and hysteresis in granular materials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeGiuli, E; Wyart, M

    2017-08-29

    The macroscopic friction of particulate materials often weakens as the flow rate is increased, leading to potentially disastrous intermittent phenomena including earthquakes and landslides. We theoretically and numerically study this phenomenon in simple granular materials. We show that velocity weakening, corresponding to a nonmonotonic behavior in the friction law, [Formula: see text], is present even if the dynamic and static microscopic friction coefficients are identical, but disappears for softer particles. We argue that this instability is induced by endogenous acoustic noise, which tends to make contacts slide, leading to faster flow and increased noise. We show that soft spots, or excitable regions in the materials, correspond to rolling contacts that are about to slide, whose density is described by a nontrivial exponent [Formula: see text] We build a microscopic theory for the nonmonotonicity of [Formula: see text], which also predicts the scaling behavior of acoustic noise, the fraction of sliding contacts [Formula: see text], and the sliding velocity, in terms of [Formula: see text] Surprisingly, these quantities have no limit when particles become infinitely hard, as confirmed numerically. Our analysis rationalizes previously unexplained observations and makes experimentally testable predictions.

  19. Acoustic waves in granular materials

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mouraille, O.J.P.; Luding, Stefan

    2008-01-01

    Dynamic simulations with discrete elements are used to obtain more insight into the wave propagation in dense granular media. A small perturbation is created on one side of a dense, static packing and examined during its propagation until it arrives at the opposite side. The influence of

  20. Analytical and Computational Modeling of Mechanical Waves in Microscale Granular Crystals: Nonlinearity and Rotational Dynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wallen, Samuel P.

    Granular media are one of the most common, yet least understood forms of matter on earth. The difficulties in understanding the physics of granular media stem from the fact that they are typically heterogeneous and highly disordered, and the grains interact via nonlinear contact forces. Historically, one approach to reducing these complexities and gaining new insight has been the study of granular crystals, which are ordered arrays of similarly-shaped particles (typically spheres) in Hertzian contact. Using this setting, past works explored the rich nonlinear dynamics stemming from contact forces, and proposed avenues where such granular crystals could form designer, dynamically responsive materials, which yield beneficial functionality in dynamic regimes. In recent years, the combination of self-assembly fabrication methods and laser ultrasonic experimental characterization have enabled the study of granular crystals at microscale. While our intuition may suggest that these microscale granular crystals are simply scaled-down versions of their macroscale counterparts, in fact, the relevant physics change drastically; for example, short-range adhesive forces between particles, which are negligible at macroscale, are several orders of magnitude stronger than gravity at microscale. In this thesis, we present recent advances in analytical and computational modeling of microscale granular crystals, in particular concerning the interplay of nonlinearity, shear interactions, and particle rotations, which have previously been either absent, or included separately at macroscale. Drawing inspiration from past works on phononic crystals and nonlinear lattices, we explore problems involving locally-resonant metamaterials, nonlinear localized modes, amplitude-dependent energy partition, and other rich dynamical phenomena. This work enhances our understanding of microscale granular media, which may find applicability in fields such as ultrasonic wave tailoring, signal processing

  1. Does modifying the particle size distribution of a granular material (i.e., material scalping alters its shear strength?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Azéma Emilien

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available By means of two dimensional contact dynamics simulations, we analyzed the effect of the particle size distribution (PSD on the shear strength of granular materials composed of un-breakable disks. We modelled PSDs with a normalized beta function, which allows for building S-shaped gradation curves, such as those that typically occur in soils. We systematically controlled and varied the size span and the shape of the PSD, and found that the shear strength is independent both characteristics. This implies that PSD modification procedures such as material scalping (i.e., removing the smallest and/or largest particles in the sample should not affect significantly the shear strength of the material composed of unbreakable discs. In order to explore the origins of the invariance of the shear strength with PSD, we analyzed the connectivity, force transmission, and friction mobilization in terms of anisotropies, finding that the constant shear strength is due to a subtle compensation of anisotropies.

  2. Theoretical model of granular compaction

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ben-Naim, E. [Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States); Knight, J.B. [Princeton Univ., NJ (United States). Dept. of Physics; Nowak, E.R. [Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, IL (United States). Dept. of Physics]|[Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States). James Franck Inst.; Jaeger, H.M.; Nagel, S.R. [Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States). James Franck Inst.

    1997-11-01

    Experimental studies show that the density of a vibrated granular material evolves from a low density initial state into a higher density final steady state. The relaxation towards the final density follows an inverse logarithmic law. As the system approaches its final state, a growing number of beads have to be rearranged to enable a local density increase. A free volume argument shows that this number grows as N = {rho}/(1 {minus} {rho}). The time scale associated with such events increases exponentially e{sup {minus}N}, and as a result a logarithmically slow approach to the final state is found {rho} {infinity} {minus}{rho}(t) {approx_equal} 1/lnt.

  3. The contact heat transfer between the heating plate and granular materials in rotary heat exchanger under overloaded condition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luanfang Duan

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available In the present work, the contact heat transfer between the granular materials and heating plates inside plate rotary heat exchanger (PRHE was investigated. The heat transfer coefficient is dominated by the contact heat transfer coefficient at hot wall surface of the heating plates and the heat penetration inside the solid bed. A plot scale PRHE with a diameter of Do = 273 mm and a length of L = 1000 mm has been established. Quartz sand with dp = 2 mm was employed as the experimental material. The operational parameters were in the range of ω = 1 – 8 rpm, and F = 15, 20, 25, 30%, and the effect of these parameters on the time-average contact heat transfer coefficient was analyzed. The time-average contact heat transfer coefficient increases with the increase of rotary speed, but decreases with the increase of the filling degree. The measured data of time-average heat transfer coefficients were compared with theoretical calculations from Schlünder’s model, a good agreement between the measurements and the model could be achieved, especially at a lower rotary speed and filling degree level. The maximum deviation between the calculated data and the experimental data is approximate 10%. Keywords: Rotary heat exchanger, Contact heat transfer, Granular material, Heating plate, Overloaded

  4. Erosion of a wet/dry granular interface

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jop, Pierre; Lefebvre, Gautier

    2013-04-01

    To model the dynamic of landslides, the evolution of the interface between the erodible ground and the flowing material is still studied experimentally or numerically (ie. Mangeney et al. 2010, Iverson 2012). In some cases, the basal material is more cohesive than the flowing one. Such situation arises for example due to cementation or humidity. What are the exchange rates between these phases? What is the coupling between the evolution of the interface and the flow? We studied the erosion phenomenon and performed laboratory experiments to focus on the interaction between a cohesive unsaturated granular material and a dry granular flow. Both materials were spherical grains, the cohesion being induced by adding a given mass of liquid to the grains. Two configurations were explored: a circular aggregate submitted to a dry flow in a rotating drum, and a granular flow eroding a wet granular pile. First, we focused on the influence of the cohesion, controlled by the liquid properties, such as the surface tension and the viscosity. Then the flow characteristics were modified by varying the grain size and density. These results allowed us to present a model for the erosion mechanisms, based on the flow and fluid properties. The main results are the need to take into account the whole probability distribution the stress applied on the wet grains and that both the surface tension and the viscosity are important since they play a different roles. The latter is mainly responsible of the time scale of the dynamic of a wet grain, while the former acts as a threshold on the force distribution. In the second configuration, we could also control the inclination of the slope. This system supported the previous model and moreover revealed an interface instability, leading the formation of steep steps, which is a reminiscence of the cyclic-steps observed during river-channel incision (Parker and Izumi 2000). We will present the dynamics of such granular steps. [1] Mangeney, A., O

  5. Granular and layered ferroelectric–ferromagnetic thin-film nanocomposites as promising materials with high magnetotransmission effect

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Akbashev, A.R. [Department of Materials Science, Moscow State University, 119992 Moscow (Russian Federation); Telegin, A.V., E-mail: telegin@imp.uran.ru [M.N. Miheev Institute of Metal Physics of Ural Branch of RAS, 620990 Ekaterinburg (Russian Federation); Kaul, A.R. [Department of Chemistry, Moscow State University, 119992 Moscow (Russian Federation); Sukhorukov, Yu.P. [M.N. Miheev Institute of Metal Physics of Ural Branch of RAS, 620990 Ekaterinburg (Russian Federation)

    2015-06-15

    Epitaxial thin films of granular and layered nanocomposites consisting of ferromagnetic perovskite Pr{sub 1–x}Sr{sub x}MnO{sub 3} and ferroelectric hexagonal LuMnO{sub 3} were grown on ZrO{sub 2}(Y{sub 2}O{sub 3}) substrates using metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). A self-organized growth of the granular composite took place in situ as a result of phase separation of the Pr–Sr–Lu–Mn–O system into the perovskite and hexagonal phases. Optical transmission measurements revealed a large negative magnetotransmission effect in the layered nanocomposite over a wide spectral and temperature range. The granular nanocomposite unexpectedly showed an even larger, but positive, magnetotransmission effect at room temperature. - Highlights: • Thin-film ferromagnetic–ferroelectric nanocomposites have been prepared by MOCVD. • Giant change of optical transparency of nanocomposites in magnetic field was detected. • Positive magnetotransmission in the granular nanocomposite was discovered in the IR. • Negative magnetotransmission in the layered nanocomposite was revealed in the IR. • Ferroelectric–ferromangetic nanocomposite is a promising material for optoelectronics.

  6. Granular and layered ferroelectric–ferromagnetic thin-film nanocomposites as promising materials with high magnetotransmission effect

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Akbashev, A.R.; Telegin, A.V.; Kaul, A.R.; Sukhorukov, Yu.P.

    2015-01-01

    Epitaxial thin films of granular and layered nanocomposites consisting of ferromagnetic perovskite Pr 1–x Sr x MnO 3 and ferroelectric hexagonal LuMnO 3 were grown on ZrO 2 (Y 2 O 3 ) substrates using metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). A self-organized growth of the granular composite took place in situ as a result of phase separation of the Pr–Sr–Lu–Mn–O system into the perovskite and hexagonal phases. Optical transmission measurements revealed a large negative magnetotransmission effect in the layered nanocomposite over a wide spectral and temperature range. The granular nanocomposite unexpectedly showed an even larger, but positive, magnetotransmission effect at room temperature. - Highlights: • Thin-film ferromagnetic–ferroelectric nanocomposites have been prepared by MOCVD. • Giant change of optical transparency of nanocomposites in magnetic field was detected. • Positive magnetotransmission in the granular nanocomposite was discovered in the IR. • Negative magnetotransmission in the layered nanocomposite was revealed in the IR. • Ferroelectric–ferromangetic nanocomposite is a promising material for optoelectronics

  7. An approach to discriminatively determine thoron and radon emanation rates for a granular material with a scintillation cell

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sakoda, Akihiro; Meisenberg, Oliver; Tschiersch, Jochen

    2016-01-01

    A powder sandwich technique was applied to determine thoron ("2"2"0Rn) and radon ("2"2"2Rn) emanation rates for a granular material. The feature of this technique is the sample preparation, in which a granular material is put and fixed between two membrane filters. Airflow is directly given to this sandwich sample, will include thoron and radon emanated from the material, and then is transferred to the detector. This method makes sure that thoron and radon emanated are not retained in pore space within the sample volume, which is crucial for the appropriate emanation test. This technique was first introduced by Kanse et al. (2013) with the intention to measure the emanation of thoron - but not of radon - from materials having much higher "2"2"4Ra activity than "2"2"6Ra. In the present study, the methodology for the discriminative determination of thoron and radon emanation rates from a granular material has been examined using a flow-through scintillation cell and sandwich sample. The mathematical model was developed to differentiate total alpha counts into thoron- and radon-associated counts. With a sample of uranium ore, this model was experimentally validated by comparison between the scintillation cell and a reference detector that can discriminatively measure thoron and radon concentrations. Furthermore, the detection limits and uncertainties were evaluated to discuss the characteristics of this method. Key parameters for improving the determination of thoron and radon emanations were found to be the background radon concentration and the leakage of radon from the measurement system, respectively. It was concluded that the present method is advantageous to a sample that has much higher "2"2"6Ra activity than "2"2"4Ra. - Highlights: • The methodology of appropriate and discriminative measurement of thoron and radon emanation is presented. • Measurement of thoron and radon emanated from a sample was made using a scintillation cell. • Detection limits and

  8. Submicron and Nanoparticulate Matter Removal by HEPA-Rated Media Filters and Packed Beds of Granular Materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perry, J. L.; Agui, J. H.; Vijayakimar, R

    2016-01-01

    Contaminants generated aboard crewed spacecraft by diverse sources consist of both gaseous chemical contaminants and particulate matter. Both HEPA media filters and packed beds of granular material, such as activated carbon, which are both commonly employed for cabin atmosphere purification purposes have efficacy for removing nanoparticulate contaminants from the cabin atmosphere. The phenomena associated with particulate matter removal by HEPA media filters and packed beds of granular material are reviewed relative to their efficacy for removing fine (less than 2.5 micrometers) and ultrafine (less than 0.01 micrometers) sized particulate matter. Considerations are discussed for using these methods in an appropriate configuration to provide the most effective performance for a broad range of particle sizes including nanoparticulates.

  9. A review on numerical models for granular flow inside hoppers and its applications in PBR

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tang Yushi; Guo Qiuju; Zhang Liguo

    2015-01-01

    Granular flow is the shearing motion of a collection of discrete solid particles which are commonly seen and widely utilized in various industrial applications. One of the essential applications of dense slow granular flow in engineering is the pebble flow in pebble-bed nuclear reactor (PBR). A number of numerical models have been established for researching the basic physical mechanisms and properties of granular flow. For the purpose of generating an appropriate model for high temperature reactor-pebblebed modules (HTR-PM) in the future, numerical models on granular flow in hoppers and some of their previous applications on PBRs are reviewed. In this paper, basic transport and contact mechanisms of granular flow are firstly introduced, then kinetic theory from gas molecules and plastic theory from metal mechanics approaches give descriptions of the macroscopic behavior of rapid flow and quasistatic flow regimes, respectively, subsequently kinematic continuum method and discrete element method (DEM) are presented to describe the bulk features of dense slow flow in hoppers. Since various kinematic models, DEM models and their modified versions for dense slow granular flow in hoppers have been experimentally verified and applied in prediction of pebble flow in PBRs, a promising model for HTR-PM is expected with further work to generate pebble flow profile in the future. (author)

  10. Discrete Element Method for Modeling the Mechanical Behavior of Unsaturated Granular Material

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K. Tourani

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Although a significant portion of conditions encountered in geotechnical engineering, for investigating engineering behavior of soil, involves unsaturated soils; the traditional analysis and design approach has been to assume the limiting conditions of soils being either completely dry or completely saturated. In unsaturated soils the capillary force produce attractive forces between particles. Discrete Element Method (DEM is an appropriate tool to consider the capillary effects. The calculations performed in DEM is based on iterative application of Newton’s second law to the particles and force-displacement law at the contacts. In the present study, the behavior of unsaturated soils in pendular regime is simulated utilizing DEM. Triaxial  compression tests were modeled as two-dimensional, considering capillary force effects. Finally, capillary effects on Macro parameters of a simulated granular soil (stress, axial strain, volumetric strain and void ratio and Mohr Coulomb failure criteria parameters were studied.

  11. Characterization, Modeling and Application of Aerobic Granular Sludge for Wastewater Treatment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Xian-Wei; Yu, Han-Qing; Ni, Bing-Jie; Sheng, Guo-Ping

    Recently extensive studies have been carried out to cultivate aerobic granular sludge worldwide, including in China. Aerobic granules, compared with conventional activated sludge flocs, are well known for their regular, dense, and strong microbial structure, good settling ability, high biomass retention, and great ability to withstand shock loadings. Studies have shown that the aerobic granules could be applied for the treatment of low- or high-strength wastewaters, simultaneous removal of organic carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus, and decomposition of toxic wastewaters. Thus, this new form of activate sludge, like anaerobic granular sludge, could be employed for the treatment of municipal and industrial wastewaters in near future. This chapter attempts to provide an up-to-date review on the definition, cultivation, characterization, modeling and application of aerobic granular sludge for biological wastewater treatment. This review outlines some important discoveries with regard to the factors affecting the formation of aerobic granular sludge, their physicochemical characteristics, as well as their microbial structure and diversity. It also summarizes the modeling of aerobic granule formation. Finally, this chapter highlights the applications of aerobic granulation technology in the biological wastewater treatment. It is concluded that the knowledge regarding aerobic granular sludge is far from complete. Although previous studies in this field have undoubtedly improved our understanding on aerobic granular sludge, it is clear that much remains to be learned about the process and that many unanswered questions still remain. One of the challenges appears to be the integration of the existing and growing scientific knowledge base with the observations and applications in practice, which this paper hopes to partially achieve.

  12. An accurate tangential force-displacement model for granular-flow simulations: Contacting spheres with plastic deformation, force-driven formulation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vu-Quoc, L.; Lesburg, L.; Zhang, X.

    2004-01-01

    An elasto-plastic frictional tangential force-displacement (TFD) model for spheres in contact for accurate and efficient granular-flow simulations is presented in this paper; the present TFD is consistent with the elasto-plastic normal force-displacement (NFD) model presented in [ASME Journal of Applied Mechanics 67 (2) (2000) 363; Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series A 455 (1991) (1999) 4013]. The proposed elasto-plastic frictional TFD model is accurate, and is validated against non-linear finite-element analyses involving plastic flows under both loading and unloading conditions. The novelty of the present TFD model lies in (i) the additive decomposition of the elasto-plastic contact area radius into an elastic part and a plastic part, (ii) the correction of the particles' radii at the contact point, and (iii) the correction of the particles' elastic moduli. The correction of the contact-area radius represents an effect of plastic deformation in colliding particles; the correction of the radius of curvature represents a permanent indentation after impact; the correction of the elastic moduli represents a softening of the material due to plastic flow. The construction of both the present elasto-plastic frictional TFD model and its consistent companion, the elasto-plastic NFD model, parallels the formalism of the continuum theory of elasto-plasticity. Both NFD and TFD models form a coherent set of force-displacement (FD) models not available hitherto for granular-flow simulations, and are consistent with the Hertz, Cattaneo, Mindlin, Deresiewicz contact mechanics theory. Together, these FD models will allow for efficient simulations of granular flows (or granular gases) involving a large number of particles

  13. Numerical Simulation on Dense Packing of Granular Materials by Container Oscillation

    OpenAIRE

    Jun Liu; Dongxu You

    2013-01-01

    The packing of granular materials is a basic and important problem in geomechanics. An approach, which generates dense packing of spheres confined in cylindrical and cuboidal containers in three steps, is introduced in this work. A loose packing structure is first generated by means of a reference lattice method. Then a dense packing structure is obtained in a container by simulating dropping of particles under gravitational forces. Furthermore, a scheme that makes the bottom boundary fluctua...

  14. Granular MX-80 bentonite as buffer material: a focus on swelling characteristics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rizzi, M.; Laloui, L.; Salager, S.; Marschall, P.

    2010-01-01

    Document available in extended abstract form only. The Swiss High Level Waste (HLW) disposal concept envisages the emplacement of the waste canisters in horizontal tunnels excavated at a depth of several hundred meters in an over-consolidated clay-stone formation. After waste emplacement the disposal tunnels are backfilled with MX-80 granular bentonite. Research activities are presented in this paper, aimed at characterising the geomechanical behaviour of the MX-80 granular bentonite and at providing the theoretical framework for modelling its response to thermo-hydro- mechanical (THM) perturbations. From the experimental point of view, a series of tests has been designed in order to extract constitutive data and to assess the temperature and suction effects on the mechanical behaviour of the bentonite, paying particular attention in the investigation to the swelling behaviour of the material. As for the theoretical framework an elasto-plastic constitutive model has been developed to take into account those coupled processes of stress, capillary pressure, and temperature to which the bentonite will be submitted,. Bentonite is mainly composed of the smectite mineral montmorillonite with a high swelling capacity which may provide sufficient sealing properties to seal the tunnel without gaps and to restore the buffer continuity. In fact, as bentonite hydrates in the repositories it will expand in those areas where it is allowed and will exert a swelling pressure where the material is confined. The results of both confined and free swelling tests are presented. Confined tests are aiming at determining the pressure applied by the material during complete saturation under isochoric conditions, whereas in the free swelling tests the strain on hydration is measured. Some results from confined swelling tests at ambient temperature are presented. The specimen is compacted uniaxially directly in the cells, the initial dry density being chosen in the range between 1.6 and 1

  15. Relating water and air flow characteristics in coarse granular materials

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andreasen, Rune Røjgaard; Canga, Eriona; Poulsen, Tjalfe Gorm

    2013-01-01

    Water pressure drop as a function of velocity controls w 1 ater cleaning biofilter operation 2 cost. At present this relationship in biofilter materials must be determined experimentally as no 3 universal link between pressure drop, velocity and filter material properties have been established. 4...... Pressure drop - velocity in porous media is much simpler and faster to measure for air than for water. 5 For soils and similar materials, observations show a strong connection between pressure drop – 6 velocity relations for air and water, indicating that water pressure drop – velocity may be estimated 7...... from air flow data. The objective of this study was, therefore, to investigate if this approach is valid 8 also for coarse granular biofilter media which usually consists of much larger particles than soils. In 9 this paper the connection between the pressure drop – velocity relationships for air...

  16. NMR Measurements of Granular Flow and Compaction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fukushima, Eiichi

    1998-03-01

    Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) can be used to measure statistical distributions of granular flow velocity and fluctuations of velocity, as well as spatial distributions of particulate concentration, flow velocity, its fluctuations, and other parameters that may be derived from these. All measurements have been of protons in liquid-containing particles such as mustard seeds or pharmaceutical pills. Our favorite geometry has been the slowly rotating partially filled rotating drum with granular flow taking place along the free surface of the particles. All the above-mentioned parameters have been studied as well as a spatial distribution of particulate diffusion coefficients, energy dissipation due to collisions, as well as segregation of non-uniform mixtures of granular material. Finally, we describe some motions of granular material under periodic vibrations.

  17. Universal scaling of permeability through the granular-to-continuum transition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wadsworth, F. B.; Scheu, B.; Heap, M. J.; Kendrick, J. E.; Vasseur, J.; Lavallée, Y.; Dingwell, D. B.

    2015-12-01

    Magmas fragment forming a transiently granular material, which can weld back to a fluid-continuum. This process results in dramatic changes in the gas-volume fraction of the material, which impacts the gas permeability. We collate published data for the gas-volume fraction and permeability of volcanic and synthetic materials which have undergone this process to different amounts and note that in all cases there exists a discontinuity in the relationship between these two properties. By discriminating data for which good microstructural information are provided, we use simple scaling arguments to collapse the data in both the still-granular, high gas-volume fraction regime and the fluid-continuum low gas-volume fraction regime such that a universal description can be achieved. We use this to argue for the microstructural meaning of the well-described discontinuity between gas-permeability and gas-volume fraction and to infer the controls on the position of this transition between dominantly granular and dominantly fluid-continuum material descriptions. As a specific application, we consider the transiently granular magma transported through and deposited in fractures in more-coherent magmas, thought to be a primary degassing pathway in high viscosity systems. We propose that our scaling coupled with constitutive laws for densification can provide insights into the longevity of such degassing channels, informing sub-surface pressure modelling at such volcanoes.

  18. Deposition and shaking of dry granular piles

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hasan, M.

    2003-01-01

    A friction force model describing reversible stick-slip transition during contact has been developed with the special purpose to simulate the deposition of granular material. A test with a mass on a conveyor belt kept in position by a spring shows that a numerical simulation of the dynamics of such

  19. Comparisons of physical experiment and discrete element simulations of sheared granular materials in an annular shear cell

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ji, S.; Hanes, D.M.; Shen, H.H.

    2009-01-01

    In this study, we report a direct comparison between a physical test and a computer simulation of rapidly sheared granular materials. An annular shear cell experiment was conducted. All parameters were kept the same between the physical and the computational systems to the extent possible. Artificially softened particles were used in the simulation to reduce the computational time to a manageable level. Sensitivity study on the particle stiffness ensured such artificial modification was acceptable. In the experiment, a range of normal stress was applied to a given amount of particles sheared in an annular trough with a range of controlled shear speed. Two types of particles, glass and Delrin, were used in the experiment. Qualitatively, the required torque to shear the materials under different rotational speed compared well with those in the physical experiments for both the glass and the Delrin particles. However, the quantitative discrepancies between the measured and simulated shear stresses were nearly a factor of two. Boundary conditions, particle size distribution, particle damping and friction, including a sliding and rolling, contact force model, were examined to determine their effects on the computational results. It was found that of the above, the rolling friction between particles had the most significant effect on the macro stress level. This study shows that discrete element simulation is a viable method for engineering design for granular material systems. Particle level information is needed to properly conduct these simulations. However, not all particle level information is equally important in the study regime. Rolling friction, which is not commonly considered in many discrete element models, appears to play an important role. ?? 2009 Elsevier Ltd.

  20. The Quantified Characterization Method of the Micro-Macro Contacts of Three-Dimensional Granular Materials on the Basis of Graph Theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guan, Yanpeng; Wang, Enzhi; Liu, Xiaoli; Wang, Sijing; Luan, Hebing

    2017-08-03

    We have attempted a multiscale and quantified characterization method of the contact in three-dimensional granular material made of spherical particles, particularly in cemented granular material. Particle contact is defined as a type of surface contact with voids in its surroundings, rather than a point contact. Macro contact is a particle contact set satisfying the restrictive condition of a two-dimensional manifold with a boundary. On the basis of graph theory, two dual geometrical systems are abstracted from the granular pack. The face and the face set, which satisfies the two-dimensional manifold with a boundary in the solid cell system, are extracted to characterize the particle contact and the macro contact, respectively. This characterization method is utilized to improve the post-processing in DEM (Discrete Element Method) from a micro perspective to describe the macro effect of the cemented granular material made of spherical particles. Since the crack has the same shape as its corresponding contact, this method is adopted to characterize the crack and realize its visualization. The integral failure route of the sample can be determined by a graph theory algorithm. The contact force is assigned to the weight value of the face characterizing the particle contact. Since the force vectors can be added, the macro contact force can be solved by adding the weight of its corresponding faces.

  1. Vortex jamming in superconductors and granular rheology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yoshino, Hajime; Nogawa, Tomoaki; Kim, Bongsoo

    2009-01-01

    We demonstrate that a highly frustrated anisotropic Josephson junction array (JJA) on a square lattice exhibits a zero-temperature jamming transition, which shares much in common with those in granular systems. Anisotropy of the Josephson couplings along the horizontal and vertical directions plays roles similar to normal load or density in granular systems. We studied numerically static and dynamic response of the system against shear, i.e. injection of external electric current at zero temperature. Current-voltage curves at various strength of the anisotropy exhibit universal scaling features around the jamming point much as do the flow curves in granular rheology, shear-stress versus shear-rate. It turns out that at zero temperature the jamming transition occurs right at the isotropic coupling and anisotropic JJA behaves as exotic fragile vortex matter: it behaves as a superconductor (vortex glass) in one direction, whereas it is a normal conductor (vortex liquid) in the other direction even at zero temperature. Furthermore, we find a variant of the theoretical model for the anisotropic JJA quantitatively reproduces universal master flow-curves of the granular systems. Our results suggest an unexpected common paradigm stretching over seemingly unrelated fields-the rheology of soft materials and superconductivity.

  2. Planning for the Collection and Analysis of Samples of Martian Granular Materials Potentially to be Returned by Mars Sample Return

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carrier, B. L.; Beaty, D. W.

    2017-12-01

    NASA's Mars 2020 rover is scheduled to land on Mars in 2021 and will be equipped with a sampling system capable of collecting rock cores, as well as a specialized drill bit for collecting unconsolidated granular material. A key mission objective is to collect a set of samples that have enough scientific merit to justify returning to Earth. In the case of granular materials, we would like to catalyze community discussion on what we would do with these samples if they arrived in our laboratories, as input to decision-making related to sampling the regolith. Numerous scientific objectives have been identified which could be achieved or significantly advanced via the analysis of martian rocks, "regolith," and gas samples. The term "regolith" has more than one definition, including one that is general and one that is much more specific. For the purpose of this analysis we use the term "granular materials" to encompass the most general meaning and restrict "regolith" to a subset of that. Our working taxonomy includes the following: 1) globally sourced airfall dust (dust); 2) saltation-sized particles (sand); 3) locally sourced decomposed rock (regolith); 4) crater ejecta (ejecta); and, 5) other. Analysis of martian granular materials could serve to advance our understanding areas including habitability and astrobiology, surface-atmosphere interactions, chemistry, mineralogy, geology and environmental processes. Results of these analyses would also provide input into planning for future human exploration of Mars, elucidating possible health and mechanical hazards caused by the martian surface material, as well as providing valuable information regarding available resources for ISRU and civil engineering purposes. Results would also be relevant to matters of planetary protection and ground-truthing orbital observations. We will present a preliminary analysis of the following, in order to generate community discussion and feedback on all issues relating to: What are the

  3. Mechanical and Structural Behavior of Granular Material Packed Beds for Space Life Support System Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malla, Ramesh B.; Anandakumar, Ganesh

    2005-01-01

    the bed media increased with decrease in initial compaction of the bed media. This effect could be attributed to the greater tendency for inter-particle sliding/rub bing due to smaller internal friction angles, as seen from the shear tests, at lesser initial compacted levels. Upon unloading, it was obse rved that there was no change in displacement (especially rebounding) in the bed media. This effect could be attributed to the fact that th e porous activated alumina particles fracture/break upon increase in applied load (during loading phase) and occupy void spaces in between the material grains; thereby leading to settling of the media. The lo ad-displacement curve becomes more linear with increase in initial compaction of the bed media. It is concluded that compaction considerabl y affects the load-displacement behavior of the bed media. A series of tests were also conducted on the packed bed media to determine the f orce required to mobilize the friction between the bed media and the housing cylinder. The results from these tests showed the existence of significant friction between the bed media and the encasing stainles s steel cylinder. Further, it was found that friction effects were more pronounced for media with higher initial compaction. Internal frict ion of the granular media was measured using direct shear apparatus. It was observed that the internal friction increased with increase in initial compaction of the bed media. In this study, a computational m odel (CM) is also developed using finite element software ANSYS to verify experimental results obtained for the distribution of the axial n ormal stress and axial displacement along the length of the full-scal e activated alumina bed media. In the computational model, the granular material is considered to have appropriate failure and frictional c ontact exists between the wall and the granular media. It is observed that the model predicts results closely with the experimental method. The compational

  4. Effects of Noise and Vibration on the Solid to Liquid Fluidization Transition in Small Dense Granular Systems Under Shear

    Science.gov (United States)

    Melhus, Martin Frederic

    2011-07-01

    Granular materials exhibit bulk properties that are distinct from conventional solids, liq- uids, and gases, due to the dissipative nature of the inter-granular forces. Understanding the fundamentals of granular materials draws upon and gives insight into many fields at the current frontiers of physics, such as plasticity of solids, fracture and friction, com- plex systems such as colloids, foams and suspensions, and a variety of biological systems. Particulate flows are widespread in geophysics, and are also essential to many industries. Despite the importance of these phenomena, we lack a theoretical model that explains most behaviors of granular materials. Since granular assemblies are highly dissipative, they are often far from mechanical equilibrium, making most classical analyses inappli- cable. A theory for dilute granular systems exists, but for dense granular systems (by far the majority of granular systems in the real world) no comparable theory is accepted. We approach this problem by examining the fluidization, or transition from solid to liquid, in dense granular systems. In this study, the separate effects of random noise and vibration on the static to flowing transition of a dense granular assembly under planar shear is studied numerically using soft contact particle dynamics simulations in two dimensions. We focus on small systems in a thin planar Couette cell, examining the bistable region while increasing shear, with varying amounts of random noise or vibration, and determine the statistics of the shear required for the onset of flow. We find that the applied power is the key parameter in determining the magnitude of the effects of the noise or vibration, with vibration frequency also having an influence. Similarities and differences between noise and vibration are determined, and the results compare favorably with a two phase model for dense granular flow.

  5. Dynamic and impact contact mechanics of geologic materials: Grain-scale experiments and modeling

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cole, David M.; Hopkins, Mark A.; Ketcham, Stephen A.

    2013-01-01

    High fidelity treatments of the generation and propagation of seismic waves in naturally occurring granular materials is becoming more practical given recent advancements in our ability to model complex particle shapes and their mechanical interaction. Of particular interest are the grain-scale processes that are activated by impact events and the characteristics of force transmission through grain contacts. To address this issue, we have developed a physics based approach that involves laboratory experiments to quantify the dynamic contact and impact behavior of granular materials and incorporation of the observed behavior indiscrete element models. The dynamic experiments do not involve particle damage and emphasis is placed on measured values of contact stiffness and frictional loss. The normal stiffness observed in dynamic contact experiments at low frequencies (e.g., 10 Hz) are shown to be in good agreement with quasistatic experiments on quartz sand. The results of impact experiments – which involve moderate to extensive levels of particle damage – are presented for several types of naturally occurring granular materials (several quartz sands, magnesite and calcium carbonate ooids). Implementation of the experimental findings in discrete element models is discussed and the results of impact simulations involving up to 5 × 105 grains are presented.

  6. Dynamic and impact contact mechanics of geologic materials: Grain-scale experiments and modeling

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cole, David M.; Hopkins, Mark A.; Ketcham, Stephen A. [Engineer Research and Development Center - Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, 72 Lyme Rd., Hanover, NH 03755 (United States)

    2013-06-18

    High fidelity treatments of the generation and propagation of seismic waves in naturally occurring granular materials is becoming more practical given recent advancements in our ability to model complex particle shapes and their mechanical interaction. Of particular interest are the grain-scale processes that are activated by impact events and the characteristics of force transmission through grain contacts. To address this issue, we have developed a physics based approach that involves laboratory experiments to quantify the dynamic contact and impact behavior of granular materials and incorporation of the observed behavior indiscrete element models. The dynamic experiments do not involve particle damage and emphasis is placed on measured values of contact stiffness and frictional loss. The normal stiffness observed in dynamic contact experiments at low frequencies (e.g., 10 Hz) are shown to be in good agreement with quasistatic experiments on quartz sand. The results of impact experiments - which involve moderate to extensive levels of particle damage - are presented for several types of naturally occurring granular materials (several quartz sands, magnesite and calcium carbonate ooids). Implementation of the experimental findings in discrete element models is discussed and the results of impact simulations involving up to 5 Multiplication-Sign 105 grains are presented.

  7. Novel Discrete Element Method for 3D non-spherical granular particles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seelen, Luuk; Padding, Johan; Kuipers, Hans

    2015-11-01

    Granular materials are common in many industries and nature. The different properties from solid behavior to fluid like behavior are well known but less well understood. The main aim of our work is to develop a discrete element method (DEM) to simulate non-spherical granular particles. The non-spherical shape of particles is important, as it controls the behavior of the granular materials in many situations, such as static systems of packed particles. In such systems the packing fraction is determined by the particle shape. We developed a novel 3D discrete element method that simulates the particle-particle interactions for a wide variety of shapes. The model can simulate quadratic shapes such as spheres, ellipsoids, cylinders. More importantly, any convex polyhedron can be used as a granular particle shape. These polyhedrons are very well suited to represent non-rounded sand particles. The main difficulty of any non-spherical DEM is the determination of particle-particle overlap. Our model uses two iterative geometric algorithms to determine the overlap. The algorithms are robust and can also determine multiple contact points which can occur for these shapes. With this method we are able to study different applications such as the discharging of a hopper or silo. Another application the creation of a random close packing, to determine the solid volume fraction as a function of the particle shape.

  8. Nonlinear coherent structures in granular crystals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chong, C.; Porter, Mason A.; Kevrekidis, P. G.; Daraio, C.

    2017-10-01

    The study of granular crystals, which are nonlinear metamaterials that consist of closely packed arrays of particles that interact elastically, is a vibrant area of research that combines ideas from disciplines such as materials science, nonlinear dynamics, and condensed-matter physics. Granular crystals exploit geometrical nonlinearities in their constitutive microstructure to produce properties (such as tunability and energy localization) that are not conventional to engineering materials and linear devices. In this topical review, we focus on recent experimental, computational, and theoretical results on nonlinear coherent structures in granular crystals. Such structures—which include traveling solitary waves, dispersive shock waves, and discrete breathers—have fascinating dynamics, including a diversity of both transient features and robust, long-lived patterns that emerge from broad classes of initial data. In our review, we primarily discuss phenomena in one-dimensional crystals, as most research to date has focused on such scenarios, but we also present some extensions to two-dimensional settings. Throughout the review, we highlight open problems and discuss a variety of potential engineering applications that arise from the rich dynamic response of granular crystals.

  9. In situ bioremediation: A network model of diffusion and flow in granular porous media

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Griffiths, S.K.; Nilson, R.H.; Bradshaw, R.W.

    1997-04-01

    In situ bioremediation is a potentially expedient, permanent and cost- effective means of waste site decontamination. However, permeability reductions due to the transport and deposition of native fines or due to excessive microorganism populations may severely inhibit the injection of supplemental oxygen in the contamination zone. To help understand this phenomenon, we have developed a micro-mechanical network model of flow, diffusion and particle transport in granular porous materials. The model differs from most similar models in that the network is defined by particle positions in a numerically-generated particle array. The model is thus widely applicable to computing effective transport properties for both ordered and realistic random porous media. A laboratory-scale apparatus to measure permeability reductions has also been designed, built and tested.

  10. Jamming of three-dimensional prolate granular materials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Desmond, K; Franklin, Scott V

    2006-03-01

    We have found that the ability of long thin rods to jam into a solidlike state in response to a local perturbation depends upon both the particle aspect ratio and the container size. The dynamic phase diagram in this parameter space reveals a broad transition region separating granular stick-slip and solidlike behavior. In this transition region the pile displays both solid and stick-slip behavior. We measure the force on a small object pulled through the pile, and find the fluctuation spectra to have power law tails with an exponent characteristic of the region. The exponent varies from beta=-2 in the stick-slip region to beta=-1 in the solid region. These values reflect the different origins--granular rearrangements vs dry friction--of the fluctuations. Finally, the packing fraction shows only a slight dependence on container size, but depends on aspect ratio in a manner predicted by mean-field theory and implies an aspect-ratio-independent contact number of =5.25 +/- 0.03.

  11. Wrinkles, folds, and plasticity in granular rafts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jambon-Puillet, Etienne; Josserand, Christophe; Protière, Suzie

    2017-09-01

    We investigate the mechanical response of a compressed monolayer of large and dense particles at a liquid-fluid interface: a granular raft. Upon compression, rafts first wrinkle; then, as the confinement increases, the deformation localizes in a unique fold. This characteristic buckling pattern is usually associated with floating elastic sheets, and as a result, particle laden interfaces are often modeled as such. Here, we push this analogy to its limits by comparing quantitative measurements of the raft morphology to a theoretical continuous elastic model of the interface. We show that, although powerful to describe the wrinkle wavelength, the wrinkle-to-fold transition, and the fold shape, this elastic description does not capture the finer details of the experiment. We describe an unpredicted secondary wavelength, a compression discrepancy with the model, and a hysteretic behavior during compression cycles, all of which are a signature of the intrinsic discrete and frictional nature of granular rafts. It suggests also that these composite materials exhibit both plastic transition and jamming dynamics.

  12. Seismic wave propagation in granular media

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tancredi, Gonzalo; López, Francisco; Gallot, Thomas; Ginares, Alejandro; Ortega, Henry; Sanchís, Johnny; Agriela, Adrián; Weatherley, Dion

    2016-10-01

    Asteroids and small bodies of the Solar System are thought to be agglomerates of irregular boulders, therefore cataloged as granular media. It is a consensus that many asteroids might be considered as rubble or gravel piles.Impacts on their surface could produce seismic waves which propagate in the interior of these bodies, thus causing modifications in the internal distribution of rocks and ejections of particles and dust, resulting in a cometary-type comma.We present experimental and numerical results on the study of propagation of impact-induced seismic waves in granular media, with special focus on behavior changes by increasing compression.For the experiment, we use an acrylic box filled with granular materials such as sand, gravel and glass spheres. Pressure inside the box is controlled by a movable side wall and measured with sensors. Impacts are created on the upper face of the box through a hole, ranging from free-falling spheres to gunshots. We put high-speed cameras outside the box to record the impact as well as piezoelectic sensors and accelerometers placed at several depths in the granular material to detect the seismic wave.Numerical simulations are performed with ESyS-Particle, a software that implements the Discrete Element Method. The experimental setting is reproduced in the numerical simulations using both individual spherical particles and agglomerates of spherical particles shaped as irregular boulders, according to rock models obtained with a 3D scanner. The numerical experiments also reproduces the force loading on one of the wall to vary the pressure inside the box.We are interested in the velocity, attenuation and energy transmission of the waves. These quantities are measured in the experiments and in the simulations. We study the dependance of these three parameters with characteristics like: impact speed, properties of the target material and the pressure in the media.These results are relevant to understand the outcomes of impacts in

  13. In situ grain fracture mechanics during uniaxial compaction of granular solids

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hurley, R. C.; Lind, J.; Pagan, D. C.; Akin, M. C.; Herbold, E. B.

    2018-03-01

    Grain fracture and crushing are known to influence the macroscopic mechanical behavior of granular materials and be influenced by factors such as grain composition, morphology, and microstructure. In this paper, we investigate grain fracture and crushing by combining synchrotron x-ray computed tomography and three-dimensional x-ray diffraction to study two granular samples undergoing uniaxial compaction. Our measurements provide details of grain kinematics, contacts, average intra-granular stresses, inter-particle forces, and intra-grain crystal and fracture plane orientations. Our analyses elucidate the complex nature of fracture and crushing, showing that: (1) the average stress states of grains prior to fracture vary widely in their relation to global and local trends; (2) fractured grains experience inter-particle forces and stored energies that are statistically higher than intact grains prior to fracture; (3) fracture plane orientations are primarily controlled by average intra-granular stress and contact fabric rather than the orientation of the crystal lattice; (4) the creation of new surfaces during fracture accounts for a very small portion of the energy dissipated during compaction; (5) mixing brittle and ductile grain materials alters the grain-scale fracture response. The results highlight an application of combined x-ray measurements for non-destructive in situ analysis of granular solids and provide details about grain fracture that have important implications for theory and modeling.

  14. Dynamic Deformation and Collapse of Granular Columns

    Science.gov (United States)

    Uenishi, K.; Tsuji, K.; Doi, S.

    2009-12-01

    Large dynamic deformation of granular materials may be found in nature not only in the failure of slopes and cliffs — due to earthquakes, rock avalanches, debris flows and landslides — but also in earthquake faulting itself. Granular surface flows often consist of solid grains and intergranular fluid, but the effect of the fluid may be usually negligible because the volumetric concentration of grains is in many cases high enough for interparticle forces to dominate momentum transport. Therefore, the investigation of dry granular flow of a mass might assist in further understanding of the above mentioned geophysical events. Here, utilizing a high-speed digital video camera system, we perform a simple yet fully-controlled series of laboratory experiments related to the collapse of granular columns. We record, at an interval of some microseconds, the dynamic transient granular mass flow initiated by abrupt release of a tube that contains dry granular materials. The acrylic tube is partially filled with glass beads and has a cross-section of either a fully- or semi-cylindrical shape. Upon sudden removal of the tube, the granular solid may fragment under the action of its own weight and the particles spread on a rigid horizontal plane. This study is essentially the extension of the previous ones by Lajeunesse et al. (Phys. Fluids 2004) and Uenishi and Tsuji (JPGU 2008), but the striped layers of particles in a semi-cylindrical tube, newly introduced in this contribution, allow us to observe the precise particle movement inside the granular column: The development of slip lines inside the column and the movement of particles against each other can be clearly identified. The major controlling parameters of the spreading dynamics are the initial aspect ratio of the granular (semi-)cylindrical column, the frictional properties of the horizontal plane (substrate) and the size of beads. We show the influence of each parameter on the average flow velocity and final radius

  15. Granular motor in the non-Brownian limit

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Oyarte Galvez, Loreto Alejandra; van der Meer, Roger M.

    2016-01-01

    In this work we experimentally study a granular rotor which is similar to the famous Smoluchowski–Feynman device and which consists of a rotor with four vanes immersed in a granular gas. Each side of the vanes can be composed of two different materials, creating a rotational asymmetry and turning

  16. On the rheology of dilative granular media: Bridging solid- and fluid-like behavior

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andrade, José E.; Chen, Qiushi; Le, Phong H.; Avila, Carlos F.; Matthew Evans, T.

    2012-06-01

    A new rate-dependent plasticity model for dilative granular media is presented, aiming to bridge the seemingly disparate solid- and fluid-like behavioral regimes. Up to date, solid-like behavior is typically tackled with rate-independent plasticity models emanating from Mohr-Coulomb and Critical State plasticity theory. On the other hand, the fluid-like behavior of granular media is typically treated using constitutive theories amenable to viscous flow, e.g., Bingham fluid. In our proposed model, the material strength is composed of a dilation part and a rate-dependent residual strength. The dilatancy strength plays a key role during solid-like behavior but vanishes in the fluid-like regime. The residual strength, which in a classical plasticity model is considered constant and rate-independent, is postulated to evolve with strain rate. The main appeal of the model is its simplicity and its ability to reconcile the classic plasticity and rheology camps. The applicability and capability of the model are demonstrated by numerical simulation of granular flow problems, as well as a classical shear banding problem, where the performance of the continuum model is compared to discrete particle simulations and physical experiment. These results shed much-needed light onto the mechanics and physics of granular media at various shear rates.

  17. Two-phase modeling of deflagration-to-detonation transition in granular materials: A critical examination of modeling issues

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bdzil, J.B.; Menikoff, R.; Son, S.F.; Kapila, A.K.; Stewart, D.S.

    1999-01-01

    The two-phase mixture model developed by Baer and Nunziato (BN) to study the deflagration-to-detonation transition (DDT) in granular explosives is critically reviewed. The continuum-mixture theory foundation of the model is examined, with particular attention paid to the manner in which its constitutive functions are formulated. Connections between the mechanical and energetic phenomena occurring at the scales of the grains, and their manifestations on the continuum averaged scale, are explored. The nature and extent of approximations inherent in formulating the constitutive terms, and their domain of applicability, are clarified. Deficiencies and inconsistencies in the derivation are cited, and improvements suggested. It is emphasized that the entropy inequality constrains but does not uniquely determine the phase interaction terms. The resulting flexibility is exploited to suggest improved forms for the phase interactions. These improved forms better treat the energy associated with the dynamic compaction of the bed and the single-phase limits of the model. Companion papers of this study [Kapila et al., Phys. Fluids 9, 3885 (1997); Kapila et al., in preparation; Son et al., in preparation] examine simpler, reduced models, in which the fine scales of velocity and pressure disequilibrium between the phases allow the corresponding relaxation zones to be treated as discontinuities that need not be resolved in a numerical computation. copyright 1999 American Institute of Physics

  18. A particle-based method for granular flow simulation

    KAUST Repository

    Chang, Yuanzhang; Bao, Kai; Zhu, Jian; Wu, Enhua

    2012-01-01

    We present a new particle-based method for granular flow simulation. In the method, a new elastic stress term, which is derived from a modified form of the Hooke's law, is included in the momentum governing equation to handle the friction of granular materials. Viscosity force is also added to simulate the dynamic friction for the purpose of smoothing the velocity field and further maintaining the simulation stability. Benefiting from the Lagrangian nature of the SPH method, large flow deformation can be well handled easily and naturally. In addition, a signed distance field is also employed to enforce the solid boundary condition. The experimental results show that the proposed method is effective and efficient for handling the flow of granular materials, and different kinds of granular behaviors can be well simulated by adjusting just one parameter. © 2012 Science China Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

  19. A particle-based method for granular flow simulation

    KAUST Repository

    Chang, Yuanzhang

    2012-03-16

    We present a new particle-based method for granular flow simulation. In the method, a new elastic stress term, which is derived from a modified form of the Hooke\\'s law, is included in the momentum governing equation to handle the friction of granular materials. Viscosity force is also added to simulate the dynamic friction for the purpose of smoothing the velocity field and further maintaining the simulation stability. Benefiting from the Lagrangian nature of the SPH method, large flow deformation can be well handled easily and naturally. In addition, a signed distance field is also employed to enforce the solid boundary condition. The experimental results show that the proposed method is effective and efficient for handling the flow of granular materials, and different kinds of granular behaviors can be well simulated by adjusting just one parameter. © 2012 Science China Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

  20. A model describing intra-granular fission gas behaviour in oxide fuel for advanced engineering tools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pizzocri, D.; Pastore, G.; Barani, T.; Magni, A.; Luzzi, L.; Van Uffelen, P.; Pitts, S. A.; Alfonsi, A.; Hales, J. D.

    2018-04-01

    The description of intra-granular fission gas behaviour is a fundamental part of any model for the prediction of fission gas release and swelling in nuclear fuel. In this work we present a model describing the evolution of intra-granular fission gas bubbles in terms of bubble number density and average size, coupled to gas release to grain boundaries. The model considers the fundamental processes of single gas atom diffusion, gas bubble nucleation, re-solution and gas atom trapping at bubbles. The model is derived from a detailed cluster dynamics formulation, yet it consists of only three differential equations in its final form; hence, it can be efficiently applied in engineering fuel performance codes while retaining a physical basis. We discuss improvements relative to previous single-size models for intra-granular bubble evolution. We validate the model against experimental data, both in terms of bubble number density and average bubble radius. Lastly, we perform an uncertainty and sensitivity analysis by propagating the uncertainties in the parameters to model results.

  1. MODELING THE ELECTROLYTIC DECHLORINATION OF TRICHLOROETHYLENE IN A GRANULAR GRAPHITE-PACKED REACTOR

    Science.gov (United States)

    A comprehensive reactor model was developed for the electrolytic dechlorination of trichloroethylene (TCE) at a granular-graphite cathode. The reactor model describes the dynamic processes of TCE dechlorination and adsorption, and the formation and dechlorination of all the major...

  2. Quantifying non-ergodic dynamics of force-free granular gases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bodrova, Anna; Chechkin, Aleksei V; Cherstvy, Andrey G; Metzler, Ralf

    2015-09-14

    Brownian motion is ergodic in the Boltzmann-Khinchin sense that long time averages of physical observables such as the mean squared displacement provide the same information as the corresponding ensemble average, even at out-of-equilibrium conditions. This property is the fundamental prerequisite for single particle tracking and its analysis in simple liquids. We study analytically and by event-driven molecular dynamics simulations the dynamics of force-free cooling granular gases and reveal a violation of ergodicity in this Boltzmann-Khinchin sense as well as distinct ageing of the system. Such granular gases comprise materials such as dilute gases of stones, sand, various types of powders, or large molecules, and their mixtures are ubiquitous in Nature and technology, in particular in Space. We treat-depending on the physical-chemical properties of the inter-particle interaction upon their pair collisions-both a constant and a velocity-dependent (viscoelastic) restitution coefficient ε. Moreover we compare the granular gas dynamics with an effective single particle stochastic model based on an underdamped Langevin equation with time dependent diffusivity. We find that both models share the same behaviour of the ensemble mean squared displacement (MSD) and the velocity correlations in the limit of weak dissipation. Qualitatively, the reported non-ergodic behaviour is generic for granular gases with any realistic dependence of ε on the impact velocity of particles.

  3. Multi-granularity immunization strategy based on SIRS model in scale-free network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nian, Fuzhong; Wang, Ke

    2015-04-01

    In this paper, a new immunization strategy was established to prevent the epidemic spreading based on the principle of "Multi-granularity" and "Pre-warning Mechanism", which send different pre-warning signal with the risk rank of the susceptible node to be infected. The pre-warning means there is a higher risk that the susceptible node is more likely to be infected. The multi-granularity means the susceptible node is linked with multi-infected nodes. In our model, the effect of the different situation of the multi-granularity immunizations is compared and different spreading rates are adopted to describe the epidemic behavior of nodes. In addition the threshold value of epidemic outbreak is investigated, which makes the result more convincing. The theoretical analysis and the simulations indicate that the proposed immunization strategy is effective and it is also economic and feasible.

  4. Reduction of intergranular exchange coupling and grain size for high Ku CoPt-based granular media: Metal-oxide buffer layer and multiple oxide boundary materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tham, Kim Kong; Kushibiki, Ryosuke; Kamada, Tomonari; Hinata, Shintaro; Saito, Shin

    2018-05-01

    Investigation of magnetic properties and microstructure of granular media with various multiple oxides as the grain boundary material is reported. Saturation magnetization (Ms), uniaxial magnetocrystalline anisotropy (Ku), and magnetic grain diameter (GD) of the granular media show linear correlation with volume weighted average for melting point (Tm) of each oxides (Tmave). Ku of magnetic grains (Kugrain) shows a trade-off relation with GD that it is a big challenge to satisfy both high Kugrain and small GD by only controlling Tmave. To obtain a granular medium with appropriate Kugrain, GD, and low degree of intergranular exchange coupling, the combination of Tmave control of grain boundary material by mixing oxides and employment of a buffer layer are required. Here the degree of intergranular exchange coupling is estimated from the slope of M-H loop at around coercivity (α). By applying this technique, a typical granular medium with Kugrain of 1.0×107 erg/cm3, GD of 5.1 nm, and α of 1.2 is realized.

  5. Flow and Jamming of Granular Materials in a Two-dimensional Hopper

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, Junyao

    Flow in a hopper is both a fertile testing ground for understanding fundamental granular flow rheology and industrially highly relevant. Despite increasing research efforts in this area, a comprehensive physical theory is still lacking for both jamming and flow of granular materials in a hopper. In this work, I have designed a two dimensional (2D) hopper experiment using photoelastic particles (particles' shape: disk or ellipse), with the goal to build a bridge between macroscopic phenomenon of hopper flow and microscopic particle-scale dynamics. Through synchronized data of particle tracking and stress distributions in particles, I have shown differences between my data of the time-averaged velocity/stress profile of 2D hopper flow with previous theoretical predictions. I have also demonstrated the importance of a mechanical stable arch near the opening on controlling hopper flow rheology and suggested a heuristic phase diagram for the hopper flow/jamming transition. Another part of this thesis work is focused on studying the impact of particle shape of particles on hopper flow. By comparing particle-tracking and photoelastic data for ellipses and disks at the appropriate length scale, I have demonstrated an important role for the rotational freedom of elliptical particles in controlling flow rheology through particle tracking and stress analysis. This work has been supported by International Fine Particle Research Institute (IFPRI) .

  6. A Two-Phase Solid/Fluid Model for Dense Granular Flows Including Dilatancy Effects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mangeney, Anne; Bouchut, Francois; Fernandez-Nieto, Enrique; Narbona-Reina, Gladys

    2015-04-01

    We propose a thin layer depth-averaged two-phase model to describe solid-fluid mixtures such as debris flows. It describes the velocity of the two phases, the compression/dilatation of the granular media and its interaction with the pore fluid pressure, that itself modifies the friction within the granular phase (Iverson et al., 2010). The model is derived from a 3D two-phase model proposed by Jackson (2000) based on the 4 equations of mass and momentum conservation within the two phases. This system has 5 unknowns: the solid and fluid velocities, the solid and fluid pressures and the solid volume fraction. As a result, an additional equation inside the mixture is necessary to close the system. Surprisingly, this issue is inadequately accounted for in the models that have been developed on the basis of Jackson's work (Bouchut et al., 2014). In particular, Pitman and Le replaced this closure simply by imposing an extra boundary condition at the surface of the flow. When making a shallow expansion, this condition can be considered as a closure condition. However, the corresponding model cannot account for a dissipative energy balance. We propose here an approach to correctly deal with the thermodynamics of Jackson's equations. We close the mixture equations by a weak compressibility relation involving a critical density, or equivalently a critical pressure. Moreover, we relax one boundary condition, making it possible for the fluid to escape the granular media when compression of the granular mass occurs. Furthermore, we introduce second order terms in the equations making it possible to describe the evolution of the pore fluid pressure in response to the compression/dilatation of the granular mass without prescribing an extra ad-hoc equation for the pore pressure. We prove that the energy balance associated with this Jackson closure is dissipative, as well as its thin layer associated model. We present several numerical tests for the 1D case that are compared to the

  7. Constitutive model for porous materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Weston, A.M.; Lee, E.L.

    1982-01-01

    A simple pressure versus porosity compaction model is developed to calculate the response of granular porous bed materials to shock impact. The model provides a scheme for calculating compaction behavior when relatively limited material data are available. While the model was developed to study porous explosives and propellants, it has been applied to a much wider range of materials. The early development of porous material models, such as that of Hermann, required empirical dynamic compaction data. Erkman and Edwards successfully applied the early theory to unreacted porous high explosives using a Gruneisen equation of state without yield behavior and without trapped gas in the pores. Butcher included viscoelastic rate dependance in pore collapse. The theoretical treatment of Carroll and Holt is centered on the collapse of a circular pore and includes radial inertia terms and a complex set of stress, strain and strain rate constitutive parameters. Unfortunately data required for these parameters are generally not available. The model described here is also centered on the collapse of a circular pore, but utilizes a simpler elastic-plastic static equilibrium pore collapse mechanism without strain rate dependence, or radial inertia terms. It does include trapped gas inside the pore, a solid material flow stress that creates both a yield point and a variation in solid material pressure with radius. The solid is described by a Mie-Gruneisen type EOS. Comparisons show that this model will accurately estimate major mechanical features which have been observed in compaction experiments

  8. Granular filtration for airborne particles : correlation between experiments and models

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Golshahi, L.; Tan, Z. [Calgary Univ., AB (Canada). Schulich School of Engineering, Mechanical and Manufacturing Dept.; Abedi, J. [Calgary Univ., AB (Canada). Schulich School of Engineering, Chemical and Petroleum Engineering Dept.

    2009-10-15

    A new design for a packed bed granular filter was presented. The cylindrical packed bed was designed to filter particles in the range of approximately 10 nm to 15 {mu}m in diameter in different kinetic conditions and configurations. The aim of the study was to develop a precise empirical model to predict the filtration efficiency of the packed beds. A collision-type atomizer was used to generate polydisperse sodium chloride aerosol particles. The effect of flow rates was studied using a thermal mass flow meter. A regression analysis technique was used to determine the correlation between single granule and total packed bed efficiency for the entire granular filter. The experimental data were then compared with results obtained from the theoretical analysis. The least square method was used to correlate experimental data and to develop generalized equations for single granule efficiency. The study showed that the granular filter media has a high filtration efficiency for both micron and submicron particles. It was concluded that the effect of media thickness was more significant at higher flow rates than at lower flow rates. 10 refs., 3 figs.

  9. Particle Damping with Granular Materials for Multi Degree of Freedom System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Masanobu Inoue

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available A particle damper consists of a bed of granular materials moving in cavities within a multi degree-of-freedom (MDOF structure. This paper deals with the damping effects on forced vibrations of a MDOF structure provided with the vertical particle dampers. In the analysis, the particle bed is assumed to be a single mass, and the collisions between the granules and the cavities are completely inelastic, i.e., all energy dissipation mechanisms are wrapped into zero coefficient of restitution. To predict the particle damping effect, equations of motion are developed in terms of equivalent single degree-of-freedom (SDOF system and damper mass with use made of modal approach. In this report, the periodic vibration model comprising sustained contact on or separation of the damper mass from vibrating structure is developed. A digital model is also formulated to simulate the damped motion of the physical system, taking account of all vibration modes. Numerical and experimental studies are made of the damping performance of plural dampers located at selected positions throughout a 3MDOF system. The experimental results confirm numerical prediction that collision between granules and structures is completely inelastic as the contributing mechanism of damping in the vertical vibration. It is found that particle dampers with properly selected mass ratios and clearances effectively suppress the resonance peaks over a wide frequency range.

  10. System size effects on the mechanical response of cohesive-frictional granular ensembles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Singh Saurabh

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Shear resistance in granular ensembles is a result of interparticle interaction and friction. However, even the presence of small amounts of cohesion between the particles changes the landscape of the mechanical response considerably. Very often such cohesive frictional (c-ϕ granular ensembles are encountered in nature as well as while handling and storage of granular materials in the pharmaceutical, construction and mining industries. Modeling of these c-ϕ materials, especially in engineering applications have relied on the oft-made assumption of a “continua” and have utilized the popular tenets of continuum plasticity theory. We present an experimental investigation on the fundamental mechanics of c-ϕ materials specifically; we investigate if there exists a system size effect and any additional length scales beyond the continuum length scale on their mechanical response. For this purpose, we conduct a series of 1-D compression (UC tests on cylindrical specimens reconstituted in the laboratory with a range of model particle–binder combinations such as sandcement, sand-epoxy, and glass ballotini-epoxy mixtures. Specimens are reconstituted to various diameters ranging from 10 mm to 150 mm (with an aspect ratio of 2 to a predefined packing fraction. In addition to the effect of the type of binder (cement, epoxy and system size, the mean particle size is also varied from 0.5 to 2.5 mm. The peak strength of these materials is significant as it signals the initiation of the cohesive-bond breaking and onset of mobilization of the inter particle frictional resistance. For these model systems, the peak strength is a strong function of the system size of the ensemble as well as the mean particle size. This intriguing observation is counter to the traditional notion of a continuum plastic typical granular ensemble. Microstructure studies in a computed-tomograph have revealed the existence of a web patterned ‘entangled-chain’ like structure

  11. System size effects on the mechanical response of cohesive-frictional granular ensembles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Saurabh; Kandasami, Ramesh Kannan; Mahendran, Rupesh Kumar; Murthy, Tejas

    2017-06-01

    Shear resistance in granular ensembles is a result of interparticle interaction and friction. However, even the presence of small amounts of cohesion between the particles changes the landscape of the mechanical response considerably. Very often such cohesive frictional (c-ϕ) granular ensembles are encountered in nature as well as while handling and storage of granular materials in the pharmaceutical, construction and mining industries. Modeling of these c-ϕ materials, especially in engineering applications have relied on the oft-made assumption of a "continua" and have utilized the popular tenets of continuum plasticity theory. We present an experimental investigation on the fundamental mechanics of c-ϕ materials specifically; we investigate if there exists a system size effect and any additional length scales beyond the continuum length scale on their mechanical response. For this purpose, we conduct a series of 1-D compression (UC) tests on cylindrical specimens reconstituted in the laboratory with a range of model particle-binder combinations such as sandcement, sand-epoxy, and glass ballotini-epoxy mixtures. Specimens are reconstituted to various diameters ranging from 10 mm to 150 mm (with an aspect ratio of 2) to a predefined packing fraction. In addition to the effect of the type of binder (cement, epoxy) and system size, the mean particle size is also varied from 0.5 to 2.5 mm. The peak strength of these materials is significant as it signals the initiation of the cohesive-bond breaking and onset of mobilization of the inter particle frictional resistance. For these model systems, the peak strength is a strong function of the system size of the ensemble as well as the mean particle size. This intriguing observation is counter to the traditional notion of a continuum plastic typical granular ensemble. Microstructure studies in a computed-tomograph have revealed the existence of a web patterned `entangled-chain' like structure, we argue that this ushers

  12. Frictional granular mechanics: A variational approach

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Holtzman, R.; Silin, D.B.; Patzek, T.W.

    2009-10-16

    The mechanical properties of a cohesionless granular material are evaluated from grain-scale simulations. Intergranular interactions, including friction and sliding, are modeled by a set of contact rules based on the theories of Hertz, Mindlin, and Deresiewicz. A computer generated, three-dimensional, irregular pack of spherical grains is loaded by incremental displacement of its boundaries. Deformation is described by a sequence of static equilibrium configurations of the pack. A variational approach is employed to find the equilibrium configurations by minimizing the total work against the intergranular loads. Effective elastic moduli are evaluated from the intergranular forces and the deformation of the pack. Good agreement between the computed and measured moduli, achieved with no adjustment of material parameters, establishes the physical soundness of the proposed model.

  13. Experimental study of shear bands formation in a granular material

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nguyen Thai Binh

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available We present an experimental investigation of the formation of shear bands in a granular sample submitted to a biaxial test. Our principal result is the direct observation of the bifurcation at the origin of the localization process in the material. At the bifurcation, the shear band is spatially extended: we observe a breaking of symmetry without any sudden localization of the deformation in a narrow band. Our work thus allows to clearly distinguish different phenomena: bifurcation which is a ponctual event which occurs before the peak, localization which is a process that covers a range of deformation of several percents during which the peak occurs and finally stationary shear bands which are well-defined permanent structures that can be observed at the end of the localization process, after the peak.

  14. USE OF GRANULAR GRAPHITE FOR ELECTROLYTIC DECHLORINATION OF TRICHLOROETHYLENE

    Science.gov (United States)

    Granular graphite is a potential electrode material for the electrochemical remediation of refractory chlorinated organic compounds such as trichloroethylene (TCE). However, the use of granular graphite can complicate the experimental results. On one hand, up to 99% of TCE was re...

  15. Mathematical modeling of high-rate Anammox UASB reactor based on granular packing patterns

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tang, Chong-Jian; He, Rui; Zheng, Ping; Chai, Li-Yuan; Min, Xiao-Bo

    2013-01-01

    Highlights: ► A novel model was conducted to estimate volumetric nitrogen conversion rates. ► The packing patterns of the granules in Anammox reactor are investigated. ► The simple cubic packing pattern was simulated in high-rate Anammox UASB reactor. ► Operational strategies concerning sludge concentration were proposed by the modeling. -- Abstract: A novel mathematical model was developed to estimate the volumetric nitrogen conversion rates of a high-rate Anammox UASB reactor based on the packing patterns of granular sludge. A series of relationships among granular packing density, sludge concentration, hydraulic retention time and volumetric conversion rate were constructed to correlate Anammox reactor performance with granular packing patterns. It was suggested that the Anammox granules packed as the equivalent simple cubic pattern in high-rate UASB reactor with packing density of 50–55%, which not only accommodated a high concentration of sludge inside the reactor, but also provided large pore volume, thus prolonging the actual substrate conversion time. Results also indicated that it was necessary to improve Anammox reactor performance by enhancing substrate loading when sludge concentration was higher than 37.8 gVSS/L. The established model was carefully calibrated and verified, and it well simulated the performance of granule-based high-rate Anammox UASB reactor

  16. Mathematical modeling of high-rate Anammox UASB reactor based on granular packing patterns

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tang, Chong-Jian, E-mail: chjtangzju@yahoo.com.cn [Department of Environmental Engineering, School of Metallurgical Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083 (China); National Engineering Research Center for Control and Treatment of Heavy Metal Pollution, Changsha 410083 (China); He, Rui; Zheng, Ping [Department of Environmental Engineering, Zhejiang University, Zijingang Campus, Hangzhou 310058 (China); Chai, Li-Yuan; Min, Xiao-Bo [Department of Environmental Engineering, School of Metallurgical Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083 (China); National Engineering Research Center for Control and Treatment of Heavy Metal Pollution, Changsha 410083 (China)

    2013-04-15

    Highlights: ► A novel model was conducted to estimate volumetric nitrogen conversion rates. ► The packing patterns of the granules in Anammox reactor are investigated. ► The simple cubic packing pattern was simulated in high-rate Anammox UASB reactor. ► Operational strategies concerning sludge concentration were proposed by the modeling. -- Abstract: A novel mathematical model was developed to estimate the volumetric nitrogen conversion rates of a high-rate Anammox UASB reactor based on the packing patterns of granular sludge. A series of relationships among granular packing density, sludge concentration, hydraulic retention time and volumetric conversion rate were constructed to correlate Anammox reactor performance with granular packing patterns. It was suggested that the Anammox granules packed as the equivalent simple cubic pattern in high-rate UASB reactor with packing density of 50–55%, which not only accommodated a high concentration of sludge inside the reactor, but also provided large pore volume, thus prolonging the actual substrate conversion time. Results also indicated that it was necessary to improve Anammox reactor performance by enhancing substrate loading when sludge concentration was higher than 37.8 gVSS/L. The established model was carefully calibrated and verified, and it well simulated the performance of granule-based high-rate Anammox UASB reactor.

  17. Penetration in bimodal, polydisperse granular material

    KAUST Repository

    Kouraytem, Nadia; Thoroddsen, Sigurdur T; Marston, J. O.

    2016-01-01

    We investigate the impact penetration of spheres into granular media which are compositions of two discrete size ranges, thus creating a polydisperse bimodal material. We examine the penetration depth as a function of the composition (volume fractions of the respective sizes) and impact speed. Penetration depths were found to vary between delta = 0.5D(0) and delta = 7D(0), which, for mono-modal media only, could be correlated in terms of the total drop height, H = h + delta, as in previous studies, by incorporating correction factors for the packing fraction. Bimodal data can only be collapsed by deriving a critical packing fraction for each mass fraction. The data for the mixed grains exhibit a surprising lubricating effect, which was most significant when the finest grains [d(s) similar to O(30) mu m] were added to the larger particles [d(l) similar to O(200 - 500) mu m], with a size ratio, epsilon = d(l)/d(s), larger than 3 and mass fractions over 25%, despite the increased packing fraction. We postulate that the small grains get between the large grains and reduce their intergrain friction, only when their mass fraction is sufficiently large to prevent them from simply rattling in the voids between the large particles. This is supported by our experimental observations of the largest lubrication effect produced by adding small glass beads to a bed of large sand particles with rough surfaces.

  18. Penetration in bimodal, polydisperse granular material

    KAUST Repository

    Kouraytem, N.

    2016-11-07

    We investigate the impact penetration of spheres into granular media which are compositions of two discrete size ranges, thus creating a polydisperse bimodal material. We examine the penetration depth as a function of the composition (volume fractions of the respective sizes) and impact speed. Penetration depths were found to vary between delta = 0.5D(0) and delta = 7D(0), which, for mono-modal media only, could be correlated in terms of the total drop height, H = h + delta, as in previous studies, by incorporating correction factors for the packing fraction. Bimodal data can only be collapsed by deriving a critical packing fraction for each mass fraction. The data for the mixed grains exhibit a surprising lubricating effect, which was most significant when the finest grains [d(s) similar to O(30) mu m] were added to the larger particles [d(l) similar to O(200 - 500) mu m], with a size ratio, epsilon = d(l)/d(s), larger than 3 and mass fractions over 25%, despite the increased packing fraction. We postulate that the small grains get between the large grains and reduce their intergrain friction, only when their mass fraction is sufficiently large to prevent them from simply rattling in the voids between the large particles. This is supported by our experimental observations of the largest lubrication effect produced by adding small glass beads to a bed of large sand particles with rough surfaces.

  19. Removal of Lead (II from Aqueous Solution Using Chitosan Impregnated Granular Activated Carbon

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ali Mousa Ridha

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available The use of biopolymer material Chitosan impregnated granular activated carbon CHGAC as adsorbent in the removal of lead ions pb.2+ from aqueous solution was studied using batch adsorption mode. The prepared CHGAC was characterized by Scanning Electronic Microscopy (SEM and atomic-absorption pectrophotometer. The adsorption of lead ions onto Chitosan-impregnated granular activated carbon was examined as a function of adsorbent weight, pH and contact time in Batch system. Langmuir and Freundlich models were employed to analyze the resulting experimental data demonstrated that better fitted by Langmuir isotherm model than Freundlich model, with good correlation coefficient. The maximum adsorption capacity calculated from the pseudo second order model in conformity to the experimental values. This means that the adsorption performance of lead ions onto CHGAC follows a pseudo second order model, which illustrates that the adsorption of Pb2+ onto CHGAC was controlled by chemisorption. The granular activated carbon GAC impregnated by Chitosan was effectively applied as adsorbent for the elimination of lead ions from aqueous solution.

  20. Nitrate adsorption from aqueous solution using granular chitosan-Fe{sup 3+} complex

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hu, Qili [School of Water Resources and Environment, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing, 100083 (China); Key Laboratory of Groundwater Cycle and Environment Evolution,China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Ministry of Education, Beijing, 100083 (China); Chen, Nan, E-mail: chennan@cugb.edu.cn [School of Water Resources and Environment, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing, 100083 (China); Key Laboratory of Groundwater Cycle and Environment Evolution, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Ministry of Education, Beijing, 100083 (China); Feng, Chuanping [School of Water Resources and Environment, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing, 100083 (China); Key Laboratory of Groundwater Cycle and Environment Evolution, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Ministry of Education, Beijing, 100083 (China); Hu, WeiWu [The Journal Center, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing, 100083 (China)

    2015-08-30

    Highlights: • Granular chitosan-Fe{sup 3+} complex had high performance for nitrate adsorption. • Granular chitosan-Fe{sup 3+} complex had shorter equilibrium time (1.5 h). • Nitrate adsorption was ascribed to ion exchange and electrostatic attraction. • Granular chitosan-Fe{sup 3+} complex could be regenerated using NaCl solution. - Abstract: In the present study, In order to efficiently remove nitrate, granular chitosan-Fe{sup 3+} complex with high chemical stability and good environmental adaptation was synthesized through precipitation method and characterized using SEM, XRD, BET and FTIR. The nitrate adsorption performance was evaluated by batch experiments. The results indicated that granular chitosan-Fe{sup 3+} complex was an amorphous and mesoporous material. The BET specific surface area and average pore size were 8.98 m{sup 2} g{sup −1} and 56.94 Å, respectively. The point of zero charge was obtained at pH 5. The maximum adsorption capacity reached 8.35 mg NO{sub 3}{sup −}-N g{sup −1} based on Langmuir–Freundlich model. Moreover, no significant change in the nitrate removal efficiency was observed in the pH range of 3.0–10.0. The adverse influence of sulphate on nitrate removal was the most significant, followed by bicarbonate and fluoride, whereas chloride had slightly adverse effect. Adsorption process followed the pseudo-second-order kinetic model, and the experimental equilibrium data were fitted well with the Langmuir–Freundlich and D–R isotherm models. Thermodynamic parameters revealed that nitrate adsorption was a spontaneous and exothermic process. Granular chitosan-Fe{sup 3+} complex could be effectively regenerated by NaCl solution.

  1. High-Performance Modeling and Simulation of Anchoring in Granular Media for NEO Applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quadrelli, Marco B.; Jain, Abhinandan; Negrut, Dan; Mazhar, Hammad

    2012-01-01

    NASA is interested in designing a spacecraft capable of visiting a near-Earth object (NEO), performing experiments, and then returning safely. Certain periods of this mission would require the spacecraft to remain stationary relative to the NEO, in an environment characterized by very low gravity levels; such situations require an anchoring mechanism that is compact, easy to deploy, and upon mission completion, easy to remove. The design philosophy used in this task relies on the simulation capability of a high-performance multibody dynamics physics engine. On Earth, it is difficult to create low-gravity conditions, and testing in low-gravity environments, whether artificial or in space, can be costly and very difficult to achieve. Through simulation, the effect of gravity can be controlled with great accuracy, making it ideally suited to analyze the problem at hand. Using Chrono::Engine, a simulation pack age capable of utilizing massively parallel Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) hardware, several validation experiments were performed. Modeling of the regolith interaction has been carried out, after which the anchor penetration tests were performed and analyzed. The regolith was modeled by a granular medium composed of very large numbers of convex three-dimensional rigid bodies, subject to microgravity levels and interacting with each other with contact, friction, and cohesional forces. The multibody dynamics simulation approach used for simulating anchors penetrating a soil uses a differential variational inequality (DVI) methodology to solve the contact problem posed as a linear complementarity method (LCP). Implemented within a GPU processing environment, collision detection is greatly accelerated compared to traditional CPU (central processing unit)- based collision detection. Hence, systems of millions of particles interacting with complex dynamic systems can be efficiently analyzed, and design recommendations can be made in a much shorter time. The figure

  2. Superconductivity in inhomogeneous granular metals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McLean, W.L.

    1980-01-01

    A model of elongated metal ellipsoids imbedded in a granular metal is treated by an effective medium approach to explain the observed temperature dependence of the normal-state conductivity of superconducting granular aluminum. Josephson tunneling is thus still required to account for the superconductivity. The model predicts the same kind of contrasting behavior on opposite sides of the metal-insulator transition as is found in the recent scaling treatment of Anderson localization

  3. Reduction of intergranular exchange coupling and grain size for high Ku CoPt-based granular media: Metal-oxide buffer layer and multiple oxide boundary materials

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kim Kong Tham

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Investigation of magnetic properties and microstructure of granular media with various multiple oxides as the grain boundary material is reported. Saturation magnetization (Ms, uniaxial magnetocrystalline anisotropy (Ku, and magnetic grain diameter (GD of the granular media show linear correlation with volume weighted average for melting point (Tm of each oxides (Tmave. Ku of magnetic grains (Kugrain shows a trade-off relation with GD that it is a big challenge to satisfy both high Kugrain and small GD by only controlling Tmave. To obtain a granular medium with appropriate Kugrain, GD, and low degree of intergranular exchange coupling, the combination of Tmave control of grain boundary material by mixing oxides and employment of a buffer layer are required. Here the degree of intergranular exchange coupling is estimated from the slope of M-H loop at around coercivity (α. By applying this technique, a typical granular medium with Kugrain of 1.0×107 erg/cm3, GD of 5.1 nm, and α of 1.2 is realized.

  4. Rapid penetration into granular media visualizing the fundamental physics of rapid earth penetration

    CERN Document Server

    Iskander, Magued

    2015-01-01

    Rapid Penetration into Granular Media: Visualizing the Fundamental Physics of Rapid Earth Penetration introduces readers to the variety of methods and techniques used to visualize, observe, and model the rapid penetration of natural and man-made projectiles into earth materials. It provides seasoned practitioners with a standard reference that showcases the topic's most recent developments in research and application. The text compiles the findings of new research developments on the subject, outlines the fundamental physics of rapid penetration into granular media, and assembles a com

  5. Contact force structure and force chains in 3D sheared granular systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mair, Karen; Jettestuen, Espen; Abe, Steffen

    2010-05-01

    Faults often exhibit accumulations of granular debris, ground up to create a layer of rock flour or fault gouge separating the rigid fault walls. Numerical simulations and laboratory experiments of sheared granular materials, suggest that applied loads are preferentially transmitted across such systems by transient force networks that carry enhanced forces. The characterisation of such features is important since their nature and persistence almost certainly influence the macroscopic mechanical stability of these systems and potentially that of natural faults. 3D numerical simulations of granular shear are a valuable investigation tool since they allow us to track individual particle motions, contact forces and their evolution during applied shear, that are difficult to view directly in laboratory experiments or natural fault zones. In characterising contact force distributions, it is important to use global structure measures that allow meaningful comparisons of granular systems having e.g. different grain size distributions, as may be expected at different stages of a fault's evolution. We therefore use a series of simple measures to characterise the structure, such as distributions and correlations of contact forces that can be mapped onto a force network percolation problem as recently proposed by Ostojic and coworkers for 2D granular systems. This allows the use of measures from percolation theory to both define and characterise the force networks. We demonstrate the application of this method to 3D simulations of a sheared granular material. Importantly, we then compare our measure of the contact force structure with macroscopic frictional behaviour measured at the boundaries of our model to determine the influence of the force networks on macroscopic mechanical stability.

  6. Modeling of light dynamic cone penetration test - Panda 3 ® in granular material by using 3D Discrete element method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tran, Quoc Anh; Chevalier, Bastien; Benz, Miguel; Breul, Pierre; Gourvès, Roland

    2017-06-01

    The recent technological developments made on the light dynamic penetration test Panda 3 ® provide a dynamic load-penetration curve σp - sp for each impact. This curve is influenced by the mechanical and physical properties of the investigated granular media. In order to analyze and exploit the load-penetration curve, a numerical model of penetration test using 3D Discrete Element Method is proposed for reproducing tests in dynamic conditions in granular media. All parameters of impact used in this model have at first been calibrated by respecting mechanical and geometrical properties of the hammer and the rod. There is a good agreement between experimental results and the ones obtained from simulations in 2D or 3D. After creating a sample, we will simulate the Panda 3 ®. It is possible to measure directly the dynamic load-penetration curve occurring at the tip for each impact. Using the force and acceleration measured in the top part of the rod, it is possible to separate the incident and reflected waves and then calculate the tip's load-penetration curve. The load-penetration curve obtained is qualitatively similar with that obtained by experimental tests. In addition, the frequency analysis of the measured signals present also a good compliance with that measured in reality when the tip resistance is qualitatively similar.

  7. Numerical Simulation on Dense Packing of Granular Materials by Container Oscillation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jun Liu

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The packing of granular materials is a basic and important problem in geomechanics. An approach, which generates dense packing of spheres confined in cylindrical and cuboidal containers in three steps, is introduced in this work. A loose packing structure is first generated by means of a reference lattice method. Then a dense packing structure is obtained in a container by simulating dropping of particles under gravitational forces. Furthermore, a scheme that makes the bottom boundary fluctuate up and down was applied to obtain more denser packing. The discrete element method (DEM was employed to simulate the interactions between particle-particle and particle-boundary during the particles' motions. Finally, two cases were presented to indicate the validity of the method proposed in this work.

  8. Density-wave fronts on the brink of wet granular condensation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Kai; Zippelius, Andreas; Sand lab @ University of Bayreuth Team

    2017-11-01

    From sand dunes to Faraday heaping, driven granular matter, i.e., large agglomeration of macroscopic particles, is rich pattern forming system. When a granular material is partially wet (e.g., wet sand on the beach), a different pattern forming scenario arises due to the cohesive particle-particle interactions. Here, we focus on the formation of density-wave fronts in an oscillated wet granular layer undergoing a gas-liquid-like transition. The threshold of the instability is governed by the amplitude of the vertical vibrations. Fronts, which are curved into a spiral shape, propagate coherently along the circular rim of the container with leading edges. They are stable beyond a critical distance from the container center. Based on the measurement of the critical distance and the rotation frequency, we propose a model for the pattern formation by considering the competition between the time scale for the collapse of cohesive particles and that of the energy injection resisting this process. Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Grant No. HU1939 4-1).

  9. Cell percolation model for electrical conduction of granular superconducting composites. 2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Horvath, G.; Bankuti, J.

    1990-01-01

    The percolation of the electrical conductivity of the uniform cells is studied in an in-situ elongated granular superconducting composite on the basis of the uniform cell model improved previously. The critical temperatures are determined in the macroscopic superconducting state of the two- and the three-dimensional composites. (author)

  10. Granular-front formation in free-surface flow of concentrated suspensions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leonardi, Alessandro; Cabrera, Miguel; Wittel, Falk K.; Kaitna, Roland; Mendoza, Miller; Wu, Wei; Herrmann, Hans J.

    2015-11-01

    A granular front emerges whenever the free-surface flow of a concentrated suspension spontaneously alters its internal structure, exhibiting a higher concentration of particles close to its front. This is a common and yet unexplained phenomenon, which is usually believed to be the result of fluid convection in combination with particle size segregation. However, suspensions composed of uniformly sized particles also develop a granular front. Within a large rotating drum, a stationary recirculating avalanche is generated. The flowing material is a mixture of a viscoplastic fluid obtained from a kaolin-water dispersion with spherical ceramic particles denser than the fluid. The goal is to mimic the composition of many common granular-fluid materials, such as fresh concrete or debris flow. In these materials, granular and fluid phases have the natural tendency to separate due to particle settling. However, through the shearing caused by the rotation of the drum, a reorganization of the phases is induced, leading to the formation of a granular front. By tuning the particle concentration and the drum velocity, it is possible to control this phenomenon. The setting is reproduced in a numerical environment, where the fluid is solved by a lattice-Boltzmann method, and the particles are explicitly represented using the discrete element method. The simulations confirm the findings of the experiments, and provide insight into the internal mechanisms. Comparing the time scale of particle settling with the one of particle recirculation, a nondimensional number is defined, and is found to be effective in predicting the formation of a granular front.

  11. Oblique shock waves in granular flows over bluff bodies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gopan Nandu

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Granular flows around an object have been the focus of numerous analytical, experimental and simulation studies. The structure and nature of the oblique shock wave developed when a quasi-two dimensional flow of spherical granular particles streams past an immersed, fixed cylindrical obstacle forms the focus of this study. The binary granular mixture, consisting of particles of the same diameter but different material properties, is investigated by using a modified LIGGGHTS package as the simulation engine. Variations in the solid fraction and granular temperature within the resulting flow are studied. The Mach number is calculated and is used to distinguish between the subsonic and the supersonic regions of the bow shock.

  12. Computational study on the behaviors of granular materials under mechanical cycling

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, Xiaoliang; Ye, Minyou; Chen, Hongli

    2015-01-01

    Considering that fusion pebble beds are probably subjected to the cyclic compression excitation in their future applications, we presented a computational study to report the effect of mechanical cycling on the behaviors of granular matter. The correctness of our numerical experiments was confirmed by a comparison with the effective medium theory. Under the cyclic loads, the fast granular compaction was observed to evolve in a stretched exponential law. Besides, the increasing stiffening in packing structure, especially the decreasing moduli pressure dependence due to granular consolidation, was also observed. For the force chains inside the pebble beds, both the internal force distribution and the spatial distribution of force chains would become increasingly uniform as the external force perturbation proceeded and therefore produced the stress relief on grains. In this case, the originally proposed 3-parameter Mueth function was found to fail to describe the internal force distribution. Thereby, its improved functional form with 4 parameters was proposed here and proved to better fit the data. These findings will provide more detailed information on the pebble beds for the relevant fusion design and analysis

  13. Some exact velocity profiles for granular flow in converging hoppers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cox, Grant M.; Hill, James M.

    2005-01-01

    Gravity flow of granular materials through hoppers occurs in many industrial processes. For an ideal cohesionless granular material, which satisfies the Coulomb-Mohr yield condition, the number of known analytical solutions is limited. However, for the special case of the angle of internal friction δ equal to ninety degrees, there exist exact parametric solutions for the governing coupled ordinary differential equations for both two-dimensional wedges and three-dimensional cones, both of which involve two arbitrary constants of integration. These solutions are the only known analytical solutions of this generality. Here, we utilize the double-shearing theory of granular materials to determine the velocity field corresponding to these exact parametric solutions for the two problems of gravity flow through converging wedge and conical hoppers. An independent numerical solution for other angles of internal friction is shown to coincide with the analytical solution.

  14. Granular Leidenfrost effect: Experiment and theory of floating particle clusters

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Eshuis, Peter; Eshuis, P.G.; van der Meer, Roger M.; van der Weele, J.P.; Lohse, Detlef

    2005-01-01

    Granular material is vertically vibrated in a 2D container: above a critical shaking strength, and for a sufficient number of beads, a crystalline cluster is elevated and supported by a dilute gaseous layer of fast beads underneath. We call this phenomenon the granular Leidenfrost effect. The

  15. Dynamics of electrostatically driven granular media: Effects of humidity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Howell, D. W.; Aronson, Igor S.; Crabtree, G. W.

    2001-01-01

    We performed experimental studies of the effect of humidity on the dynamics of electrostatically driven granular materials. Both conducting and dielectric particles undergo a phase transition from an immobile state (granular solid) to a fluidized state (granular gas) with increasing applied field. Spontaneous precipitation of solid clusters from the gas phase occurs as the external driving is decreased. The clustering dynamics in conducting particles is primarily controlled by screening of the electric field but is aided by cohesion due to humidity. It is shown that humidity effects dominate the clustering process with dielectric particles

  16. Effect of Wetting and Contamination of Granular Beds During Sphere Impact

    KAUST Repository

    Kouraytem, Nadia

    2013-03-01

    This thesis presents results from an experimental study of the impact of dense solid spheres onto granular beds. The overall aim is to further our understanding of the dynamical response of granular materials to impact. In order to do this, we will study both the initial penetration stages and peak acceleration exerted on the sphere by using high-speed imaging. Another critical part is to measure the penetration depth of the sphere and calculate the corresponding depth-averaged stopping force. Both of these main focal points will be assessed for not only dry, but wet and “contaminated” grains, whereby the granular bed will be comprised of two distinct size ranges of base grains. In doing so, we aim to broadly determine whether contaminated grains or wet grains are more effective at increasing the tensile strength of granular materials.

  17. Small-signal analysis of granular semiconductors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Varpula, Aapo; Sinkkonen, Juha; Novikov, Sergey, E-mail: aapo.varpula@tkk.f [Department of Micro and Nanosciences, Aalto University, PO Box 13500, FI-00076 Aalto, Espoo (Finland)

    2010-11-01

    The small-signal ac response of granular n-type semiconductors is calculated analytically using the drift-diffusion theory when electronic trapping at grain boundaries is present. An electrical equivalent circuit (EEC) model of a granular n-type semiconductor is presented. The analytical model is verified with numerical simulation performed by SILVACO ATLAS. The agreement between the analytical and numerical results is very good in a broad frequency range at low dc bias voltages.

  18. Small-signal analysis of granular semiconductors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Varpula, Aapo; Sinkkonen, Juha; Novikov, Sergey

    2010-01-01

    The small-signal ac response of granular n-type semiconductors is calculated analytically using the drift-diffusion theory when electronic trapping at grain boundaries is present. An electrical equivalent circuit (EEC) model of a granular n-type semiconductor is presented. The analytical model is verified with numerical simulation performed by SILVACO ATLAS. The agreement between the analytical and numerical results is very good in a broad frequency range at low dc bias voltages.

  19. Sorption of agrochemical model compounds by sorbent materials containing beta-cyclodextrin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson, Lee D; Mohamed, Mohamed H; Guo, Rui; Pratt, Dawn Y; Kwon, Jae Hyuck; Mahmud, Sarker T

    2010-04-01

    Polymeric sorbent materials that incorporate beta-cyclodextrin (CD) have been prepared and their sorption behavior toward two model agrochemical contaminant compounds, p-nitrophenol (PNP) and methyl chloride examined. The sorption of PNP was studied in aqueous solution using ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, whereas the sorption of methyl chloride from the gas phase was studied using a Langmuir adsorption method. The sorption results for PNP in solution were compared between granular activated carbon (GAC), modified GAC, CD copolymers, and CD-based mesoporous silica hybrid materials. Nitrogen porosimetry at 77 K was used to estimate the surface area and pore structure properties of the sorbent materials. The sorbents displayed variable surface areas as follows: copolymers (36.2-157 m(2)/g), CD-silica materials (307-906 m(2)/g), surface modified GAC (657 m(2)/g), and granular activated carbon (approximately 10(3) m(2)/g). The sorption capacities for PNP and methyl chloride with the different sorbents are listed in descending order as follows: GAC > copolymers > surface modified GAC > CD-silica hybrid materials. In general, the differences in the sorption properties of the sorbents were related to the following: (i) surface area of the sorbent, (ii) CD content and accessibility, (iii) and the chemical nature of the sorbent material.

  20. Cohesive granular media modelization with non-convex particles shape: Application to UO2 powder compaction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Saint-Cyr, B.

    2011-01-01

    We model in this work granular materials composed of non-convex and cohesive aggregates, in view of application to the rheology of UO 2 powders. The effect of non convexity is analyzed in terms of bulk quantities (Coulomb internal friction and cohesion) and micromechanical parameters such as texture anisotropy and force transmission. In particular, we find that the packing fraction evolves in a complex manner with the shape non convexity and the shear strength increases but saturates due to interlocking between the aggregates. We introduce simple models to describe these features in terms of micro-mechanical parameters. Furthermore, a systematic investigation of shearing, uniaxial compaction and simple compression of cohesive packings show that bulk cohesion increases with non-convexity but is strongly influenced by the boundary conditions and shear bands or stress concentration. (author) [fr

  1. Traffic and Granular Flow ’03

    CERN Document Server

    Luding, Stefan; Bovy, Piet; Schreckenberg, Michael; Wolf, Dietrich

    2005-01-01

    These proceedings are the fifth in the series Traffic and Granular Flow, and we hope they will be as useful a reference as their predecessors. Both the realistic modelling of granular media and traffic flow present important challenges at the borderline between physics and engineering, and enormous progress has been made since 1995, when this series started. Still the research on these topics is thriving, so that this book again contains many new results. Some highlights addressed at this conference were the influence of long range electric and magnetic forces and ambient fluids on granular media, new precise traffic measurements, and experiments on the complex decision making of drivers. No doubt the “hot topics” addressed in granular matter research have diverged from those in traffic since the days when the obvious analogies between traffic jams on highways and dissipative clustering in granular flow intrigued both c- munities alike. However, now just this diversity became a stimulating feature of the ...

  2. A soft-rigid contact model of MPM for granular flow impact on retaining structures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Xinpo; Xie, Yanfang; Gutierrez, Marte

    2018-02-01

    Protective measures against hazards associated with rapid debris avalanches include a variety of retaining structures such as rock/boulder fences, gabions, earthfill barriers and retaining walls. However, the development of analytical and numerical methods for the rational assessment of impact force generated by granular flows is still a challenge. In this work, a soft-rigid contact model is built under the coding framework of MPM which is a hybrid method with Eulerian-Lagrangian description. The soft bodies are discretized into particles (material points), and the rigid bodies are presented by rigid node-based surfaces. Coulomb friction model is used to implement the modeled contact mechanics, and a velocity-dependent friction coefficient is coupled into the model. Simulations of a physical experiment show that the peak and residual value of impact forces are well captured by the MPM model. An idealized scenario of debris avalanche flow down a hillslope and impacting on a retaining wall are analyzed using the MPM model. The calculated forces can provide a quantitative estimate from which mound design could proceed for practical implementation in the field.

  3. Wave propagation of spectral energy content in a granular chain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shrivastava Rohit Kumar

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available A mechanical wave is propagation of vibration with transfer of energy and momentum. Understanding the spectral energy characteristics of a propagating wave through disordered granular media can assist in understanding the overall properties of wave propagation through inhomogeneous materials like soil. The study of these properties is aimed at modeling wave propagation for oil, mineral or gas exploration (seismic prospecting or non-destructive testing of the internal structure of solids. The focus is on the total energy content of a pulse propagating through an idealized one-dimensional discrete particle system like a mass disordered granular chain, which allows understanding the energy attenuation due to disorder since it isolates the longitudinal P-wave from shear or rotational modes. It is observed from the signal that stronger disorder leads to faster attenuation of the signal. An ordered granular chain exhibits ballistic propagation of energy whereas, a disordered granular chain exhibits more diffusive like propagation, which eventually becomes localized at long time periods. For obtaining mean-field macroscopic/continuum properties, ensemble averaging has been used, however, such an ensemble averaged spectral energy response does not resolve multiple scattering, leading to loss of information, indicating the need for a different framework for micro-macro averaging.

  4. Effect of Wetting and Contamination of Granular Beds During Sphere Impact

    KAUST Repository

    Kouraytem, Nadia

    2013-01-01

    This thesis presents results from an experimental study of the impact of dense solid spheres onto granular beds. The overall aim is to further our understanding of the dynamical response of granular materials to impact. In order to do this, we

  5. Measurements of granular flow dynamics with high speed digital images

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lee, Jingeol [Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States)

    1994-01-01

    The flow of granular materials is common to many industrial processes. This dissertation suggests and validates image processing algorithms applied to high speed digital images to measure the dynamics (velocity, temperature and volume fraction) of dry granular solids flowing down an inclined chute under the action of gravity. Glass and acrylic particles have been used as granular solids in the experiment. One technique utilizes block matching for spatially averaged velocity measurements of the glass particles. This technique is compared with the velocity measurement using an optic probe which is a conventional granular flow velocity measurement device. The other technique for measuring the velocities of individual acrylic particles is developed with correspondence using a Hopfield network. This technique first locates the positions of particles with pattern recognition techniques, followed by a clustering technique, which produces point patterns. Also, several techniques are compared for particle recognition: synthetic discriminant function (SDF), minimum average correlation energy (MACE) filter, modified minimum average correlation energy (MMACE) filter and variance normalized correlation. The author proposes an MMACE filter which improves generalization of the MACE filter by adjusting the amount of averaged spectrum of training images in the spectrum whitening stages of the MACE filter. Variance normalized correlation is applied to measure the velocity and temperature of flowing glass particles down the inclined chute. The measurements are taken for the steady and wavy flow and qualitatively compared with a theoretical model of granular flow.

  6. Energy decay in a granular gas collapse

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Almazán, Lidia; Serero, Dan; Pöschel, Thorsten; Salueña, Clara

    2017-01-01

    An inelastic hard ball bouncing repeatedly off the ground comes to rest in finite time by performing an infinite number of collisions. Similarly, a granular gas under the influence of external gravity, condenses at the bottom of the confinement due to inelastic collisions. By means of hydrodynamical simulations, we find that the condensation process of a granular gas reveals a similar dynamics as the bouncing ball. Our result is in agreement with both experiments and particle simulations, but disagrees with earlier simplified hydrodynamical description. Analyzing the result in detail, we find that the adequate modeling of pressure plays a key role in continuum modeling of granular matter. (paper)

  7. Influence of particle shape on the microstructure evolution and the mechanical properties of granular materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tian, Jianqiu; Liu, Enlong; Jiang, Lian; Jiang, Xiaoqiong; Sun, Yi; Xu, Ran

    2018-06-01

    In order to study the influence of particle shape on the microstructure evolution and the mechanical properties of granular materials, a two-dimensional DEM analysis of samples with three particle shapes, including circular particles, triangular particles, and elongated particles, is proposed here to simulate the direct shear tests of coarse-grained soils. For the numerical test results, analyses are conducted in terms of particle rotations, fabric evolution, and average path length evolution. A modified Rowe's stress-dilatancy equation is also proposed and successfully fitted onto simulation data.

  8. Rapid injection of particles and gas into non-fluidized granular material, and some volcanological implications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ross, Pierre-Simon; White, James D. L.; Zimanowski, Bernd; Büttner, Ralf

    2008-10-01

    In diatremes and other volcanic vents, steep bodies of volcaniclastic material having differing properties (particle size distribution, proportion of lithic fragments, etc.) from those of the surrounding vent-filling volcaniclastic material are often found. It has been proposed that cylindrical or cone-shaped bodies result from the passage of “debris jets” generated after phreatomagmatic explosions or other discrete subterranean bursts. To learn more about such phenomena, we model experimentally the injection of gas-particulate dispersions through other particles. Analogue materials (glass beads or sand) and a finite amount of compressed air are used in the laboratory. The gas is made available by rapidly opening a valve—therefore the injection of gas and coloured particles into a granular host is a brief (non-erupting injections produce cylindrical bodies of coloured beads whereas erupting runs produce flaring upward or conical deposits. Changing the particle size of the host glass beads does not have a large effect under the size range investigated (100 200 to 300 400 μm). Doubling the host thickness (injection depth) requires a doubling of the initial gas pressure to produce similar phenomena. Such injections—whether erupting or wholly subterranean—provide a compelling explanation for the origin and characteristics of multiple cross-cutting bodies that have been documented for diatreme and other vent deposits.

  9. Distrofia corneal granular

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexeide de la C Castillo Pérez

    Full Text Available Las distrofias corneales constituyen un conjunto de enfermedades que presentan, en su mayoría, una baja incidencia y se caracterizan por acúmulo de material hialino o amiloide que disminuyen la transparencia corneal. La distrofia granular es una enfermedad autosómica dominante que presenta opacidades grises en el estroma superficial central de la córnea y se hacen visibles en la primera y segunda décadas de la vida, lo que provoca disminución de la visión más significativa cerca de los 40 años de edad. Presentamos dos casos clínicos de distrofia granular en pacientes hermanos de diferentes sexos, quienes acudieron a la consulta y refirieron visión nublada. El estudio de la historia familiar nos ayuda en el correcto diagnóstico y la biomicroscopia constituye el elemento más importante.

  10. Dynamical Heterogeneity in Granular Fluids and Structural Glasses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Avila, Karina E.

    Our current understanding of the dynamics of supercooled liquids and other similar slowly evolving (glassy) systems is rather limited. One aspect that is particularly poorly understood is the origin and behavior of the strong non trivial fluctuations that appear in the relaxation process toward equilibrium. Glassy systems and granular systems both present regions of particles moving cooperatively and at different rates from other regions. This phenomenon is known as spatially heterogeneous dynamics. A detailed explanation of this phenomenon may lead to a better understanding of the slow relaxation process, and perhaps it could even help to explain the presence of the glass transition. This dissertation concentrates on studying dynamical heterogeneity by analyzing simulation data for models of granular materials and structural glasses. For dissipative granular fluids, the growing behavior of dynamical heterogeneities is studied for different densities and different degrees of inelasticity in the particle collisions. The correlated regions are found to grow rapidly as the system approaches dynamical arrest. Their geometry is conserved even when probing at different cutoff length in the correlation function or when the energy dissipation in the system is increased. For structural glasses, I test a theoretical framework that models dynamical heterogeneity as originated in the presence of Goldstone modes, which emerge from a broken continuous time reparametrization symmetry. This analysis is based on quantifying the size and the spatial correlations of fluctuations in the time variable and of other kinds of fluctuations. The results obtained here agree with the predictions of the hypothesis. In particular, the fluctuations associated to the time reparametrization invariance become stronger for low temperatures, long timescales, and large coarse graining lengths. Overall, this research points to dynamical heterogeneity to be described for granular systems similarly than

  11. A 3D coupled hydro-mechanical granular model for the prediction of hot tearing formation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sistaninia, M; Drezet, J-M; Rappaz, M; Phillion, A B

    2012-01-01

    A new 3D coupled hydro-mechanical granular model that simulates hot tearing formation in metallic alloys is presented. The hydro-mechanical model consists of four separate 3D modules. (I) The Solidification Module (SM) is used for generating the initial solid-liquid geometry. Based on a Voronoi tessellation of randomly distributed nucleation centers, this module computes solidification within each polyhedron using a finite element based solute diffusion calculation for each element within the tessellation. (II) The Fluid Flow Module (FFM) calculates the solidification shrinkage and deformation-induced pressure drop within the intergranular liquid. (III) The Semi-solid Deformation Module (SDM) is used to simulate deformation of the granular structure via a combined finite element / discrete element method. In this module, deformation of the solid grains is modeled using an elasto-viscoplastic constitutive law. (IV) The Failure Module (FM) is used to simulate crack initiation and propagation with the fracture criterion estimated from the overpressure required to overcome the capillary forces at the liquid-gas interface. The FFM, SDM, and FM are coupled processes since solid deformation, intergranular flow, and crack initiation are deeply linked together. The granular model predictions have been validated against bulk data measured experimentally and calculated with averaging techniques.

  12. Three-dimensional granular model of semi-solid metallic alloys undergoing solidification: Fluid flow and localization of feeding

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sistaninia, M.; Phillion, A.B.; Drezet, J.-M.; Rappaz, M.

    2012-01-01

    A three-dimensional (3-D) granular model which simulates fluid flow within solidifying alloys with a globular microstructure, such as that found in grain refined Al alloys, is presented. The model geometry within a representative volume element (RVE) consists of a set of prismatic triangular elements representing the intergranular liquid channels. The pressure field within the liquid channels is calculated using a finite elements (FEs) method assuming a Poiseuille flow within each channel and flow conservation at triple lines. The fluid flow is induced by solidification shrinkage and openings at grain boundaries due to deformation of the coherent solid. The granular model predictions are validated against bulk data calculated with averaging techniques. The results show that a fluid flow simulation of globular semi-solid materials is able to reproduce both a map of the 3-D intergranular pressure and the localization of feeding within the mushy zone. A new hot cracking sensitivity coefficient is then proposed. Based on a mass balance performed over a solidifying isothermal volume element, this coefficient accounts for tensile deformation of the semi-solid domain and for the induced intergranular liquid feeding. The fluid flow model is then used to calculate the pressure drop in the mushy zone during the direct chill casting of aluminum alloy billets. The predicted pressure demonstrates that deep in the mushy zone where the permeability is low the local pressure can be significantly lower than the pressure predicted by averaging techniques.

  13. Advances in design and modeling of porous materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ayral, André; Calas-Etienne, Sylvie; Coasne, Benoit; Deratani, André; Evstratov, Alexis; Galarneau, Anne; Grande, Daniel; Hureau, Matthieu; Jobic, Hervé; Morlay, Catherine; Parmentier, Julien; Prelot, Bénédicte; Rossignol, Sylvie; Simon-Masseron, Angélique; Thibault-Starzyk, Frédéric

    2015-07-01

    This special issue of the European Physical Journal Special Topics is dedicated to selected papers from the symposium "High surface area porous and granular materials" organized in the frame of the conference "Matériaux 2014", held on November 24-28, 2014 in Montpellier, France. Porous materials and granular materials gather a wide variety of heterogeneous, isotropic or anisotropic media made of inorganic, organic or hybrid solid skeletons, with open or closed porosity, and pore sizes ranging from the centimeter scale to the sub-nanometer scale. Their technological and industrial applications cover numerous areas from building and civil engineering to microelectronics, including also metallurgy, chemistry, health, waste water and gas effluent treatment. Many emerging processes related to environmental protection and sustainable development also rely on this class of materials. Their functional properties are related to specific transfer mechanisms (matter, heat, radiation, electrical charge), to pore surface chemistry (exchange, adsorption, heterogeneous catalysis) and to retention inside confined volumes (storage, separation, exchange, controlled release). The development of innovative synthesis, shaping, characterization and modeling approaches enables the design of advanced materials with enhanced functional performance. The papers collected in this special issue offer a good overview of the state-of-the-art and science of these complex media. We would like to thank all the speakers and participants for their contribution to the success of the symposium. We also express our gratitude to the organization committee of "Matériaux 2014". We finally thank the reviewers and the staff of the European Physical Journal Special Topics who made the publication of this special issue possible.

  14. Final Report: Improving the understanding of the coupled thermal-mechanical-hydrologic behavior of consolidating granular salt

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stormont, John [Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States); Lampe, Brandon [Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States); Mills, Melissa [Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States); Paneru, Laxmi [Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States); Lynn, Timothy [Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States); Piya, Aayush [Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States)

    2017-09-09

    The goal of this project is to improve the understanding of key aspects of the coupled thermal-mechanical-hydrologic response of granular (or crushed) salt used as a seal material for shafts, drifts, and boreholes in mined repositories in salt. The project is organized into three tasks to accomplish this goal: laboratory measurements of granular salt consolidation (Task 1), microstructural observations on consolidated samples (Task 2), and constitutive model development and evaluation (Task 3). Task 1 involves laboratory measurements of salt consolidation along with thermal properties and permeability measurements conducted under a range of temperatures and stresses expected for potential mined repositories in salt. Testing focused on the role of moisture, temperature and stress state on the hydrologic (permeability) and thermal properties of consolidating granular salt at high fractional densities. Task 2 consists of microstructural observations made on samples after they have been consolidated to interpret deformation mechanisms and evaluate the ability of the constitutive model to predict operative mechanisms under different conditions. Task 3 concerns the development of the coupled thermal-mechanical-hydrologic constitutive model for granular salt consolidation. The measurements and observations in Tasks 1 and 2 were used to develop a thermal-mechanical constitutive model. Accomplishments and status from each of these efforts is reported in subsequent sections of this report

  15. Swelling pressure and water absorption property of compacted granular bentonite during water absorption

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oyamada, T.; Komine, H.; Murakami, S.; Sekiguchi, T.; Sekine, I.

    2012-01-01

    Document available in extended abstract form only. Bentonite is currently planned to be used as buffer materials in engineered barrier of radioactive waste disposal. Granular bentonites are expected as the materials used in constructions as buffer materials by in-situ compaction methods. After applying these buffer materials, it is expected that the condition of the buffer area changes in long-term by the seepage of groundwater into buffer area. Therefore, it is important to understand water movement and swelling behavior of the buffer materials for evaluating the performance of engineered barrier. In this study, we investigated water absorption property and swelling pressure of compacted granular bentonite. Specifically, the process of swelling pressure and amount of water absorption of granular bentonite-GX (Kunigel-GX, produced at the Tsukinuno mine in Japan) were observed by laboratory tests. To discuss the influence of maximum grain size of bentonite particle on swelling pressure and water absorption property, two types of samples were used. One is granular sample which is Bentonite-GX controlled under 2 mm the maximum grain size, the other is milled sample which is Bentonite-GX with the maximum grain size under 0.18 mm by milling with the agate mortar. In addition, the mechanism on the swelling pressure of compacted granular bentonite was considered and discussed. In the cases of granular sample, swelling pressure increases rapidly, then gradually continues to increase up to maximum value. In the cases of milled sample, swelling pressure also increases rapidly at first. However, then its value decreases before progressing of gradual increase continues. Especially, this trend was clearly observed at a relatively low dry density. At the peaks of these curves, the swelling pressure of granular samples is lower than that of milled samples. In addition, the increasing of swelling pressure by the time the peak observed during the process of swelling pressure from

  16. Multiscale Modeling of Hydrogen Embrittlement for Multiphase Material

    KAUST Repository

    Al-Jabr, Khalid A.

    2014-05-01

    Hydrogen Embrittlement (HE) is a very common failure mechanism induced crack propagation in materials that are utilized in oil and gas industry structural components and equipment. Considering the prediction of HE behavior, which is suggested in this study, is one technique of monitoring HE of equipment in service. Therefore, multi-scale constitutive models that account for the failure in polycrystalline Body Centered Cubic (BCC) materials due to hydrogen embrittlement are developed. The polycrystalline material is modeled as two-phase materials consisting of a grain interior (GI) phase and a grain boundary (GB) phase. In the first part of this work, the hydrogen concentration in the GI (Cgi) and the GB (Cgb) as well as the hydrogen distribution in each phase, were calculated and modeled by using kinetic regime-A and C, respectively. In the second part of this work, this dissertation captures the adverse effects of hydrogen concentration, in each phase, in micro/meso and macro-scale models on the mechanical behavior of steel; e.g. tensile strength and critical porosity. The models predict the damage mechanisms and the reduction in the ultimate strength profile of a notched, round bar under tension for different hydrogen concentrations as observed in the experimental data available in the literature for steels. Moreover, the study outcomes are supported by the experimental data of the Fractography and HE indices investigation. In addition to the aforementioned continuum model, this work employs the Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations to provide information regarding bond formulation and breaking. The MD analyses are conducted for both single grain and polycrystalline BCC iron with different amounts of hydrogen and different size of nano-voids. The simulations show that the hydrogen atoms could form the transmission in materials configuration from BCC to FCC (Face Centered Cubic) and HCP (Hexagonal Close Packed). They also suggest the preferred sites of hydrogen for

  17. Rheological Modeling of Macro Viscous Flows of Granular Suspension of Regular and Irregular Particles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anna Maria Pellegrino

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper refers to complex granular-fluid mixtures involved into geophysical flows, such as debris and hyper-concentrated flows. For such phenomena, the interstitial fluids play a role when they are in the viscous regime. Referring to experiments on granular-fluid mixture carried out with pressure imposed annular shear cell, we study the rheological behaviour of dense mixture involving both spheres and irregular-shaped particles. For the case of viscous suspensions with irregular grains, a significant scatter of data from the trend observed for mixtures with spherical particles was evident. In effect, the shape of the particles likely plays a fundamental role in the flow dynamics, and the constitutive laws proposed by the frictional theory for the spheres are no longer valid. Starting from the frictional approach successfully applied to suspension of spheres, we demonstrate that also in case of irregular particles the mixture rheology may be fully characterized by the two relationships involving friction coefficient µ and volume concentration Ф as a function of the dimensionless viscous number Iv. To this goal, we provided a new consistent general model, referring to the volume fraction law and friction law, which accounts for the particle shape. In this way, the fitting parameters reduce just to the static friction angle µ1, and the two parameters, k and fs related to the grain shape. The resulting general model may apply to steady fully developed flows of saturated granular fluid mixture in the viscous regime, no matter of granular characteristics.

  18. Experimental Study of the Composition and Structure of Granular Media in the Shear Bands Based on the HHC-Granular Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guang-jin Wang

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The researchers cannot control the composition and structure of coarse grained soil in the indoor experiment because the granular particles of different size have the characteristics of random distribution and no sorting. Therefore, on the basis of the laboratory tests with the coarse grained soil, the HHC-Granular model, which could simulate the no sorting and random distribution of different size particles in the coarse-grained soil, was developed by use of cellular automata method. Meanwhile, the triaxial numerical simulation experiments of coarse grained soil were finished with the different composition and structure soil, and the variation of shear strength was discussed. The results showed that the internal friction angle was likely to reduce with the increasing of gravel contents in the coarse-grained soil, but the mean internal friction angle significantly increased with the increment of gravel contents. It indicated that the gravel contents of shear bands were the major factor affecting the shear strength.

  19. A new methodology to simulate subglacial deformation of water saturated granular material

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Damsgaard, Anders; Egholm, David Lundbek; Piotrowski, Jan A.

    2015-01-01

    The dynamics of glaciers are to a large degree governed by processes operating at the ice-bed interface, and one of the primary mechanisms of glacier flow over soft unconsolidated sediments is subglacial deformation. However, it has proven difficult to constrain the mechanical response of subglac......The dynamics of glaciers are to a large degree governed by processes operating at the ice-bed interface, and one of the primary mechanisms of glacier flow over soft unconsolidated sediments is subglacial deformation. However, it has proven difficult to constrain the mechanical response...... or weakening components, depending on the rate of deformation, the material state, clay mineral content, and the hydrological properties of the material. The influence of the fluid phase is negligible when relatively permeable sediment is deformed. However, by reducing the local permeability, fast deformation...... can cause variations in the pore-fluid pressure. The pressure variations weaken or strengthen the granular phase, and in turn influence the distribution of shear strain with depth. In permeable sediments the strain distribution is governed by the grain-size distribution and effective normal stress...

  20. Micromechanics and statistics of slipping events in a granular seismic fault model

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Arcangelis, L de [Department of Information Engineering and CNISM, Second University of Naples, Aversa (Italy); Ciamarra, M Pica [CNR-SPIN, Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, Universita di Napoli Federico II (Italy); Lippiello, E; Godano, C, E-mail: dearcangelis@na.infn.it [Department of Environmental Sciences and CNISM, Second University of Naples, Caserta (Italy)

    2011-09-15

    The stick-slip is investigated in a seismic fault model made of a confined granular system under shear stress via three dimensional Molecular Dynamics simulations. We study the statistics of slipping events and, in particular, the dependence of the distribution on model parameters. The distribution consistently exhibits two regimes: an initial power law and a bump at large slips. The initial power law decay is in agreement with the the Gutenberg-Richter law characterizing real seismic occurrence. The exponent of the initial regime is quite independent of model parameters and its value is in agreement with experimental results. Conversely, the position of the bump is solely controlled by the ratio of the drive elastic constant and the system size. Large slips also become less probable in absence of fault gouge and tend to disappear for stiff drives. A two-time force-force correlation function, and a susceptibility related to the system response to pressure changes, characterize the micromechanics of slipping events. The correlation function unveils the micromechanical changes occurring both during microslips and slips. The mechanical susceptibility encodes the magnitude of the incoming microslip. Numerical results for the cellular-automaton version of the spring block model confirm the parameter dependence observed for size distribution in the granular model.

  1. A Lagrangian PFEM approach for non-Newtonian viscoplastic materials

    OpenAIRE

    Larese, A.

    2017-01-01

    This paper presents the application of a stabilized mixed Particle Finite Element Method (PFEM) to the solution of viscoplastic non-Newtonian flows. The application of the proposed model to the deformation of granular non-cohesive material is analysed. A variable yield threshold modified Bingham model is presented, using a Mohr Coulomb resistance criterion. Since the granular material is expected to undergo severe deformation, a Lagrangian approach is preferred to a fixed mesh one. PFEM i...

  2. Force Transmission Modes of Non-Cohesive and Cohesive Materials at the Critical State.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Ji-Peng

    2017-08-31

    This paper investigates the force transmission modes, mainly described by probability density distributions, in non-cohesive dry and cohesive wet granular materials by discrete element modeling. The critical state force transmission patterns are focused on with the contact model effect being analyzed. By shearing relatively dense and loose dry specimens to the critical state in the conventional triaxial loading path, it is observed that there is a unique critical state force transmission mode. There is a universe critical state force distribution pattern for both the normal contact forces and tangential contact forces. Furthermore, it is found that using either the linear Hooke or the non-linear Hertz model does not affect the universe force transmission mode, and it is only related to the grain size distribution. Wet granular materials are also simulated by incorporating a water bridge model. Dense and loose wet granular materials are tested, and the critical state behavior for the wet material is also observed. The critical state strength and void ratio of wet granular materials are higher than those of a non-cohesive material. The critical state inter-particle distribution is altered from that of a non-cohesive material with higher probability in relatively weak forces. Grains in non-cohesive materials are under compressive stresses, and their principal directions are mainly in the axial loading direction. However, for cohesive wet granular materials, some particles are in tension, and the tensile stresses are in the horizontal direction on which the confinement is applied. The additional confinement by the tensile stress explains the macro strength and dilatancy increase in wet samples.

  3. Permeability of granular beds emplaced in vertical drill holes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Griffiths, S.K.; Morrison, F.A. Jr.

    1979-01-01

    To determine the permeabilities of granular materials emplaced in vertical drill holes used for underground nuclear tests, an experiment at the USDOE Nevada Test Site (NTS) was conducted. As the hole is being filled, falling material increases pressure above and within the granular beds beneath. When the filling operation starts or stops, a transient pressure response occurs within the beds; measurements of this response in beds of various compositions were made. The permeabilities after emplacement were found by matching analytical predictions of the response to these data. This information is useful in assuring the containment of nuclear tests conducted in such drill holes

  4. Frequency Methods Applied to the Characterization of the Thermophysical Properties of a Granular Material with a Cylindrical Probe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carpentier, Olivier; Defer, Didier; Antczak, Emmanuel; Chartier, Thierry

    2012-01-01

    In many fields, such as in the agri-food industry or in the building industry, it is important to be able to monitor the thermophysical properties of granular materials. Regular thermal probes allow for the determination of one or several thermophysical factors. The success of the method used depends in part on the nature of the signal sent, on the type of physical model applied and eventually on the type of probe used and its implantation in the material. Although efficacious for most applications, regular thermal probes do present some limitations. It is the case, for example, when one has to know precisely the thermal contact resistance or the nature of the signal sent. In this article is presented a characterization method based on thermal impedance formalism. This method allows for the determination of the thermal conductivity, the thermal diffusivity, and the contact thermal resistance in one single test. The application of this method requires the use of a specific probe developed to enable measurement of heat flux and temperature at the interface of the probe and the studied material. Its practical application is presented for dry sand.

  5. Using a Time Granularity Table for Gradual Granular Data Aggregation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Iftikhar, Nadeem; Pedersen, Torben Bach

    2010-01-01

    solution for data reduction based on gradual granular data aggregation. With the gradual granular data aggregation mechanism, older data can be made coarse-grained while keeping the newest data fine-grained. For instance, when data is 3 months old aggregate to 1 minute level from 1 second level, when data...... and improve query performance, especially on resource-constrained systems with limited storage and query processing capabilities. A number of data reduction solutions have been developed, however an effective solution particularly based on gradual data reduction is missing. This paper presents an effective...... is 6 months old aggregate to 2 minutes level from 1 minute level and so on. The proposed solution introduces a time granularity based data structure, namely a relational time granularity table that enables long term storage of old data by maintaining it at different levels of granularity and effective...

  6. Studies of elasticity, sound propagation and attenuation of acoustic modes in granular media: final report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Makse, Hernan A. [City College of New York, NY (United States). Levich Inst., Dept. of Physcis; Johnson, David L. [Schlumberger-Doll Research, Cambridge, MA (United States)

    2014-09-03

    This is the final report describing the results of DOE Grant # DE-FG02-03ER15458 with original termination date of April 31, 2013, which has been extended to April 31, 2014. The goal of this project is to develop a theoretical and experimental understanding of sound propagation, elasticity and dissipation in granular materials. The topic is relevant for the efficient production of hydrocarbon and for identifying and characterizing the underground formation for storage of either CO2 or nuclear waste material. Furthermore, understanding the basic properties of acoustic propagation in granular media is of importance not only to the energy industry, but also to the pharmaceutical, chemical and agricultural industries. We employ a set of experimental, theoretical and computational tools to develop a study of acoustics and dissipation in granular media. These include the concept effective mass of granular media, normal modes analysis, statistical mechanics frameworks and numerical simulations based on Discrete Element Methods. Effective mass measurements allow us to study the mechanisms of the elastic response and attenuation of acoustic modes in granular media. We perform experiments and simulations under varying conditions, including humidity and vacuum, and different interparticle force-laws to develop a fundamental understanding of the mechanisms of damping and acoustic propagation in granular media. A theoretical statistical approach studies the necessary phase space of configurations in pressure, volume fraction to classify granular materials.

  7. DEM study of granular flow around blocks attached to inclined walls

    Science.gov (United States)

    Samsu, Joel; Zhou, Zongyan; Pinson, David; Chew, Sheng

    2017-06-01

    Damage due to intense particle-wall contact in industrial applications can cause severe problems in industries such as mineral processing, mining and metallurgy. Studying the flow dynamics and forces on containing walls can provide valuable feedback for equipment design and optimising operations to prolong the equipment lifetime. Therefore, solids flow-wall interaction phenomena, i.e. induced wall stress and particle flow patterns should be well understood. In this work, discrete element method (DEM) is used to study steady state granular flow in a gravity-fed hopper like geometry with blocks attached to an inclined wall. The effects of different geometries, e.g. different wall angles and spacing between blocks are studied by means of a 3D DEM slot model with periodic boundary conditions. The findings of this work include (i) flow analysis in terms of flow patterns and particle velocities, (ii) force distributions within the model geometry, and (iii) wall stress vs. model height diagrams. The model enables easy transfer of the key findings to other industrial applications handling granular materials.

  8. DEM study of granular flow around blocks attached to inclined walls

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Samsu Joel

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Damage due to intense particle-wall contact in industrial applications can cause severe problems in industries such as mineral processing, mining and metallurgy. Studying the flow dynamics and forces on containing walls can provide valuable feedback for equipment design and optimising operations to prolong the equipment lifetime. Therefore, solids flow-wall interaction phenomena, i.e. induced wall stress and particle flow patterns should be well understood. In this work, discrete element method (DEM is used to study steady state granular flow in a gravity-fed hopper like geometry with blocks attached to an inclined wall. The effects of different geometries, e.g. different wall angles and spacing between blocks are studied by means of a 3D DEM slot model with periodic boundary conditions. The findings of this work include (i flow analysis in terms of flow patterns and particle velocities, (ii force distributions within the model geometry, and (iii wall stress vs. model height diagrams. The model enables easy transfer of the key findings to other industrial applications handling granular materials.

  9. Strain localisation in granular media

    OpenAIRE

    Desrues , Jacques

    1984-01-01

    This study is devoted to strain localisation in Granular materials. Both experimental and theoretical results have been obtained.The first part of the thesis is a review of the methods and theories about rupture in sols mechanics and more generally, in solid mechanics. The classical framework of Shear Band analysis is presented, and the main results available for different classes of materials are discussed.The second part describes an experimental study of strain localisation in sand specime...

  10. Statistical mechanics of dense granular media

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Coniglio, A; Fierro, A; Nicodemi, M; Ciamarra, M Pica; Tarzia, M

    2005-01-01

    We discuss some recent results on the statistical mechanics approach to dense granular media. In particular, by analytical mean field investigation we derive the phase diagram of monodisperse and bidisperse granular assemblies. We show that 'jamming' corresponds to a phase transition from a 'fluid' to a 'glassy' phase, observed when crystallization is avoided. The nature of such a 'glassy' phase turns out to be the same as found in mean field models for glass formers. This gives quantitative evidence for the idea of a unified description of the 'jamming' transition in granular media and thermal systems, such as glasses. We also discuss mixing/segregation transitions in binary mixtures and their connections to phase separation and 'geometric' effects

  11. Shock waves in weakly compressed granular media.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van den Wildenberg, Siet; van Loo, Rogier; van Hecke, Martin

    2013-11-22

    We experimentally probe nonlinear wave propagation in weakly compressed granular media and observe a crossover from quasilinear sound waves at low impact to shock waves at high impact. We show that this crossover impact grows with the confining pressure P0, whereas the shock wave speed is independent of P0-two hallmarks of granular shocks predicted recently. The shocks exhibit surprising power law attenuation, which we model with a logarithmic law implying that shock dissipation is weak and qualitatively different from other granular dissipation mechanisms. We show that elastic and potential energy balance in the leading part of the shocks.

  12. International Workshop on Traffic and Granular Flow

    CERN Document Server

    Herrmann, Hans; Schreckenberg, Michael; Wolf, Dietrich; Social, Traffic and Granular Dynamics

    2000-01-01

    "Are there common phenomena and laws in the dynamic behavior of granular materials, traffic, and socio-economic systems?" The answers given at the international workshop "Traffic and Granular Flow '99" are presented in this volume. From a physical standpoint, all these systems can be treated as (self)-driven many-particle systems with strong fluctuations, showing multistability, phase transitions, non-linear waves, etc. The great interest in these systems is due to several unexpected new discoveries and their practical relevance for solving some fundamental problems of today's societies. This includes intelligent measures for traffic flow optimization and methods from "econophysics" for stabilizing (stock) markets.

  13. Dispersed plug flow model for upflow anaerobic sludge bed reactors with focus on granular sludge dynamics

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kalyuzhnyi, S.V.; Fedorovich, V.V.; Lens, P.N.L.

    2006-01-01

    A new approach to model upflow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB)-reactors, referred to as a one-dimensional dispersed plug flow model, was developed. This model focusses on the granular sludge dynamics along the reactor height, based on the balance between dispersion, sedimentation and convection using

  14. The behaviour of free-flowing granular intruders

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wyburn Edward

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Particle shape affects both the quasi-static and dynamic behaviour of granular media. There has been significant research devoted to the flowability of systems of irregularly shaped particles, as well as the flow of grains around fixed intruders, however the behaviour of free flowing intruders within granular flows remains comparatively unexplored. Here, the effect of the shape of these intruder particles is studied, looking at the kinematic behaviour of the intruders and in particular their tendency of orientation. Experiments are carried out within the Stadium Shear Device, which is a novel apparatus able to continuously apply simple shear conditions to two-dimensional grain analogues. It is found that the intruder shows different behaviour to that of the bulk flow, and that this behaviour is strongly shape dependent. These insights could lead to the development of admixtures that alter the flowability of granular materials.

  15. Analysis and Modeling of Process of Residual Deformations Accumulation in Soils and Granular Materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aleksandrov, A. S.; Dolgih, G. V.; Kalinin, A. L.

    2017-11-01

    It is established that under the influence of repeated loads the process of plastic deformation in soils and discrete materials is hereditary. To perform the mathematical modeling of plastic deformation, the authors applied the integral equation by solution of which they manage to obtain the power and logarithmic dependencies connecting plastic deformation with the number of repeated loads, the parameters of the material and components of the stress tensor in the principal axes. It is shown that these dependences generalize a number of models proposed earlier in Russia and abroad. Based on the analysis of the experimental data obtained during material testing in the dynamic devices of triaxial compression at different values of the stress deviator, the coefficients in the proposed models of deformation are determined. The authors determined the application domain for logarithmic and degree dependences.

  16. Physical test of a particle simulation model in a sheared granular system

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rycroft, Chris; Orpe, Ashish; Kudrolli, Arshad

    2009-01-15

    We report a detailed comparison of a slow gravity driven sheared granular flow with a computational model performed with the Large-scale Atomic/Molecular Massively Parallel Simulator (LAMMPS). To our knowledge, this is the first thorough test of the LAMMPS model with a laboratory granular flow. In the experiments, grains flow inside a silo with a rectangular cross-section, and are sheared by a rough boundary on one side and smooth boundaries on the other sides. Individual grain position and motion are measured using a particle index matching imaging technique where a fluorescent dye is added to the interstitial liquid which has the same refractive index as the glass beads. The boundary imposes a packing order, and the grains are observed to flow in layers which get progressively more disordered with distance from the walls. The computations use a Cundall--Strack contact model between the grains, using contact parameters that have been used in many other previous studies, and ignore the hydrodynamic effects of the interstitial liquid. Computations are performed to understand the effect of particle coefficient of friction, elasticity, contact model, and polydispersity on mean flow properties. After appropriate scaling, we find that the mean velocity of the grains and the number density as a function of flow cross-section observed in the experiments and the simulations are in excellent agreement. The mean flow profile is observed to be unchanged over a broad range of coefficient of friction, except near the smooth wall. We show that the flow profile is not sensitive to atleast 10\\percent polydispersity in particle size. Because the grain elasticity used is smaller in the computations as compared with glass grains, wave-like features can be noted over short time scales in the mean velocity and the velocity auto-correlations measured in the simulations. These wave features occur over an intermediate timescale larger than the particle interaction but smaller than the

  17. Stimulus-dependent state transition between synchronized oscillation and randomly repetitive burst in a model cerebellar granular layer.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Takeru Honda

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available Information processing of the cerebellar granular layer composed of granule and Golgi cells is regarded as an important first step toward the cerebellar computation. Our previous theoretical studies have shown that granule cells can exhibit random alternation between burst and silent modes, which provides a basis of population representation of the passage-of-time (POT from the onset of external input stimuli. On the other hand, another computational study has reported that granule cells can exhibit synchronized oscillation of activity, as consistent with observed oscillation in local field potential recorded from the granular layer while animals keep still. Here we have a question of whether an identical network model can explain these distinct dynamics. In the present study, we carried out computer simulations based on a spiking network model of the granular layer varying two parameters: the strength of a current injected to granule cells and the concentration of Mg²⁺ which controls the conductance of NMDA channels assumed on the Golgi cell dendrites. The simulations showed that cells in the granular layer can switch activity states between synchronized oscillation and random burst-silent alternation depending on the two parameters. For higher Mg²⁺ concentration and a weaker injected current, granule and Golgi cells elicited spikes synchronously (synchronized oscillation state. In contrast, for lower Mg²⁺ concentration and a stronger injected current, those cells showed the random burst-silent alternation (POT-representing state. It is suggested that NMDA channels on the Golgi cell dendrites play an important role for determining how the granular layer works in response to external input.

  18. Collapse of tall granular columns in fluid

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumar, Krishna; Soga, Kenichi; Delenne, Jean-Yves

    2017-06-01

    Avalanches, landslides, and debris flows are geophysical hazards, which involve rapid mass movement of granular solids, water, and air as a multi-phase system. In order to describe the mechanism of immersed granular flows, it is important to consider both the dynamics of the solid phase and the role of the ambient fluid. In the present study, the collapse of a granular column in fluid is studied using 2D LBM - DEM. The flow kinematics are compared with the dry and buoyant granular collapse to understand the influence of hydrodynamic forces and lubrication on the run-out. In the case of tall columns, the amount of material destabilised above the failure plane is larger than that of short columns. Therefore, the surface area of the mobilised mass that interacts with the surrounding fluid in tall columns is significantly higher than the short columns. This increase in the area of soil - fluid interaction results in an increase in the formation of turbulent vortices thereby altering the deposit morphology. It is observed that the vortices result in the formation of heaps that significantly affects the distribution of mass in the flow. In order to understand the behaviour of tall columns, the run-out behaviour of a dense granular column with an initial aspect ratio of 6 is studied. The collapse behaviour is analysed for different slope angles: 0°, 2.5°, 5° and 7.5°.

  19. Tsunamis generated by long and thin granular landslides in a large flume

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, Garrett S.; Andy Take, W.; Mulligan, Ryan P.; McDougall, Scott

    2017-01-01

    In this experimental study, granular material is released down slope to investigate landslide-generated waves. Starting with a known volume and initial position of the landslide source, detailed data are obtained on the velocity and thickness of the granular flow, the shape and location of the submarine landslide deposit, the amplitude and shape of the near-field wave, the far-field wave evolution, and the wave runup elevation on a smooth impermeable slope. The experiments are performed on a 6.7 m long 30° slope on which gravity accelerates the landslides into a 2.1 m wide and 33.0 m long wave flume that terminates with a 27° runup ramp. For a fixed landslide volume of 0.34 m3, tests are conducted in a range of still water depths from 0.05 to 0.50 m. Observations from high-speed cameras and measurements from wave probes indicate that the granular landslide moves as a long and thin train of material, and that only a portion of the landslide (termed the "effective mass") is engaged in activating the leading wave. The wave behavior is highly dependent on the water depth relative to the size of the landslide. In deeper water, the near-field wave behaves as a stable solitary-like wave, while in shallower water, the wave behaves as a breaking dissipative bore. Overall, the physical model observations are in good agreement with the results of existing empirical equations when the effective mass is used to predict the maximum near-field wave amplitude, the far-field amplitude, and the runup of tsunamis generated by granular landslides.

  20. Granular computing: perspectives and challenges.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yao, JingTao; Vasilakos, Athanasios V; Pedrycz, Witold

    2013-12-01

    Granular computing, as a new and rapidly growing paradigm of information processing, has attracted many researchers and practitioners. Granular computing is an umbrella term to cover any theories, methodologies, techniques, and tools that make use of information granules in complex problem solving. The aim of this paper is to review foundations and schools of research and to elaborate on current developments in granular computing research. We first review some basic notions of granular computing. Classification and descriptions of various schools of research in granular computing are given. We also present and identify some research directions in granular computing.

  1. Bubbling in vibrated granular films.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zamankhan, Piroz

    2011-02-01

    With the help of experiments, computer simulations, and a theoretical investigation, a general model is developed of the flow dynamics of dense granular media immersed in air in an intermediate regime where both collisional and frictional interactions may affect the flow behavior. The model is tested using the example of a system in which bubbles and solid structures are produced in granular films shaken vertically. Both experiments and large-scale, three-dimensional simulations of this system are performed. The experimental results are compared with the results of the simulation to verify the validity of the model. The data indicate evidence of formation of bubbles when peak acceleration relative to gravity exceeds a critical value Γ(b). The air-grain interfaces of bubblelike structures are found to exhibit fractal structure with dimension D=1.7±0.05.

  2. Real-time magnetic resonance imaging of highly dynamic granular phenomena

    Science.gov (United States)

    Penn, Alexander; Pruessmann, Klaas P.; Müller, Christoph

    Probing non-intrusively the interior of three-dimensional granular systems is a challenging task for which a number of imaging techniques have been applied including positron emission particle tracking, X-ray tomography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). A particular advantage of MRI is its versatility allowing quantitative velocimetry through phase contrast encoding and tagging, arbitrary slice orientations and the flexibility to trade spatial for temporal resolution and vice versa during image reconstruction. However, previous attempts to image granular systems using MRI were often limited to (pseudo-) steady state systems due to the poor temporal resolution of conventional imaging methodology. Here we present an experimental approach that overcomes previous limitations in temporal resolution by implementing a variety of methodological advances, viz. parallel data acquisition through tailored multiple receiver coils, fast gradient readouts for time-efficient data sampling and engineered granular materials that contain signal sources of high proton density. Achieving a spatial and temporal resolution of, respectively, 2 mm x 2 mm and 50 ms, we were able to image highly dynamic phenomena in granular media such as bubble coalescence and granular compaction waves.

  3. Uniform shock waves in disordered granular matter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gómez, Leopoldo R; Turner, Ari M; Vitelli, Vincenzo

    2012-10-01

    The confining pressure P is perhaps the most important parameter controlling the properties of granular matter. Strongly compressed granular media are, in many respects, simple solids in which elastic perturbations travel as ordinary phonons. However, the speed of sound in granular aggregates continuously decreases as the confining pressure decreases, completely vanishing at the jamming-unjamming transition. This anomalous behavior suggests that the transport of energy at low pressures should not be dominated by phonons. In this work we use simulations and theory to show how the response of granular systems becomes increasingly nonlinear as pressure decreases. In the low-pressure regime the elastic energy is found to be mainly transported through nonlinear waves and shocks. We numerically characterize the propagation speed, shape, and stability of these shocks and model the dependence of the shock speed on pressure and impact intensity by a simple analytical approach.

  4. Incorporation of velocity-dependent restitution coefficient and particle surface friction into kinetic theory for modeling granular flow cooling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duan, Yifei; Feng, Zhi-Gang

    2017-12-01

    Kinetic theory (KT) has been successfully used to model rapid granular flows in which particle interactions are frictionless and near elastic. However, it fails when particle interactions become frictional and inelastic. For example, the KT is not able to accurately predict the free cooling process of a vibrated granular medium that consists of inelastic frictional particles under microgravity. The main reason that the classical KT fails to model these flows is due to its inability to account for the particle surface friction and its inelastic behavior, which are the two most important factors that need be considered in modeling collisional granular flows. In this study, we have modified the KT model that is able to incorporate these two factors. The inelasticity of a particle is considered by establishing a velocity-dependent expression for the restitution coefficient based on many experimental studies found in the literature, and the particle friction effect is included by using a tangential restitution coefficient that is related to the particle friction coefficient. Theoretical predictions of the free cooling process by the classical KT and the improved KT are compared with the experimental results from a study conducted on an airplane undergoing parabolic flights without the influence of gravity [Y. Grasselli, G. Bossis, and G. Goutallier, Europhys. Lett. 86, 60007 (2009)10.1209/0295-5075/86/60007]. Our results show that both the velocity-dependent restitution coefficient and the particle surface friction are important in predicting the free cooling process of granular flows; the modified KT model that integrates these two factors is able to improve the simulation results and leads to better agreement with the experimental results.

  5. Granular superconductor in a honeycomb lattice as a realization of bosonic Dirac material

    Science.gov (United States)

    Banerjee, S.; Fransson, J.; Black-Schaffer, A. M.; Ågren, H.; Balatsky, A. V.

    2016-04-01

    We examine the low-energy effective theory of phase oscillations in a two-dimensional granular superconducting sheet where the grains are arranged in a honeycomb lattice structure. Using the example of graphene, we present evidence for the engineered Dirac nodes in the bosonic excitations: the spectra of the collective bosonic modes cross at the K and K' points in the Brillouin zone and form Dirac nodes. We show how two different types of collective phase oscillations are obtained and that they are analogous to the Leggett and the Bogoliubov-Anderson-Gorkov modes in a two-band superconductor. We show that the Dirac node is preserved in the presence of an intergrain interaction, despite induced changes of the qualitative features of the two collective modes. Finally, breaking the sublattice symmetry by choosing different on-site potentials for the two sublattices leads to a gap opening near the Dirac node, in analogy with fermionic Dirac materials. The Dirac node dispersion of bosonic excitations is thus expanding the discussion of the conventional Dirac cone excitations to the case of bosons. We call this case as a representative of bosonic Dirac materials (BDM), similar to the case of Fermionic Dirac materials extensively discussed in the literature.

  6. "EGM" (Electrostatics of Granular Matter): A Space Station Experiment to Examine Natural Particulate Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marshall, J.; Sauke, T.; Buehler, M.; Farrell, W.; Green, R.; Birchenough, A.

    1999-09-01

    A granular-materials experiment is being developed for a 2002 launch for Space Station deployment. The experiment is funded by NASA HQ and managed through NASA Lewis Research Center. The experiment will examine electrostatic aggregation of coarse granular materials with the goals of (a) obtaining proof for an electrostatic dipole model of grain interactions, and (b) obtaining knowledge about the way aggregation affects the behavior of natural particulate masses: (1) in unconfined dispersions (clouds such as nebulae, aeolian dust palls, volcanic plumes), (2) in semi-confined, self-loaded masses as in fluidized flows (pyroclastic surges, avalanches) and compacted regolith, or (3) in semi-confined non-loaded masses as in dust layers adhering to solar cells or space suits on Mars. The experiment addresses both planetary/astrophysical issues as well as practical concerns for human exploration of Mars or other solar system bodies. Additional information is contained in the original.

  7. Hybrid Multiple Soft-Sensor Models of Grinding Granularity Based on Cuckoo Searching Algorithm and Hysteresis Switching Strategy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jie-Sheng Wang

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available According to the characteristics of grinding process and accuracy requirements of technical indicators, a hybrid multiple soft-sensor modeling method of grinding granularity is proposed based on cuckoo searching (CS algorithm and hysteresis switching (HS strategy. Firstly, a mechanism soft-sensor model of grinding granularity is deduced based on the technique characteristics and a lot of experimental data of grinding process. Meanwhile, the BP neural network soft-sensor model and wavelet neural network (WNN soft-sensor model are set up. Then, the hybrid multiple soft-sensor model based on the hysteresis switching strategy is realized. That is to say, the optimum model is selected as the current predictive model according to the switching performance index at each sampling instant. Finally the cuckoo searching algorithm is adopted to optimize the performance parameters of hysteresis switching strategy. Simulation results show that the proposed model has better generalization results and prediction precision, which can satisfy the real-time control requirements of grinding classification process.

  8. Traffic and Granular Flow '11

    CERN Document Server

    Buslaev, Alexander; Bugaev, Alexander; Yashina, Marina; Schadschneider, Andreas; Schreckenberg, Michael; TGF11

    2013-01-01

    This book continues the biannual series of conference proceedings, which has become a classical reference resource in traffic and granular research alike. It addresses new developments at the interface between physics, engineering and computational science. Complex systems, where many simple agents, be they vehicles or particles, give rise to surprising and fascinating phenomena.   The contributions collected in these proceedings cover several research fields, all of which deal with transport. Topics include highway, pedestrian and internet traffic, granular matter, biological transport, transport networks, data acquisition, data analysis and technological applications. Different perspectives, i.e. modeling, simulations, experiments and phenomenological observations, are considered.

  9. Ill-posedness of Dynamic Equations of Compressible Granular Flow

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shearer, Michael; Gray, Nico

    2017-11-01

    We introduce models for 2-dimensional time-dependent compressible flow of granular materials and suspensions, based on the rheology of Pouliquen and Forterre. The models include density dependence through a constitutive equation in which the density or volume fraction of solid particles with material density ρ* is taken as a function of an inertial number I: ρ = ρ * Φ(I), in which Φ(I) is a decreasing function of I. This modelling has different implications from models relying on critical state soil mechanics, in which ρ is treated as a variable in the equations, contributing to a flow rule. The analysis of the system of equations builds on recent work of Barker et al in the incompressible case. The main result is the identification of a criterion for well-posedness of the equations. We additionally analyze a modification that applies to suspensions, for which the rheology takes a different form and the inertial number reflects the role of the fluid viscosity.

  10. Study of an athermal quasi static plastic deformation in a 2D granular material

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Jie

    2017-11-01

    In crystalline materials, the plasticity has been well understood in terms of dynamics of dislocation, i.e. flow defects in the crystals where the flow defects can be directly visualized under a microscope. In a contrast, the plasticity in amorphous materials, i.e. glass, is still poorly understood due to the disordered nature of the materials. In this talk, I will discuss the recent results we have obtained in our ongoing research of the plasticity of a 2D glass in the athermal quasi static limit where the 2D glass is made of bi-disperse granular disks with very low friction. Starting from a densely packed homogeneous and isotropic initial state, we apply pure shear deformation to the system. For a sufficiently small strain, the response of the system is linear and elastic like; when the strain is large enough, the plasticity of the system gradually develops and eventually the shear bands are fully developed. In this study, we are particularly interested in how to relate the local plastic deformation to the macroscopic response of the system and also in the development of the shear bands.

  11. Granular Materials and the Risks They Pose for Success on the Moon and Mars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilkinson, R. Allen; Behringer, Robert P.; Jenkins, James T.; Louge, Michel Y.

    2005-02-01

    Working with soil, sand, powders, ores, cement and sintered bricks, excavating, grading construction sites, driving off-road, transporting granules in chutes and pipes, sifting gravel, separating solids from gases, and using hoppers are so routine that it seems straightforward to do it on the Moon and Mars as we do it on Earth. This paper brings to the fore how little these processes are understood and the millennia-long trial-and-error practices that lead to today's massive over-design, high failure rate, and extensive incremental scaling up of industrial processes because of the inadequate predictive tools for design. We present a number of pragmatic scenarios where granular materials play a role, the risks involved, and what understanding is needed to greatly reduce the risks.

  12. Pulling an intruder from a granular material: a novel depinning experiment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhang Yue

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Two-dimensional impact experiments by Clark et al. [2] identified the source of inertial drag to be caused by ‘collisions’ with a latent force network, leading to large fluctuations of the force experienced by the impactor. These collisions provided the major drag on an impacting intruder until the intruder was nearly at rest. As a complement, we consider controlled pull-out experiments where a buried intruder is pulled out of a material, starting from rest. This provides a means to better understand the non-inertial part of the drag force, and to explore the mechanisms associated with the force fluctuations. To some extent, the pull out process is a time reversed version of the impact process. In order to visualize this pulling process, we use 2D photoelastic disks from which circular intruders of different radii are pulled out. We present results about the dynamics of the intruder and the structures of the force chains inside the granular system as captured by slow and high speed imaging.

  13. Implementation and Re nement of a Comprehensive Model for Dense Granular Flows

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sundaresan, Sankaran [The Trustees Of Princeton University, Princeton, NJ (United States)

    2015-09-30

    Dense granular ows are ubiquitous in both natural and industrial processes. They manifest three di erent ow regimes, each exhibiting its own dependence on solids volume fraction, shear rate, and particle-level properties. This research project sought to develop continuum rheological models for dense granular ows that bridges multiple regimes of ow, implement them in open-source platforms for gas-particle ows and perform test simulations. The rst phase of the research covered in this project involved implementation of a steady- shear rheological model that bridges quasi-static, intermediate and inertial regimes of ow into MFIX (Multiphase Flow with Interphase eXchanges - a general purpose computer code developed at the National Energy Technology Laboratory). MFIX simulations of dense granular ows in hourglass-shaped hopper were then performed as test examples. The second phase focused on formulation of a modi ed kinetic theory for frictional particles that can be used over a wider range of particle volume fractions and also apply for dynamic, multi- dimensional ow conditions. To guide this work, simulations of simple shear ows of identical mono-disperse spheres were also performed using the discrete element method. The third phase of this project sought to develop and implement a more rigorous treatment of boundary e ects. Towards this end, simulations of simple shear ows of identical mono-disperse spheres con ned between parallel plates were performed and analyzed to formulate compact wall boundary conditions that can be used for dense frictional ows at at frictional boundaries. The fourth phase explored the role of modest levels of cohesive interactions between particles on the dense phase rheology. The nal phase of this project focused on implementation and testing of the modi ed kinetic theory in MFIX and running bin-discharge simulations as test examples.

  14. Multi-scale individual-based model of microbial and bioconversion dynamics in aerobic granular sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xavier, Joao B; De Kreuk, Merle K; Picioreanu, Cristian; Van Loosdrecht, Mark C M

    2007-09-15

    Aerobic granular sludge is a novel compact biological wastewater treatment technology for integrated removal of COD (chemical oxygen demand), nitrogen, and phosphate charges. We present here a multiscale model of aerobic granular sludge sequencing batch reactors (GSBR) describing the complex dynamics of populations and nutrient removal. The macro scale describes bulk concentrations and effluent composition in six solutes (oxygen, acetate, ammonium, nitrite, nitrate, and phosphate). A finer scale, the scale of one granule (1.1 mm of diameter), describes the two-dimensional spatial arrangement of four bacterial groups--heterotrophs, ammonium oxidizers, nitrite oxidizers, and phosphate accumulating organisms (PAO)--using individual based modeling (IbM) with species-specific kinetic models. The model for PAO includes three internal storage compounds: polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), poly phosphate, and glycogen. Simulations of long-term reactor operation show how the microbial population and activity depends on the operating conditions. Short-term dynamics of solute bulk concentrations are also generated with results comparable to experimental data from lab scale reactors. Our results suggest that N-removal in GSBR occurs mostly via alternating nitrification/denitrification rather than simultaneous nitrification/denitrification, supporting an alternative strategy to improve N-removal in this promising wastewater treatment process.

  15. Random packing of colloids and granular matter

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wouterse, A.

    2008-01-01

    This thesis deals with the random packing of colloids and granular matter. A random packing is a stable disordered collection of touching particles, without long-range positional and orientational order. Experimental random packings of particles with the same shape but made of different materials

  16. Granular corneal dystrophy

    OpenAIRE

    Castillo Pérez, Alexeide de la C; Vilches Lescaille, Daysi; Noriega, Justo Luis; Martínez Balido, Daneel; León Balbón, Bárbaro Ramón; León Bernal, Danysleidi

    2015-01-01

    Las distrofias corneales constituyen un conjunto de enfermedades que presentan, en su mayoría, una baja incidencia y se caracterizan por acúmulo de material hialino o amiloide que disminuyen la transparencia corneal. La distrofia granular es una enfermedad autosómica dominante que presenta opacidades grises en el estroma superficial central de la córnea y se hacen visibles en la primera y segunda décadas de la vida, lo que provoca disminución de la visión más significativa cerca de los 40 año...

  17. Controlling mixing and segregation in time periodic granular flows

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bhattacharya, Tathagata

    Segregation is a major problem for many solids processing industries. Differences in particle size or density can lead to flow-induced segregation. In the present work, we employ the discrete element method (DEM)---one type of particle dynamics (PD) technique---to investigate the mixing and segregation of granular material in some prototypical solid handling devices, such as a rotating drum and chute. In DEM, one calculates the trajectories of individual particles based on Newton's laws of motion by employing suitable contact force models and a collision detection algorithm. Recently, it has been suggested that segregation in particle mixers can be thwarted if the particle flow is inverted at a rate above a critical forcing frequency. Further, it has been hypothesized that, for a rotating drum, the effectiveness of this technique can be linked to the probability distribution of the number of times a particle passes through the flowing layer per rotation of the drum. In the first portion of this work, various configurations of solid mixers are numerically and experimentally studied to investigate the conditions for improved mixing in light of these hypotheses. Besides rotating drums, many studies of granular flow have focused on gravity driven chute flows owing to its practical importance in granular transportation and to the fact that the relative simplicity of this type of flow allows for development and testing of new theories. In this part of the work, we observe the deposition behavior of both mono-sized and polydisperse dry granular materials in an inclined chute flow. The effects of different parameters such as chute angle, particle size, falling height and charge amount on the mass fraction distribution of granular materials after deposition are investigated. The simulation results obtained using DEM are compared with the experimental findings and a high degree of agreement is observed. Tuning of the underlying contact force parameters allows the achievement

  18. Elaboration of building materials from industrial waste from solid granular diatomaceous earth; Elaboracion de material de construccion a partir de residuos industriales solidos granulares procedentes de tierras diatomaceas

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Del Angel S, A.

    2015-07-01

    In this work the initial characterization of granular solid industrial waste from diatomaceous earth was carried out using techniques of Scanning Electron Microscopy and X-ray Diffraction. In a second stage leaching of the material was undertaken to the US Patent Number 5, 376,000 and 5, 356,601 obtaining the samples M1-S ph 2, M1-L ph, M1-S ph 10 and M1-L ph 10. In the third stage a new characterization of the samples obtained with the techniques of Scanning Electron Microscopy, X-ray Diffraction and Atomic Absorption Spectrometry was performed, the latter in order to determine the efficiency percentage of the leaching process. In the fourth stage the specimens for performing mechanical, physical and chemical tests were manufactured, using molds as PVC pipes of 1 inch in diameter and 2 inches in length, with a composition of 50% of diatomaceous earth and 50% of cement produced in each. Finally, in the fifth stage mechanical testing (compression resistance), physical (moisture absorption rate) and chemical (composition and structure of the material) are performed. In the last stage, when conducting mechanical testing with the test specimens, the presence of bubbles enclosed in each obtaining erroneous results noted, so it was necessary to develop the specimens again, obtaining in this occasion concentrations of 20:80, 40:60, 60:40 and 80:20 of diatomaceous earth with the cement. These results were analyzed to determine if the used material is suitable for the production of building materials such as bricks or partitions, being demonstrated by the tests carried out if they are eligible. (Author)

  19. Bulbous head formation in bidisperse shallow granular flows over inclined planes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Denissen, I.; Thornton, A.; Weinhart, T.; Luding, S.

    2017-12-01

    Predicting the behaviour of hazardous natural granular flows (e.g. debris-flows and pyroclastic flows) is vital for an accurate assessment of the risks posed by such events. In these situations, an inversely graded vertical particle-size distribution develops, with larger particles on top of smaller particles. As the surface velocity of such flows is larger than the mean velocity, the larger material is then transported to the flow front. This creates a downstream size-segregation structure, resulting in a flow front composed purely of large particles, that are generally more frictional in geophysical flows. Thus, this segregation process reduces the mobility of the flow front, resulting in the formation of, a so-called, bulbous head. One of the main challenges of simulating these hazardous natural granular flows is the enormous number of particles they contain, which makes discrete particle simulations too computationally expensive to be practically useful. Continuum methods are able to simulate the bulk flow- and segregation behaviour of such flows, but have to make averaging approximations that reduce the huge number of degrees of freedom to a few continuum fields. Small-scale periodic discrete particle simulations can be used to determine the material parameters needed for the continuum model. In this presentation, we use a depth-averaged model to predict the flow profile for particulate chute flows, based on flow height, depth-averaged velocity and particle-size distribution [1], and show that the bulbous head structure naturally emerges from this model. The long-time behaviour of this solution of the depth-averaged continuum model converges to a novel travelling wave solution [2]. Furthermore, we validate this framework against computationally expensive 3D particle simulations, where we see surprisingly good agreement between both approaches, considering the approximations made in the continuum model. We conclude by showing that the travelling distance and

  20. Localization and Instability in Sheared Granular Materials: Role of Pore Fluids and Non-monotonic Rate Dependent Rheology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ma, X.; Elbanna, A. E.; Kothari, K.

    2017-12-01

    Fault zone dynamics hold the key to resolving many outstanding geophysical problems including the heat flow paradox, discrepancy between fault static and dynamic strength, and energy partitioning. Most fault zones that generate tectonic events are gouge filled and fluid saturated posing the need for formulating gouge-specific constitutive models that capture spatially heterogeneous compaction and dilation, non-monotonic rate dependence, and transition between localized and distributed deformation. In this presentation, we focus primarily on elucidating microscopic underpinnings for shear banding and stick-slip instabilities in sheared saturated granular materials and explore their implications for earthquake dynamics. We use a non-equilibrium thermodynamics model, the Shear Transformation Zone theory, to investigate the dynamics of strain localization and its connection to stability of sliding in the presence and absence of pore fluids. We also consider the possible influence of self-induced mechanical vibrations as well as the role of external acoustic vibrations as analogue for triggering by a distant event. For the dry case, our results suggest that at low and intermediate strain rates, persistent shear bands develop only in the absence of vibrations. Vibrations tend to fluidize the granular network and de-localize slip at these rates. Stick-slip is only observed for rough grains and it is confined to the shear band. At high strain rates, stick-slip disappears and the different systems exhibit similar stress-slip response. Changing the vibration intensity, duration or time of application alters the system response and may cause long-lasting rheological changes. The presence of pore fluids modifies the stick slip pattern and may lead to both loss and development of slip instability depending on the value of the confining pressure, imposed strain rate and hydraulic parameters. We analyze these observations in terms of possible transitions between rate

  1. Granular Gas in a Periodic Lattice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dorbolo, S.; Brandenbourger, M.; Damanet, F.; Dister, H.; Ludewig, F.; Terwagne, D.; Lumay, G.; Vandewalle, N.

    2011-01-01

    Glass beads are placed in the compartments of a horizontal square grid. This grid is then vertically shaken. According to the reduced acceleration [image omitted] of the system, the granular material exhibits various behaviours. By counting the number of beads in each compartment after shaking, it is possible to define three regimes. At low…

  2. The Granular Blasius Problem: High inertial number granular flows

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsang, Jonathan; Dalziel, Stuart; Vriend, Nathalie

    2017-11-01

    The classical Blasius problem considers the formation of a boundary layer through the change at x = 0 from a free-slip to a no-slip boundary beneath an otherwise steady uniform flow. Discrete particle model (DPM) simulations of granular gravity currents show that a similar phenomenon exists for a steady flow over a uniformly sloped surface that is smooth upstream (allowing slip) but rough downstream (imposing a no-slip condition). The boundary layer is a region of high shear rate and therefore high inertial number I; its dynamics are governed by the asymptotic behaviour of the granular rheology as I -> ∞ . The μ(I) rheology asserts that dμ / dI = O(1 /I2) as I -> ∞ , but current experimental evidence is insufficient to confirm this. We show that `generalised μ(I) rheologies', with different behaviours as I -> ∞ , all permit the formation of a boundary layer. We give approximate solutions for the velocity profile under each rheology. The change in boundary condition considered here mimics more complex topography in which shear stress increases in the streamwise direction (e.g. a curved slope). Such a system would be of interest in avalanche modelling. EPSRC studentship (Tsang) and Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship (Vriend).

  3. Traffic and Granular Flow ’07

    CERN Document Server

    Chevoir, François; Gondret, Philippe; Lassarre, Sylvain; Lebacque, Jean-Patrick; Schreckenberg, Michael

    2009-01-01

    This book covers several research fields, all of which deal with transport. Three main topics are treated: road traffic, granular matter, and biological transport. Different points of view, i.e. modelling, simulations, experiments, and phenomenological observations, are considered. Sub-topics include: highway or urban vehicular traffic (dynamics of traffic, macro/micro modelling, measurements, data analysis, security issues, psychological issues), pedestrian traffic, animal traffic (e.g. social insects), collective motion in biological systems (molecular motors...), granular flow (dense flows, intermittent flows, solid/liquid transition, jamming, force networks, fluid and solid friction), networks (biological networks, urban traffic, the internet, vulnerability of networks, optimal transport networks) and cellular automata applied to the various aforementioned fields.

  4. Origin of the resistivity minima in granular superconductors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Simanek, E.

    1982-01-01

    The recently observed minima in the temperature dependence of the electrical resistivity of a granular superconductor are explained with use of a percolation model of a disordered granular array, which takes into account the electrostatic charging energy. The thermally activated tunneling of Cooper pairs is shown to play an important role in the interpretation of the experimental data on tin films

  5. DEM GPU studies of industrial scale particle simulations for granular flow civil engineering applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pizette, Patrick; Govender, Nicolin; Wilke, Daniel N.; Abriak, Nor-Edine

    2017-06-01

    The use of the Discrete Element Method (DEM) for industrial civil engineering industrial applications is currently limited due to the computational demands when large numbers of particles are considered. The graphics processing unit (GPU) with its highly parallelized hardware architecture shows potential to enable solution of civil engineering problems using discrete granular approaches. We demonstrate in this study the pratical utility of a validated GPU-enabled DEM modeling environment to simulate industrial scale granular problems. As illustration, the flow discharge of storage silos using 8 and 17 million particles is considered. DEM simulations have been performed to investigate the influence of particle size (equivalent size for the 20/40-mesh gravel) and induced shear stress for two hopper shapes. The preliminary results indicate that the shape of the hopper significantly influences the discharge rates for the same material. Specifically, this work shows that GPU-enabled DEM modeling environments can model industrial scale problems on a single portable computer within a day for 30 seconds of process time.

  6. Dissipation consistent fabric tensor definition from DEM to continuum for granular media

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, X. S.; Dafalias, Y. F.

    2015-05-01

    In elastoplastic soil models aimed at capturing the impact of fabric anisotropy, a necessary ingredient is a measure of anisotropic fabric in the form of an evolving tensor. While it is possible to formulate such a fabric tensor based on indirect phenomenological observations at the continuum level, it is more effective and insightful to have the tensor defined first based on direct particle level microstructural observations and subsequently deduce a corresponding continuum definition. A practical means able to provide such observations, at least in the context of fabric evolution mechanisms, is the discrete element method (DEM). Some DEM defined fabric tensors such as the one based on the statistics of interparticle contact normals have already gained widespread acceptance as a quantitative measure of fabric anisotropy among researchers of granular material behavior. On the other hand, a fabric tensor in continuum elastoplastic modeling has been treated as a tensor-valued internal variable whose evolution must be properly linked to physical dissipation. Accordingly, the adaptation of a DEM fabric tensor definition to a continuum constitutive modeling theory must be thermodynamically consistent in regards to dissipation mechanisms. The present paper addresses this issue in detail, brings up possible pitfalls if such consistency is violated and proposes remedies and guidelines for such adaptation within a recently developed Anisotropic Critical State Theory (ACST) for granular materials.

  7. Discharge flow of a granular media from a silo: effect of the packing fraction and of the hopper angle

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benyamine, Mebirika; Aussillous, Pascale; Dalloz-Dubrujeaud, Blanche

    2017-06-01

    Silos are widely used in the industry. While empirical predictions of the flow rate, based on scaling laws, have existed for more than a century (Hagen 1852, translated in [1] - Beverloo et al. [2]), recent advances have be made on the understanding of the control parameters of the flow. In particular, using continuous modeling together with a mu(I) granular rheology seem to be successful in predicting the flow rate for large numbers of beads at the aperture (Staron et al.[3], [4]). Moreover Janda et al.[5] have shown that the packing fraction at the outlet plays an important role when the number of beads at the apeture decreases. Based on these considerations, we have studied experimentally the discharge flow of a granular media from a rectangular silo. We have varied two main parameters: the angle of the hopper, and the bulk packing fraction of the granular material by using bidisperse mixtures. We propose a simple physical model to describe the effect of these parameters, considering a continuous granular media with a dilatancy law at the outlet. This model predicts well the dependance of the flow rate on the hopper angle as well as the dependance of the flow rate on the fine mass fraction of a bidisperse mixture.

  8. A hybrid model for the computationally-efficient simulation of the cerebellar granular layer

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anna eCattani

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available The aim of the present paper is to efficiently describe the membrane potential dynamics of neural populations formed by species having a high density difference in specific brain areas. We propose a hybrid model whose main ingredients are a conductance-based model (ODE system and its continuous counterpart (PDE system obtained through a limit process in which the number of neurons confined in a bounded region of the brain tissue is sent to infinity. Specifically, in the discrete model, each cell is described by a set of time-dependent variables, whereas in the continuum model, cells are grouped into populations that are described by a set of continuous variables.Communications between populations, which translate into interactions among the discrete and the continuous models, are the essence of the hybrid model we present here. The cerebellum and cerebellum-like structures show in their granular layer a large difference in the relative density of neuronal species making them a natural testing ground for our hybrid model. By reconstructing the ensemble activity of the cerebellar granular layer network and by comparing our results to a more realistic computational network, we demonstrate that our description of the network activity, even though it is not biophysically detailed, is still capable of reproducing salient features of neural network dynamics. Our modeling approach yields a significant computational cost reduction by increasing the simulation speed at least $270$ times. The hybrid model reproduces interesting dynamics such as local microcircuit synchronization, traveling waves, center-surround and time-windowing.

  9. INVESTIGATION OF INNER SHEAR RESISTANCE OF GEOGRIDS BUILT UNDER GRANULAR PROTECTION LAYERS AND RAILWAY BALLAST

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sz. Fischer

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Purpose. Using adequate granular materials and layer structures in the railway super- and substructure is able to stabilise railway track geometry. For this purpose special behaviour of above materials has to be determined, e.g. inner shear resistance. Inner shear resistance of granular media with and without geogrid reinforcement in different depths is not known yet. Methodology. The author developed a special laboratory method to measure and define inner shear resistance of granular materials, it is called «multi-level shear box test». This method is adequate to determine inner shear resistance (pushing force vs. depth (distance from the «zero» surface. Two different granular materials: andesite railway ballast (31.5/63 mm and andesite railway protection layer material (0/56 mm, and seven different types of geogrids (GG1…GG7 were used during the tests. Findings. Values of inner shear resistance functions of andesite railway ballast without geogrid reinforcement and reinforced with different types of geogrids and andesite granular protection layer in function of the vertical distance from the geogrid plane were determined with multi-layer shear box tests when the material aggregation is uncompacted and compacted. Only the compacted sample was tested in case of the 0/56 mm protection layer. Cubic polynomial regression functions fitted on the mean values of the measurements are described graphically. Determination coefficients with values of R2>0.97 were resulted in all the cases of regression functions. Based on the polynomial regression functions fitted on the mean values of the test results, three increasing factors were determined in function of the distance measured from the geogrid. Increasing factor «A», «B» and «D». Originality. Multi-level shear box test, developed by the author, is certified unequivocally adequate for determining inner shear resistance of reinforced and unreinforced granular materials, e.g. railway ballast

  10. Testing Hadronic Interaction Models using a Highly Granular Silicon-Tungsten Calorimeter

    CERN Document Server

    Bilki, B.; Schlereth, J.; Xia, L.; Deng, Z.; Li, Y.; Wang, Y.; Yue, Q.; Yang, Z.; Eigen, G.; Mikami, Y.; Price, T.; Watson, N.K.; Thomson, M.A.; Ward, D.R.; Benchekroun, D.; Hoummada, A.; Khoulaki, Y.; Carloganu, C.; Chang, S.; Khan, A.; Kim, D.H.; Kong, D.J.; Oh, Y.D.; Blazey, G.C.; Dyshkant, A.; Francis, K.; Lima, J.G.R.; Salcido, P.; Zutshi, V.; Boisvert, V.; Green, B.; Misiejuk, A.; Salvatore, F.; Kawagoe, K.; Miyazaki, Y.; Sudo, Y.; Suehara, T.; Tomita, T.; Ueno, H.; Yoshioka, T.; Apostolakis, J.; Folger, G.; Ivantchenko, V.; Ribon, A.; Uzhinskiy, V.; Cauwenbergh, S.; Tytgat, M.; Zaganidis, N.; Hostachy, J.Y.; Morin, L.; Gadow, K.; Göttlicher, P.; Günter, C.; Krüger, K.; Lutz, B.; Reinecke, M.; Sefkow, F.; Feege, N.; Garutti, E.; Laurien, S.; Lu, S.; Marchesini, I.; Matysek, M.; Ramilli, M.; Kaplan, A.; Norbeck, E.; Northacker, D.; Onel, Y.; Kim, E.J.; van Doren, B.; Wilson, G.W.; Wing, M.; Bobchenko, B.; Chadeeva, M.; Chistov, R.; Danilov, M.; Drutskoy, A.; Epifantsev, A.; Markin, O.; Mizuk, R.; Novikov, E.; Popov, V.; Rusinov, V.; Tarkovsky, E.; Besson, D.; Popova, E.; Gabriel, M.; Kiesling, C.; Simon, F.; Soldner, C.; Szalay, M.; Tesar, M.; Weuste, L.; Amjad, M.S.; Bonis, J.; Callier, S.; Conforti di Lorenzo, S.; Cornebise, P.; Doublet, Ph.; Dulucq, F.; Faucci-Giannelli, M.; Fleury, J.; Frisson, T.; Kégl, B.; van der Kolk, N.; Li, H.; Martin-Chassard, G.; Richard, F.; de la Taille, Ch.; Pöschl, R.; Raux, L.; Rouëne, J.; Seguin-Moreau, N.; Anduze, M.; Balagura, V.; Becheva, E.; Boudry, V.; Brient, J.-C.; Cornat, R.; Frotin, M.; Gastaldi, F.; Magniette, F.; Matthieu, A.; Mora de Freitas, P.; Videau, H.; Augustin, J.-E.; David, J.; Ghislain, P.; Lacour, D.; Lavergne, L.; Zacek, J.; Cvach, J.; Gallus, P.; Havranek, M.; Janata, M.; Kvasnicka, J.; Lednicky, D.; Marcisovsky, M.; Polak, I.; Popule, J.; Tomasek, L.; Tomasek, M.; Ruzicka, P.; Sicho, P.; Smolik, J.; Vrba, V.; Zalesak, J.; Jeans, D.; Götze, M.

    2015-09-11

    A detailed study of hadronic interactions is presented using data recorded with the highly granular CALICE silicon-tungsten electromagnetic calorimeter. Approximately 600,000 selected negatively changed pion events at energies between 2 and 10 GeV have been studied. The predictions of several physics models available within the GEANT4 simulation tool kit are compared to this data. Although a reasonable overall description of the data is observed, there are significant quantitative discrepancies in the longitudinal and transverse distributions of reconstructed energy.

  11. Experimental investigation of the Rowe's dilatancy law on an atypical granular medium from a municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash

    Science.gov (United States)

    Becquart, Frédéric; Abriak, Nor Edine

    2013-06-01

    Municipal Solid Waste Incineration (MSWI) bottom ashes are irregular granular media because of their origin and are very heterogeneous with a large quantity of angular particles of different chemical species. MSWI bottom ash is a renewable granular resource alternative to the use of non-renewable standard granular materials. Beneficial use of these alternative granular materials mainly lies in road engineering. However, the studies about mechanical properties of such granular media still remain little developed, those being mainly based on empirical considerations. In this paper, a study of mechanical behaviour of a MSWI bottom ash under axisymmetric triaxial loadings conditions is presented. Samples are initially dense after Proctor compaction, are saturated and tested in drained conditions, under different effective confining pressures ranging from 100 to 600 kPa. The evolutions of volumetric strains show an initial contracting phase followed by a dilatancy phase, more pronounced when the confining pressure is low. The stresses ratios at the characteristic state and at the critical state appear in good agreement and with a null rate of volume variation. The angles of internal friction and dilatancy of the studied MSWI bottom ash are estimated and are similar to conventional granular materials used especially in road engineering. The dilatancy law of Rowe is well experimentally verified on this irregular recycled granular material.

  12. Elaboration of building materials from industrial waste from solid granular diatomaceous earth

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Del Angel S, A.

    2015-01-01

    In this work the initial characterization of granular solid industrial waste from diatomaceous earth was carried out using techniques of Scanning Electron Microscopy and X-ray Diffraction. In a second stage leaching of the material was undertaken to the US Patent Number 5, 376,000 and 5, 356,601 obtaining the samples M1-S ph 2, M1-L ph, M1-S ph 10 and M1-L ph 10. In the third stage a new characterization of the samples obtained with the techniques of Scanning Electron Microscopy, X-ray Diffraction and Atomic Absorption Spectrometry was performed, the latter in order to determine the efficiency percentage of the leaching process. In the fourth stage the specimens for performing mechanical, physical and chemical tests were manufactured, using molds as PVC pipes of 1 inch in diameter and 2 inches in length, with a composition of 50% of diatomaceous earth and 50% of cement produced in each. Finally, in the fifth stage mechanical testing (compression resistance), physical (moisture absorption rate) and chemical (composition and structure of the material) are performed. In the last stage, when conducting mechanical testing with the test specimens, the presence of bubbles enclosed in each obtaining erroneous results noted, so it was necessary to develop the specimens again, obtaining in this occasion concentrations of 20:80, 40:60, 60:40 and 80:20 of diatomaceous earth with the cement. These results were analyzed to determine if the used material is suitable for the production of building materials such as bricks or partitions, being demonstrated by the tests carried out if they are eligible. (Author)

  13. Simulation of recrystallization textures in FCC materials based on a self consistent model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bolmaro, R.E; Roatta, A; Fourty, A.L; Signorelli, J.W; Bertinetti, M.A

    2004-01-01

    The development of re-crystallization textures in FCC polycrystalline materials has been a long lasting scientific problem. The appearance of the so-called cubic component in high stack fault energy laminated FCC materials is not an entirely understood phenomenon. This work approaches the problem using a self- consistent simulation technique of homogenization. The information on first preferential neighbors is used in the model to consider grain boundary energies and intra granular misorientations and to treat the growth of grains and the mobility of the grain boundary. The energies accumulated by deformations are taken as conducting energies of the nucleation and the later growth is statistically governed by the grain boundary energies. The model shows the correct trend for re-crystallization textures obtained from previously simulated deformation textures for high and low stack fault energy FCC materials. The model's topological representation is discussed (CW)

  14. Granular flow through an aperture: influence of the packing fraction

    OpenAIRE

    Alejandra Aguirre , Maria; De Schant , Rosario; Géminard , Jean-Christophe

    2014-01-01

    For the last 50 years, the flow of a granular material through an aperture has been intensely studied in gravity-driven vertical systems (e.g. silos and hoppers). Nevertheless, in many industrial applications, grains are horizontally transported at constant velocity, lying on conveyor belts or floating on the surface of flowing liquids. Unlike fluid flows, that are controlled by the pressure, granular flow is not sensitive to the local pressure but rather to the local velocity of the grains a...

  15. Mechanical Behavior of Granular/Particulate Media Reinforced with Fibers

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Michalowski, Radoslw

    1999-01-01

    ... out. This investigation was built on the results of a previous study. Fiber-reinforced granular material was considered as a composite, and a mathematical homogenization scheme was used to arrive at its macroscopic properties...

  16. Torsional shear flow of granular materials: shear localization and minimum energy principle

    Science.gov (United States)

    Artoni, Riccardo; Richard, Patrick

    2018-01-01

    The rheological properties of granular matter submitted to torsional shear are investigated numerically by means of discrete element method. The shear cell is made of a cylinder filled by grains which are sheared by a bumpy bottom and submitted to a vertical pressure which is applied at the top. Regimes differing by their strain localization features are observed. They originate from the competition between dissipation at the sidewalls and dissipation in the bulk of the system. The effects of the (i) the applied pressure, (ii) sidewall friction, and (iii) angular velocity are investigated. A model, based on the purely local μ (I)-rheology and a minimum energy principle is able to capture the effect of the two former quantities but unable to account the effect of the latter. Although, an ad hoc modification of the model allows to reproduce all the numerical results, our results point out the need for an alternative rheology.

  17. Modeling of interaction effects in granular systems

    CERN Document Server

    El-Hilo, M; Al-Rsheed, A

    2000-01-01

    Interaction effects on the magnetic behavior of granular solid systems are examined using a numerical model which is capable of predicting the field, temperature and time dependence of magnetization. In this work, interaction effects on the temperature dependence of time viscosity coefficient S(T) and formation of minor hysteresis loops have been studied. The results for the time- and temperature dependence of remanence ratio have showed that the distribution of energy barriers f(DELTA E) obtained depend critically on the strength and nature of interactions. These interactions-based changes in f(DELTA E) can easily give a temperature-independent behavior of S(T) when these changes give a 1/DELTA E behavior to the distribution of energy barriers. Thus, conclusions about macroscopic quantum tunneling must be carefully drawn when the temperature dependence of S(T) is used to probe for MQT effects. For minor hysteresis effects, the result shows that for the non-interacting case, no minor hysteresis loops occur an...

  18. Multiple impacts in dissipative granular chains

    CERN Document Server

    Nguyen, Ngoc Son

    2014-01-01

    The extension of collision models for single impacts between two bodies, to the case of multiple impacts (which take place when several collisions occur at the same time in a multibody system) is a challenge in Solid Mechanics, due to the complexity of such phenomena, even in the frictionless case. This monograph aims at presenting the main multiple collision rules proposed in the literature. Such collisions typically occur in granular materials, the simplest of which are made of chains of aligned balls. These chains are used throughout the book to analyze various multiple impact rules which extend the classical Newton (kinematic restitution), Poisson (kinetic restitution) and Darboux-Keller (energetic or kinetic restitution) approaches for impact modelling. The shock dynamics in various types of chains of aligned balls (monodisperse, tapered, decorated, stepped chains) is carefully studied and shown to depend on several parameters: restitution coefficients, contact stiffness ratios, elasticity coefficients (...

  19. Sound propagation in dry granular materials : discrete element simulations, theory, and experiments

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mouraille, O.J.P.

    2009-01-01

    In this study sound wave propagation through different types of dry confined granular systems is studied. With three-dimensional discrete element simulations, theory and experiments, the influence of several micro-scale properties: friction, dissipation, particle rotation, and contact disorder, on

  20. Spreading of a granular droplet

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clement, Eric; Sanchez, Ivan; Raynaud, Franck; Lanuza, Jose; Andreotti, Bruno; Aranson, Igor

    2008-03-01

    The influence of controlled vibrations on the granular rheology is investigated in a specifically designed experiment in which a granular film spreads under the action of horizontal vibrations. A nonlinear diffusion equation is derived theoretically that describes the evolution of the deposit shape. A self-similar parabolic shape (the``granular droplet'') and a spreading dynamics are predicted that both agree quantitatively with the experimental results. The theoretical analysis is used to extract effective friction coefficients between the base and the granular layer under sustained and controlled vibrations. A shear thickening regime characteristic of dense granular flows is evidenced at low vibration energy, both for glass beads and natural sand. Conversely, shear thinning is observed at high agitation.

  1. Network flow model of force transmission in unbonded and bonded granular media.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tordesillas, Antoinette; Tobin, Steven T; Cil, Mehmet; Alshibli, Khalid; Behringer, Robert P

    2015-06-01

    An established aspect of force transmission in quasistatic deformation of granular media is the existence of a dual network of strongly versus weakly loaded particles. Despite significant interest, the regulation of strong and weak forces through the contact network remains poorly understood. We examine this aspect of force transmission using data on microstructural fabric from: (I) three-dimensional discrete element models of grain agglomerates of bonded subspheres constructed from in situ synchrotron microtomography images of silica sand grains under unconfined compression and (II) two-dimensional assemblies of unbonded photoelastic circular disks submitted to biaxial compression under constant volume. We model force transmission as a network flow and solve the maximum flow-minimum cost (MFMC) problem, the solution to which yields a percolating subnetwork of contacts that transmits the "maximum flow" (i.e., the highest units of force) at "least cost" (i.e., the dissipated energy from such transmission). We find the MFMC describes a two-tier hierarchical architecture. At the local level, it encapsulates intraconnections between particles in individual force chains and in their conjoined 3-cycles, with the most common configuration having at least one force chain contact experiencing frustrated rotation. At the global level, the MFMC encapsulates interconnections between force chains. The MFMC can be used to predict most of the force chain particles without need for any information on contact forces, thereby suggesting the network flow framework may have potential broad utility in the modeling of force transmission in unbonded and bonded granular media.

  2. Physical Explanation of Archie's Porosity Exponent in Granular Materials: A Process-Based, Pore-Scale Numerical Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Niu, Qifei; Zhang, Chi

    2018-02-01

    The empirical Archie's law has been widely used in geosciences and engineering to explain the measured electrical resistivity of many geological materials, but its physical basis has not been fully understood yet. In this study, we use a pore-scale numerical approach combining discrete element-finite difference methods to study Archie's porosity exponent m of granular materials over a wide porosity range. Numerical results reveal that at dilute states (e.g., porosity ϕ > 65%), m is exclusively related to the particle shape and orientation. As the porosity decreases, the electric flow in pore space concentrates progressively near particle contacts and m increases continuously in response to the intensified nonuniformity of the local electrical field. It is also found that the increase in m is universally correlated with the volume fraction of pore throats for all the samples regardless of their particle shapes, particle size range, and porosities.

  3. Traffic and Granular Flow’05

    CERN Document Server

    Pöschel, Thorsten; Kühne, Reinhart; Schreckenberg, Michael; Wolf, Dietrich

    2007-01-01

    The conference series Tra?c and Granular Flow has been established in 1995 and has since then been held biannually. At that time, the investigation of granular materials and tra?c was still somewhat exotic and was just starting to become popular among physicists. Originally the idea behind this conference series was to facilitate the c- vergence of the two ?elds, inspired by the similarities of certain phenomena and the use of similar theoretical methods. However, in recent years it has become clear that probably the di?erences between the two systems are much more interesting than the similarities. Nevertheless, the importance of various interrelations among these ?elds is still growing. The workshop continues to o?er an opportunity to stimulate this interdisciplinary research. Over the years the spectrum of topics has become much broader and has included also problems related to topics ranging from social dynamics to - ology. The conference manages to bring together people with rather di?erent background, r...

  4. Universal slip dynamics in metallic glasses and granular matter - linking frictional weakening with inertial effects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Denisov, Dmitry V.; Lőrincz, Kinga A.; Wright, Wendelin J.; Hufnagel, Todd C.; Nawano, Aya; Gu, Xiaojun; Uhl, Jonathan T.; Dahmen, Karin A.; Schall, Peter

    2017-03-01

    Slowly strained solids deform via intermittent slips that exhibit a material-independent critical size distribution. Here, by comparing two disparate systems - granular materials and bulk metallic glasses - we show evidence that not only the statistics of slips but also their dynamics are remarkably similar, i.e. independent of the microscopic details of the material. By resolving and comparing the full time evolution of avalanches in bulk metallic glasses and granular materials, we uncover a regime of universal deformation dynamics. We experimentally verify the predicted universal scaling functions for the dynamics of individual avalanches in both systems, and show that both the slip statistics and dynamics are independent of the scale and details of the material structure and interactions, thus settling a long-standing debate as to whether or not the claim of universality includes only the slip statistics or also the slip dynamics. The results imply that the frictional weakening in granular materials and the interplay of damping, weakening and inertial effects in bulk metallic glasses have strikingly similar effects on the slip dynamics. These results are important for transferring experimental results across scales and material structures in a single theory of deformation dynamics.

  5. Flow above and within granular media composed of spherical and non-spherical particles - using a 3D numerical model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bartzke, Gerhard; Kuhlmann, Jannis; Huhn, Katrin

    2016-04-01

    The entrainment of single grains and, hence, their erosion characteristics are dependent on fluid forcing, grain size and density, but also shape variations. To quantitatively describe and capture the hydrodynamic conditions around individual grains, researchers commonly use empirical approaches such as laboratory flume tanks. Nonetheless, it is difficult with such physical experiments to measure the flow velocities in the direct vicinity or within the pore spaces of sediments, at a sufficient resolution and in a non-invasive way. As a result, the hydrodynamic conditions in the water column, at the fluid-porous interface and within pore spaces of a granular medium of various grain shapes is not yet fully understood. For that reason, there is a strong need for numerical models, since these are capable of quantifying fluid speeds within a granular medium. A 3D-SPH (Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics) numerical wave tank model was set up to provide quantitative evidence on the flow velocities in the direct vicinity and in the interior of granular beds composed of two shapes as a complementary method to the difficult task of in situ measurement. On the basis of previous successful numerical wave tank models with SPH, the model geometry was chosen in dimensions of X=2.68 [m], Y=0.48 [m], and Z=0.8 [m]. Three suites of experiments were designed with a range of particle shape models: (1) ellipsoids with the long axis oriented in the across-stream direction, (2) ellipsoids with the long axis oriented in the along-stream direction, and (3) spheres. Particle diameters ranged from 0.04 [m] to 0.08 [m]. A wave was introduced by a vertical paddle that accelerated to 0.8 [m/s] perpendicular to the granular bed. Flow measurements showed that the flow velocity values into the beds were highest when the grains were oriented across the stream direction and lowest in case when the grains were oriented parallel to the stream, indicating that the model was capable to simulate simultaneously

  6. Connecting grain-scale physics to macroscopic granular flow behavior using discrete contact-dynamics simulations, centrifuge experiments, and continuum modeling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reitz, Meredith; Stark, Colin; Hung, Chi-Yao; Smith, Breannan; Grinspin, Eitan; Capart, Herve; Li, Liming; Crone, Timothy; Hsu, Leslie; Ling, Hoe

    2014-05-01

    characterize both the convergence of these grain-scale parameters toward the empirical coefficients of the macroscopic descriptions, and the deviations from continuum model predictions caused by nonlocal granular effects for quantities such as erosion rate. We will also summarize the context and implications of our work for both granular physics theory and granular flow hazard risk assessment.

  7. Feasibility study of a granular bed prefilter for purifying combustion gases from a solid radioactive waste incinerator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Girod, M.

    1993-01-01

    The purpose of incineration is to minimize the volumes of radioactive waste to be stored. Cleaning combustion gases from these incinerators requires prefilters to protect the very high efficiency filters (known by the French acronym THE). These prefilters should make it possible to recover products such as plutonium while at the same time presenting a very limited source of secondary waste. This document sets out the feasibility study for a granular bed prefilter. This bed should be made of a material which is itself combustible so that it can be recycled in the incinerator to minimize production of secondary waste. During an initial stage, a design study of a demonstration device was carried out using a calculation code constructed on the basis of existing physical models, and which makes it possible to forecast the performance of the support. This theoretical approach has been correlated against experimental results from the validation test. During a second stage, the study dealt with the selection of the material from which the bed was made as well as quantification of the release of radiation during incineration of the plutonium contamined material. In this way, the very low transfer of radioactivity into the gaseous phase was demonstrated. Finally, during a third stage, a study of the change in efficiency and the loss of charge of a granular bed filter was carried out during industrial operation using an incinerator. In conclusion, it was demonstrated that the granular bed represents a viable solution for prefiltering at 200 deg C. Research might develop along a different path and involve using the granular bed as a high temperature filter at 500 to 600 deg C

  8. Capillary pressure-saturation relationships for porous granular materials: Pore morphology method vs. pore unit assembly method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sweijen, Thomas; Aslannejad, Hamed; Hassanizadeh, S. Majid

    2017-09-01

    In studies of two-phase flow in complex porous media it is often desirable to have an estimation of the capillary pressure-saturation curve prior to measurements. Therefore, we compare in this research the capability of three pore-scale approaches in reproducing experimentally measured capillary pressure-saturation curves. To do so, we have generated 12 packings of spheres that are representative of four different glass-bead packings and eight different sand packings, for which we have found experimental data on the capillary pressure-saturation curve in the literature. In generating the packings, we matched the particle size distributions and porosity values of the granular materials. We have used three different pore-scale approaches for generating the capillary pressure-saturation curves of each packing: i) the Pore Unit Assembly (PUA) method in combination with the Mayer and Stowe-Princen (MS-P) approximation for estimating the entry pressures of pore throats, ii) the PUA method in combination with the hemisphere approximation, and iii) the Pore Morphology Method (PMM) in combination with the hemisphere approximation. The three approaches were also used to produce capillary pressure-saturation curves for the coating layer of paper, used in inkjet printing. Curves for such layers are extremely difficult to determine experimentally, due to their very small thickness and the presence of extremely small pores (less than one micrometer in size). Results indicate that the PMM and PUA-hemisphere method give similar capillary pressure-saturation curves, because both methods rely on a hemisphere to represent the air-water interface. The ability of the hemisphere approximation and the MS-P approximation to reproduce correct capillary pressure seems to depend on the type of particle size distribution, with the hemisphere approximation working well for narrowly distributed granular materials.

  9. Granular-relational data mining how to mine relational data in the paradigm of granular computing ?

    CERN Document Server

    Hońko, Piotr

    2017-01-01

    This book provides two general granular computing approaches to mining relational data, the first of which uses abstract descriptions of relational objects to build their granular representation, while the second extends existing granular data mining solutions to a relational case. Both approaches make it possible to perform and improve popular data mining tasks such as classification, clustering, and association discovery. How can different relational data mining tasks best be unified? How can the construction process of relational patterns be simplified? How can richer knowledge from relational data be discovered? All these questions can be answered in the same way: by mining relational data in the paradigm of granular computing! This book will allow readers with previous experience in the field of relational data mining to discover the many benefits of its granular perspective. In turn, those readers familiar with the paradigm of granular computing will find valuable insights on its application to mining r...

  10. DEM simulation of granular flows in a centrifugal acceleration field

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cabrera, Miguel Angel; Peng, Chong; Wu, Wei

    2017-04-01

    The main purpose of mass-flow experimental models is abstracting distinctive features of natural granular flows, and allow its systematic study in the laboratory. In this process, particle size, space, time, and stress scales must be considered for the proper representation of specific phenomena [5]. One of the most challenging tasks in small scale models, is matching the range of stresses and strains among the particle and fluid media observed in a field event. Centrifuge modelling offers an alternative to upscale all gravity-driven processes, and it has been recently employed in the simulation of granular flows [1, 2, 3, 6, 7]. Centrifuge scaling principles are presented in Ref. [4], collecting a wide spectrum of static and dynamic models. However, for the case of kinematic processes, the non-uniformity of the centrifugal acceleration field plays a major role (i.e., Coriolis and inertial effects). In this work, we discuss a general formulation for the centrifugal acceleration field, implemented in a discrete element model framework (DEM), and validated with centrifuge experimental results. Conventional DEM simulations relate the volumetric forces as a function of the gravitational force Gp = mpg. However, in the local coordinate system of a rotating centrifuge model, the cylindrical centrifugal acceleration field needs to be included. In this rotating system, the centrifugal acceleration of a particle depends on the rotating speed of the centrifuge, as well as the position and speed of the particle in the rotating model. Therefore, we obtain the formulation of centrifugal acceleration field by coordinate transformation. The numerical model is validated with a series of centrifuge experiments of monodispersed glass beads, flowing down an inclined plane at different acceleration levels and slope angles. Further discussion leads to the numerical parameterization necessary for simulating equivalent granular flows under an augmented acceleration field. The premise of

  11. COMPORTAMIENTO DE UN MATERIAL GRANULAR NO TRATADO EN ENSAYOS TRIAXIALES CÍCLICOS CON PRESIÓN DE CONFINAMIENTO CONSTANTE Y VARIABLE BEHAVIOR OF AN UNBOUND GRANULAR MATERIAL IN CYCLIC TRIAXIAL TESTS WITH CONSTANT AND VARIABLE CONFINING PRESSURE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hugo Alexander Rondón Quintana

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available En un pavimento, cada una de las capas de la estructura experimenta bajo una carga vehicular ciclos de esfuerzo con componentes vertical, horizontal y de corte. Para el estudio de materiales granulares no tratados (utilizados para conformar capas de base y subbase, la mayor parte de las investigaciones se realizan empleando equipos triaxiales cíclicos en donde sólo la carga vertical es cíclica y la presión de confinamiento permanece constante durante el ensayo. Un ensayo que reproduce mejor la forma como se distribuyen los esfuerzos en estas capas es el ensayo triaxial cíclico con presión de confinamiento variable. En este ensayo se pueden modelar las componentes cíclicas tanto en el sentido vertical como horizontal. A pesar que son ensayos distintos, la ingeniería de pavimentos supone que la respuesta que experimentan estos materiales en estos ensayos es similar, lo anterior basado en algunos estudios realizados en la década de los setenta. En la presente investigación se diseña y desarrolla un programa experimental más detallado, para comparar el comportamiento que desarrolla un material granular no tratado en estos ensayos. De los resultados se evidencia que sólo para algunas trayectorias de esfuerzo, la dirección y la acumulación de la deformación vertical y volumétrica es similar.In a pavement structure, passing wheel loads impose cyclic stresses consisting of vertical, horizontal and shear components. Studies of the behavior of unbound granular materials (UGM, used for base and sub-base layers under cyclic loading are mostly performed using the axisymmetric triaxial test with constant confining pressure (CCP test and a cyclic variation of the axial stress. However, in this type of test only the vertical component of the cyclic stress path is considered. The oscillation of the horizontal stress can be reproduced by an additional cyclic variation of the confining pressure (VCP test. CCP and VCP tests are sometimes assumed to

  12. Bedrock erosion by sliding wear in channelized granular flow

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hung, C. Y.; Stark, C. P.; Capart, H.; Smith, B.; Maia, H. T.; Li, L.; Reitz, M. D.

    2014-12-01

    Boundary forces generated by debris flows can be powerful enough to erode bedrock and cause considerable damage to infrastructure during runout. Bedrock wear can be separated into impact and sliding wear processes. Here we focus on sliding wear. We have conducted experiments with a 40-cm-diameter grainflow-generating rotating drum designed to simulate dry channelized debris flows. To generate sliding erosion, we placed a 20-cm-diameter bedrock plate axially on the back wall of the drum. The rotating drum was half filled with 2.3-mm-diameter grains, which formed a thin grain-avalanching layer with peak flow speed and depth close to the drum axis. The whole experimental apparatus was placed on a 100g-ton geotechnical centrifuge and, in order to scale up the stress level, spun to a range of effective gravity levels. Rates and patterns of erosion of the bedrock plate were mapped after each experiment using 3d micro-photogrammetry. High-speed video and particle tracking were employed to measure granular flow dynamics. The resulting data for granular velocities and flow geometry were used to estimate impulse exchanges and forces on the bedrock plate. To address some of the complexities of granular flow under variable gravity levels, we developed a continuum model framed around a GDR MiDi rheology. This model allowed us to scale up boundary forcing while maintaining the same granular flow regime, and helped us to understand important aspects of the flow dynamics including e.g. fluxes of momentum and kinetic energy. In order to understand the detailed processes of boundary forcing, we performed numerical simulations with a new contact dynamics model. This model confirmed key aspects of our continuum model and provided information on second-order behavior such as fluctuations in the forces acting on the wall. By combining these measurements and theoretical analyses, we have developed and calibrated a constitutive model for sliding wear that is a threshold function of

  13. 2D transient granular flows over obstacles: experimental and numerical work

    Science.gov (United States)

    Juez, Carmelo; Caviedes-Voullième, Daniel; Murillo, Javier; García-Navarro, Pilar

    2016-04-01

    Landslides are an ubiquitous natural hazard, and therefore human infrastructure and settlements are often at risk in mountainous regions. In order to better understand and predict landslides, systematic studies of the phenomena need to be undertaken. In particular, computational tools which allow for analysis of field problems require to be thoroughly tested, calibrated and validated under controlled conditions. And to do so, it is necessary for such controlled experiments to be fully characterized in the same terms as the numerical model requires. This work presents an experimental study of dry granular flow over a rough bed with topography which resembles a mountain valley. It has an upper region with a very high slope. The geometry of the bed describes a fourth order polynomial curve, with a low point with zero slope, and afterwards a short region with adverse slope. Obstacles are present in the lower regions which are used as model geometries of human structures. The experiments consisted of a sudden release a mass of sand on the upper region, and allowing it to flow downslope. Furthermore, it has been frequent in previous studies to measure final states of the granular mass at rest, but seldom has transient data being provided, and never for the entire field. In this work we present transient measurements of the moving granular surfaces, obtained with a consumer-grade RGB-D sensor. The sensor, developed for the videogame industry, allows to measure the moving surface of the sand, thus obtaining elevation fields. The experimental results are very consistent and repeatable. The measured surfaces clearly show the distinctive features of the granular flow around the obstacles and allow to qualitatively describe the different flow patterns. More importantly, the quantitative description of the granular surface allows for benchmarking and calibration of predictive numerical models, key in scaling the small-scale experimental knowledge into the field. In addition, as

  14. Modelling an industrial anaerobic granular reactor using a multi-scale approach

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Feldman, Hannah; Flores Alsina, Xavier; Ramin, Pedram

    2017-01-01

    The objective of this paper is to show the results of an industrial project dealing with modelling of anaerobic digesters. A multi-scale mathematical approach is developed to describe reactor hydrodynamics, granule growth/distribution and microbial competition/inhibition for substrate/space within...... the biofilm. The main biochemical and physico-chemical processes in the model are based on the Anaerobic Digestion Model No 1 (ADM1) extended with the fate of phosphorus (P), sulfur (S) and ethanol (Et-OH). Wastewater dynamic conditions are reproduced and data frequency increased using the Benchmark...... simulations show the effects on the overall process performance when operational (pH) and loading (S:COD) conditions are modified. Lastly, the effect of intra-granular precipitation on the overall organic/inorganic distribution is assessed at: 1) different times; and, 2) reactor heights. Finally...

  15. 11th Traffic and Granular Flow Conference

    CERN Document Server

    Daamen, Winnie

    2016-01-01

    The Conference on Traffic and Granular Flow brings together international researchers from different fields ranging from physics to computer science and engineering to discuss the latest developments in traffic-related systems. Originally conceived to facilitate new ideas by considering the similarities of traffic and granular flow, TGF'15, organised by Delft University of Technology, now covers a broad range of topics related to driven particle and transport systems. Besides the classical topics of granular flow and highway traffic, its scope includes data transport (Internet traffic), pedestrian and evacuation dynamics, intercellular transport, swarm behaviour and the collective dynamics of other biological systems. Recent advances in modelling, computer simulation and phenomenology are presented, and prospects for applications, for example to traffic control, are discussed. The conference explores the interrelations between the above-mentioned fields and offers the opportunity to stimulate interdisciplinar...

  16. A realistic large-scale model of the cerebellum granular layer predicts circuit spatio-temporal filtering properties

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sergio Solinas

    2010-05-01

    Full Text Available The way the cerebellar granular layer transforms incoming mossy fiber signals into new spike patterns to be related to Purkinje cells is not yet clear. Here, a realistic computational model of the granular layer was developed and used to address four main functional hypotheses: center-surround organization, time-windowing, high-pass filtering in responses to spike bursts and coherent oscillations in response to diffuse random activity. The model network was activated using patterns inspired by those recorded in vivo. Burst stimulation of a small mossy fiber bundle resulted in granule cell bursts delimited in time (time windowing and space (center-surround by network inhibition. This burst-burst transmission showed marked frequency-dependence configuring a high-pass filter with cut-off frequency around 100 Hz. The contrast between center and surround properties was regulated by the excitatory-inhibitory balance. The stronger excitation made the center more responsive to 10-50 Hz input frequencies and enhanced the granule cell output (with spike occurring earlier and with higher frequency and number compared to the surround. Finally, over a certain level of mossy fiber background activity, the circuit generated coherent oscillations in the theta-frequency band. All these processes were fine-tuned by NMDA and GABA-A receptor activation and neurotransmitter vesicle cycling in the cerebellar glomeruli. This model shows that available knowledge on cellular mechanisms is sufficient to unify the main functional hypotheses on the cerebellum granular layer and suggests that this network can behave as an adaptable spatio-temporal filter coordinated by theta-frequency oscillations.

  17. Evaluating Energy Flux in Vibrofluidized Granular Bed

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N. A. Sheikh

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Granular flows require sustained input of energy for fluidization. A level of fluidization depends on the amount of heat flux provided to the flow. In general, the dissipation of the grains upon interaction balances the heat inputs and the resultant flow patterns can be described using hydrodynamic models. However, with the increase in packing fraction, the heat fluxes prediction of the cell increases. Here, a comparison is made for the proposed theoretical models against the MD simulations data. It is observed that the variation of packing fraction in the granular cell influences the heat flux at the base. For the elastic grain-base interaction, the predictions vary appreciably compared to MD simulations, suggesting the need to accurately model the velocity distribution of grains for averaging.

  18. A finite area scheme for shallow granular flows on three-dimensional surfaces

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rauter, Matthias

    2017-04-01

    Shallow granular flow models have become a popular tool for the estimation of natural hazards, such as landslides, debris flows and avalanches. The shallowness of the flow allows to reduce the three-dimensional governing equations to a quasi two-dimensional system. Three-dimensional flow fields are replaced by their depth-integrated two-dimensional counterparts, which yields a robust and fast method [1]. A solution for a simple shallow granular flow model, based on the so-called finite area method [3] is presented. The finite area method is an adaption of the finite volume method [4] to two-dimensional curved surfaces in three-dimensional space. This method handles the three dimensional basal topography in a simple way, making the model suitable for arbitrary (but mildly curved) topography, such as natural terrain. Furthermore, the implementation into the open source software OpenFOAM [4] is shown. OpenFOAM is a popular computational fluid dynamics application, designed so that the top-level code mimics the mathematical governing equations. This makes the code easy to read and extendable to more sophisticated models. Finally, some hints on how to get started with the code and how to extend the basic model will be given. I gratefully acknowledge the financial support by the OEAW project "beyond dense flow avalanches". Savage, S. B. & Hutter, K. 1989 The motion of a finite mass of granular material down a rough incline. Journal of Fluid Mechanics 199, 177-215. Ferziger, J. & Peric, M. 2002 Computational methods for fluid dynamics, 3rd edn. Springer. Tukovic, Z. & Jasak, H. 2012 A moving mesh finite volume interface tracking method for surface tension dominated interfacial fluid flow. Computers & fluids 55, 70-84. Weller, H. G., Tabor, G., Jasak, H. & Fureby, C. 1998 A tensorial approach to computational continuum mechanics using object-oriented techniques. Computers in physics 12(6), 620-631.

  19. Self-diffusion in dense granular shear flows.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Utter, Brian; Behringer, R P

    2004-03-01

    Diffusivity is a key quantity in describing velocity fluctuations in granular materials. These fluctuations are the basis of many thermodynamic and hydrodynamic models which aim to provide a statistical description of granular systems. We present experimental results on diffusivity in dense, granular shear flows in a two-dimensional Couette geometry. We find that self-diffusivities D are proportional to the local shear rate gamma; with diffusivities along the direction of the mean flow approximately twice as large as those in the perpendicular direction. The magnitude of the diffusivity is D approximately gamma;a(2), where a is the particle radius. However, the gradient in shear rate, coupling to the mean flow, and strong drag at the moving boundary lead to particle displacements that can appear subdiffusive or superdiffusive. In particular, diffusion appears to be superdiffusive along the mean flow direction due to Taylor dispersion effects and subdiffusive along the perpendicular direction due to the gradient in shear rate. The anisotropic force network leads to an additional anisotropy in the diffusivity that is a property of dense systems and has no obvious analog in rapid flows. Specifically, the diffusivity is suppressed along the direction of the strong force network. A simple random walk simulation reproduces the key features of the data, such as the apparent superdiffusive and subdiffusive behavior arising from the mean velocity field, confirming the underlying diffusive motion. The additional anisotropy is not observed in the simulation since the strong force network is not included. Examples of correlated motion, such as transient vortices, and Lévy flights are also observed. Although correlated motion creates velocity fields which are qualitatively different from collisional Brownian motion and can introduce nondiffusive effects, on average the system appears simply diffusive.

  20. Knudsen temperature jump and the Navier-Stokes hydrodynamics of granular gases driven by thermal walls.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khain, Evgeniy; Meerson, Baruch; Sasorov, Pavel V

    2008-10-01

    Thermal wall is a convenient idealization of a rapidly vibrating plate used for vibrofluidization of granular materials. The objective of this work is to incorporate the Knudsen temperature jump at thermal wall in the Navier-Stokes hydrodynamic modeling of dilute granular gases of monodisperse particles that collide nearly elastically. The Knudsen temperature jump manifests itself as an additional term, proportional to the temperature gradient, in the boundary condition for the temperature. Up to a numerical prefactor O(1) , this term is known from kinetic theory of elastic gases. We determine the previously unknown numerical prefactor by measuring, in a series of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, steady-state temperature profiles of a gas of elastically colliding hard disks, confined between two thermal walls kept at different temperatures, and comparing the results with the predictions of a hydrodynamic calculation employing the modified boundary condition. The modified boundary condition is then applied, without any adjustable parameters, to a hydrodynamic calculation of the temperature profile of a gas of inelastic hard disks driven by a thermal wall. We find the hydrodynamic prediction to be in very good agreement with MD simulations of the same system. The results of this work pave the way to a more accurate hydrodynamic modeling of driven granular gases.

  1. Tracing Thermal Creep Through Granular Media

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steinpilz, Tobias; Teiser, Jens; Koester, Marc; Schywek, Mathias; Wurm, Gerhard

    2017-08-01

    A temperature gradient within a granular medium at low ambient pressure drives a gas flow through the medium by thermal creep. We measured the resulting air flow for a sample of glass beads with particle diameters between 290 μ m and 420 μ m for random close packing. Ambient pressure was varied between 1 Pa and 1000 Pa. The gas flow was quantified by means of tracer particles during parabolic flights. The flow varies systematically with pressure between 0.2 cm/s and 6 cm/s. The measured flow velocities are in quantitative agreement to model calculations that treat the granular medium as a collection of linear capillaries.

  2. Discrete Element Method simulations of standing jumps in granular flows down inclines

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Méjean Ségolène

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper describes a numerical set-up which uses Discrete Element Method to produce standing jumps in flows of dry granular materials down a slope in two dimensions. The grain-scale force interactions are modeled by a visco-elastic normal force and an elastic tangential force with a Coulomb threshold. We will show how it is possible to reproduce all the shapes of the jumps observed in a previous laboratory study: diffuse versus steep jumps and compressible versus incompressible jumps. Moreover, we will discuss the additional measurements that can be done thanks to discrete element modelling.

  3. Can one ``Hear'' the aggregation state of a granular system?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kruelle, Christof A.; Sánchez, Almudena García

    2013-06-01

    If an ensemble of macroscopic particles is mechanically agitated the constant energy input is dissipated into the system by multiple inelastic collisions. As a result, the granular material can exhibit, depending on the magnitude of agitation, several physical states - like a gaseous phase for high energy input or a condensed state for low agitation. Here we introduce a new method for quantifying the acoustical response of the granular system. Our experimental system consists of a monodisperse packing of glass beads with a free upper surface, which is confined inside a cylindrical container. An electro-mechanical shaker exerts a sinusoidal vertical vibration at normalized accelerations well above the fluidization threshold for a monolayer of particles. By increasing the number of beads the granular gas suddenly collapses if a critical threshold is exceeded. The transition can be detected easily with a microphone connected to the soundcard of a PC. From the recorded audio track a FFT is calculated in real-time. Depending on either the number of particles at a fixed acceleration or the amount of energy input for a given number of particles, the resulting rattling noise exhibits a power spectrum with either the dominating (shaker) frequency plus higher harmonics for a granular crystal or a high-frequency broad-band noise for a granular gas, respectively. Our new method demonstrates that it is possible to quantify analytically the subjective audio impressions of a careful listener and thus to distinguish easily between different aggregation states of an excited granular system.

  4. Statistical and visual probing of evolving granular assemblies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smith, Laurence M.

    2002-01-01

    The majority of processes in the chemical and allied industries involve the storage and conveyancing of granular material, the physics of which is still not particularly well understood. Whilst some non-invasive techniques have been developed, much experimental work unfortunately interferes with the fields being investigated. For this reason and in conjunction with increasing computing power, there has been an increase in simulation based studies. Granular dynamics simulations, being based upon inter-particle interaction laws, give the potential to investigate assemblies at the 'micro-level' and have been successful in modelling process conditions in a number of granular flow situations. To date, most analyses of these simulations are essentially static in nature involving 'time snapshots'. However, in a granular dynamics simulation there is a wealth of data available on a time referenced basis which has the potential to allow a quantitative analysis of the dynamics of assembly evolution. This dissertation describes the development and application of a toolkit for post-simulation analysis. However, the utilities within the toolkit would be equally applicable to large experimental data sets should such data sets exist. The application of the toolset focuses largely on the dynamics of heap evolution in both 2D and 3D with some supportive 3D work on hopper discharge. A major part of the work involves the application of time series techniques (including the wavelet transform) in the context of variable coupling during avalanching. Segregation by self-diffusion receives particular attention and a new mechanism is proposed by which segregation by particle size takes place in the boundary layer of a low impact feed heap displaying a clear velocity gradient during discrete avalanching. Periodic lateral surging is shown to enforce mixing for a high impact feed, a phenomenon which appears to switch off below a certain feed impact. Segregation by self-diffusion is also shown

  5. An Elastic Plastic Contact Model with Strain Hardening for the LAMMPS Granular Package

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kuhr, Bryan [Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ. (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA (United States); Brake, Matthew Robert [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States). Component Science and Mechanics; Lechman, Jeremy B. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States). Nanoscale and Reactive Processes

    2015-03-01

    The following details the implementation of an analytical elastic plastic contact model with strain hardening for normal im pacts into the LAMMPS granular package. The model assumes that, upon impact, the co llision has a period of elastic loading followed by a period of mixed elastic plas tic loading, with contributions to each mechanism estimated by a hyperbolic seca nt weight function. This function is implemented in the LAMMPS source code as the pair style gran/ep/history. Preliminary tests, simulating the pouring of pure nickel spheres, showed the elastic/plastic model took 1.66x as long as similar runs using gran/hertz/history.

  6. Linear response of vibrated granular systems to sudden changes in the vibration intensity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brey, J. Javier; Prados, A.

    2001-01-01

    The short-term memory effects recently observed in vibration-induced compaction of granular materials are studied. It is shown that they can be explained by means of quite plausible hypothesis about the mesoscopic description of the evolution of the system. The existence of a critical time separating regimes of 'anomalous' and 'normal' responses is predicted. A simple model fitting into the general framework is analyzed in the detail. The relationship between this paper and previous studies is discussed

  7. Analysis and Modeling of Structure Formation in Granular and Fluid-Solid Flows

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murphy, Eric

    Granular and multiphase flows are encountered in a number of industrial processes with particular emphasis in this manuscript given to the particular applications in cement pumping, pneumatic conveying, fluid catalytic cracking, CO2 capture, and fast pyrolysis of bio-materials. These processes are often modeled using averaged equations that may be simulated using computational fluid dynamics. Closure models are then required that describe the average forces that arise from both interparticle interactions, e.g. shear stress, and interphase interactions, such as mean drag. One of the biggest hurdles to this approach is the emergence of non-trivial spatio-temporal structures in the particulate phase, which can significantly modify the qualitative behavior of these forces and the resultant flow phenomenology. For example, the formation of large clusters in cohesive granular flows is responsible for a transition from solid-like to fluid-like rheology. Another example is found in gas-solid systems, where clustering at small scales is observed to significantly lower in the observed drag. Moreover, there remains the possibility that structure formation may occur at all scales, leading to a lack of scale separation required for traditional averaging approaches. In this context, several modeling problems are treated 1) first-principles based modeling of the rheology of cement slurries, 2) modeling the mean solid-solid drag experienced by polydisperse particles undergoing segregation, and 3) modeling clustering in homogeneous gas-solid flows. The first and third components are described in greater detail. In the study on the rheology of cements, several sub-problems are introduced, which systematically increase in the number and complexity of interparticle interactions. These interparticle interactions include inelasticity, friction, cohesion, and fluid interactions. In the first study, the interactions between cohesive inelastic particles was fully characterized for the

  8. Multi-scale mechanics of granular solids from grain-resolved X-ray measurements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hurley, R. C.; Hall, S. A.; Wright, J. P.

    2017-11-01

    This work discusses an experimental technique for studying the mechanics of three-dimensional (3D) granular solids. The approach combines 3D X-ray diffraction and X-ray computed tomography to measure grain-resolved strains, kinematics and contact fabric in the bulk of a granular solid, from which continuum strains, grain stresses, interparticle forces and coarse-grained elasto-plastic moduli can be determined. We demonstrate the experimental approach and analysis of selected results on a sample of 1099 stiff, frictional grains undergoing multiple uniaxial compression cycles. We investigate the inter-particle force network, elasto-plastic moduli and associated length scales, reversibility of mechanical responses during cyclic loading, the statistics of microscopic responses and microstructure-property relationships. This work serves to highlight both the fundamental insight into granular mechanics that is furnished by combined X-ray measurements and describes future directions in the field of granular materials that can be pursued with such approaches.

  9. Simultaneous Cr(VI) bio-reduction and methane production by anaerobic granular sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Qian; Sun, Jiaji; Sun, Dezhi; Tian, Lan; Ji, Yanan; Qiu, Bin

    2018-08-01

    Wastewater containing toxic hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) were treated with well-organized anaerobic granular sludge in this study. Results showed that the anaerobic granular sludge rapidly removed Cr(VI), and 2000 µg·L -1 Cr(VI) was completely eliminated within 6 min, which was much faster than the reported duration of removal by reported artificial materials. Sucrose added as a carbon source acted as an initial electron donor to reduce Cr(VI) to Cr(III). This process was considered as the main mechanism of Cr(VI) removal. Methane production by anaerobic granular sludge was improved by the addition of Cr(VI) at a concentration lower than 500 µg·L -1 . Anaerobic granular sludge had a well-organized structure, which presented good resistance against toxic Cr(VI). Trichoccus accelerated the degradation of organic substances to generate acetates with a low Cr(VI) concentration, thereby enhancing methane production by acetotrophic methanogens. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Why granular media are thermal after all

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Mario; Jiang, Yimin

    2017-06-01

    Two approaches exist to account for granular behavior. The thermal one considers the total entropy, which includes microscopic degrees of freedom such as phonons; the athermal one (as with the Edward entropy) takes grains as elementary. Granular solid hydrodynamics (GSH) belongs to the first, DEM, granular kinetic theory and athermal statistical mechanics (ASM) to the second. A careful discussion of their conceptual differences is given here. Three noteworthy insights or results are: (1) While DEM and granular kinetic theory are well justified to take grains as elementary, any athermal entropic consideration is bound to run into trouble. (2) Many general principles are taken as invalid in granular media. Yet within the thermal approach, energy conservation and fluctuation-dissipation theorem remain valid, granular temperatures equilibrate, and phase space is well explored in a grain at rest. Hence these are abnormalities of the athermal approximation, not of granular media as such. (3) GSH is a wide-ranged continuum mechanical description of granular dynamics.

  11. The Effect of Binder and Waste Granular Materials (WGM on the Shear Strength and Shear Resistance of Dredged Marine Soils (DMS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rosman Mohammad Zawawi

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Dredged marine soil (DMS is considered as weak and soft problematic soil. It is possible to give this type of soil a second life if only its geotechnical properties are improved. Infusing soil with solidification agent is the common practice of soil improvement. This study uses binder and waste granular material (WGM such as cement, bottom ash (BA and palm oil clinker (POC. The aforementioned materials are capable to fortify the poor features of the soil. Series numbers of soil bed samples were tested for its shear strength and shear resistance. Test results show that the mentioned soil parameters were corresponded with each other. In short, geo-waste and biomass materials are possible to be reused instead of being discarded.

  12. Self-organized magnetic particles to tune the mechanical behavior of a granular system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cox, Meredith; Wang, Dong; Barés, Jonathan; Behringer, Robert P.

    2016-09-01

    Above a certain density a granular material jams. This property can be controlled by either tuning a global property, such as the packing fraction or by applying shear strain, or at the micro-scale by tuning grain shape, inter-particle friction or externally controlled organization. Here, we introduce a novel way to change a local granular property by adding a weak anisotropic magnetic interaction between particles. We measure the evolution of the pressure, P, and coordination number, Z, for a packing of 2D photo-elastic disks, subject to uniaxial compression. A fraction R m of the particles have embedded cuboidal magnets. The strength of the magnetic interactions between particles is too weak to have a strong direct effect on P or Z when the system is jammed. However, the magnetic interactions play an important role in the evolution of latent force networks when systems containing a large enough fraction of the particles with magnets are driven through unjammed to jammed states. In this case, a statistically stable network of magnetic chains self-organizes before jamming and overlaps with force chains once jamming occurs, strengthening the granular medium. This property opens a novel way to control mechanical properties of granular materials.

  13. Stress distribution in quasi-crystalline granular piles

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Trigger, S.A.; Heijst, van G.J.F.; Krasnopolskaya, T.S.; Schram, P.P.J.M.

    2001-01-01

    The main goal of this paper is a rigorous consideration of the stress problem in some simple models of granular piles. Discrete models are considered and the transition to the continuous description is accomplished in order to find the coarse-grained average stress. Some phenomenological rules are

  14. The response of dense dry granular material to the shear reversal

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Jie; Ren, Jie; Farhadi, Somayeh; Behringer, Robert

    2008-11-01

    We have performed two dimensional granular experiments under pure shear using bidisperse photo-elastic disks. Starting from a stress free state, a square box filled with granular particles is subject to shear. The forward shears involved various number of steps, leading to maximum strains between 0.1 and 0.3. The area is kept constant during the shear. The network of force chains gradually built up as the strain increased, leading to increased pressure and shear stress. Reverse shear was then applied to the system. Depending on the initial packing fraction and the strain at which the shear is reversed, the force chain network built prior to the shear reversal may be destroyed completely or partially destroyed. Following the force chain weakening, when the reserve shear is continuously applied to the system, there is a force chain strengthening. Following each change of the system, contact forces of individual disks were measured by applying an inverse algorithm. We also kept track of the displacement and angle of rotation of every particle from frame to frame. We present the results for the structure failure and reconstruction during shear reversals. We also present data for stresses, contact force distributions and other statistical measures.

  15. Aspects of simulating the dynamic compaction of a granular ceramic

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Borg, John P; Vogler, Tracy J

    2009-01-01

    Mesoscale hydrodynamic calculations have been conducted in order to gain further insight into the dynamic compaction characteristics of granular ceramics. With a mesoscale approach each individual grain, as well as the porosity, is modeled explicitly; the bulk behavior of the porous material can be resolved as a result. From these calculations bulk material characteristics such as shock speed, stress and density have been obtained and compared with experimental results. A parametric study has been conducted in order to explore the variation and sensitivity of the computationally derived dynamic response characteristics to micro-scale material properties such as Poisson's ratio, dynamic yield and tensile failure strength; macro-scale parameters such as volume fraction, particle morphology and size distribution were explored as well. The results indicate that the baseline bulk Hugoniot response under-predicts the experimentally measured response. These results are sensitive to the volume fraction, dynamic yield strength and particle arrangement, somewhat sensitive to failure strength and insensitive to the micro-scale Hugoniot and grain morphology. A discussion as to the shortcomings in the mesoscale modeling technique, as well as future considerations, is included

  16. Small solar system bodies as granular systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hestroffer, Daniel; Campo Bagatín, Adriano; Losert, Wolfgang; Opsomer, Eric; Sánchez, Paul; Scheeres, Daniel J.; Staron, Lydie; Taberlet, Nicolas; Yano, Hajime; Eggl, Siegfried; Lecomte, Charles-Edouard; Murdoch, Naomi; Radjai, Fahrang; Richardson, Derek C.; Salazar, Marcos; Schwartz, Stephen R.; Tanga, Paolo

    2017-06-01

    Asteroids and other Small Solar System Bodies (SSSBs) are currently of great scientific and even industrial interest. Asteroids exist as the permanent record of the formation of the Solar System and therefore hold many clues to its understanding as a whole, as well as insights into the formation of planetary bodies. Additionally, SSSBs are being investigated in the context of impact risks for the Earth, space situational awareness and their possible industrial exploitation (asteroid mining). In all these aspects, the knowledge of the geophysical characteristics of SSSB surface and internal structure are of great importance. Given their size, constitution, and the evidence that many SSSBs are not simple monoliths, these bodies should be studied and modelled as self-gravitating granular systems in general, or as granular systems in micro-gravity environments in particular contexts. As such, the study of the geophysical characteristics of SSSBs is a multi-disciplinary effort that lies at the crossroads between Granular Mechanics, Celestial Mechanics, Soil Mechanics, Aerospace Engineering and Computer Sciences.

  17. Acoustic probing of elastic behavior and damage in weakly cemented granular media

    Science.gov (United States)

    Langlois, V.; Jia, X.

    2014-02-01

    We investigate the elastic behavior and damage of weakly cemented granular media under external load with ultrasound. The cementation controlled experiments are performed by freezing the capillary liquid at the bead contact in a dense glass or polymeric [poly(methyl methacrylate)] bead pack wet by tetradecane of volume fraction ϕ = 0.1%-4%. When the pendular rings are solidified, an abrupt increase by a factor of 2 in the compressional wave velocity is observed. We interpret the data in terms of effective medium models in which the contact stiffnesses are derived by either a bonded contact model [P. J. Digby, J. Appl. Mech. 48, 803 (1981), 10.1115/1.3157738] or a cemented contact model [J. Dvorkin, A. Nur, and H. Yin, Mech. Mater. 18, 351 (1994), 10.1016/0167-6636(94)90044-2]. The former fails to quantitatively account for the results with a soft cement relative to the grain, whereas the latter considering the mechanical properties of the cement does apply. Moreover, we monitor the irreversible behavior of the cemented granular packs under moderate uniaxial loading (cemented materials is accompanied by a compressional wave velocity decrease up to 60%, likely due to the fractures induced at the grain-cement interfaces.

  18. Multiscale modeling of transport of grains through granular assemblies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tejada Ignacio G

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available We investigate the transport of moderately large passive particles through granular assemblies caused by seeping flows. This process can only be described by highly nonlinear continuum models, since the local permeability, the advection and dispersion mechanisms are strongly determined by the concentration of transported particles. Particles may sometimes get temporally trapped and thus proper kinetic mass transfer models are required. The mass transfer depends on the complexity of the porous medium, the kind of interaction forces and the concentration of transported particles. We study these two issues by means of numerical and laboratory experiments. In the laboratory we use an oedo-permeameter to force sand grains to move through a gravel bed under conditions of constant hydraulic pressure drop. To understand the process, numerical experiments were performed to approach particle transport at the grain scale with a fully coupled method. The DEM-PFV combines the discrete element method with a pore scale finite volume formulation to solve the interstitial fluid flow and particle transport problems. These experiments help us to set up a continuum transport model that can be used in a boundary value problem.

  19. 2D granular flows with the μ(I) rheology and side walls friction: A well-balanced multilayer discretization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fernández-Nieto, E. D.; Garres-Díaz, J.; Mangeney, A.; Narbona-Reina, G.

    2018-03-01

    We present here numerical modelling of granular flows with the μ (I) rheology in confined channels. The contribution is twofold: (i) a model to approximate the Navier-Stokes equations with the μ (I) rheology through an asymptotic analysis; under the hypothesis of a one-dimensional flow, this model takes into account side walls friction; (ii) a multilayer discretization following Fernández-Nieto et al. (2016) [20]. In this new numerical scheme, we propose an appropriate treatment of the rheological terms through a hydrostatic reconstruction which allows this scheme to be well-balanced and therefore to deal with dry areas. Based on academic tests, we first evaluate the influence of the width of the channel on the normal profiles of the downslope velocity thanks to the multilayer approach that is intrinsically able to describe changes from Bagnold to S-shaped (and vice versa) velocity profiles. We also check the well-balanced property of the proposed numerical scheme. We show that approximating side walls friction using single-layer models may lead to strong errors. Secondly, we compare the numerical results with experimental data on granular collapses. We show that the proposed scheme allows us to qualitatively reproduce the deposit in the case of a rigid bed (i.e. dry area) and that the error made by replacing the dry area by a small layer of material may be large if this layer is not thin enough. The proposed model is also able to reproduce the time evolution of the free surface and of the flow/no-flow interface. In addition, it reproduces the effect of erosion for granular flows over initially static material lying on the bed. This is possible when using a variable friction coefficient μ (I) but not with a constant friction coefficient.

  20. The dependence of granular plasticity on particle shape

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murphy, Kieran; Jaeger, Heinrich

    Granular materials plastically deform through reworking an intricate network of particle-particle contacts. Some particle rearrangements have only a fleeting effect before being forgotten while others set in motion global restructuring. How particle shape affects local interactions and how those, in turn, influence the nature of the aggregate's plasticity is far from clear, especially in three dimensions. Here we investigate the remarkably wide range of behaviors in the yielding regime, from quiescent flow to violent jerks, depending on particle shape. We study this complex dependence via uniaxial compression experiments on aggregates of 3D-printed particles, and complement stress-strain data with simultaneous x-ray videos and volumetric strain measurements. We find power law distributions of the slip magnitudes, and discuss their universality. Our data show that the multitude of small slips serves to gradually dilate the packing whereas the fewer large ones accompany significant compaction events. Our findings provide new insights into general features of granular materials during plastic deformation and highlight how small changes in particle shape can give rise to drastic differences in yielding behavior.

  1. Wave propagation of spectral energy content in a granular chain

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Shrivastava, Rohit Kumar; Luding, Stefan

    2017-01-01

    A mechanical wave is propagation of vibration with transfer of energy and momentum. Understanding the spectral energy characteristics of a propagating wave through disordered granular media can assist in understanding the overall properties of wave propagation through inhomogeneous materials like

  2. Dense granular Flows: a conceptual design of high-power neutron source

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yang Lei

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available A high-power neutron source system is very useful for multifunctional applications, such as material facilities for advanced nuclear power, space radiation studies, radiography and tomography. Here the idea of inclined dense granular flow is utilized and developed in a new conceptual design of a compact high-power target to produce a high-energy and high-flux neutron irradiation (the flux is up to 1015 n/cm2/s or even 1016. Comparing to the traditional solid and liquid heavy metal targets, this design has advantages in material choice, fluid stability, heat removal, etc. In this paper the natures of the granular flows in an inclined chute are investigated and preliminary experimental and numerical results are reported. Then the feasibility of this design is discussed.

  3. Granular flows: fundamentals and applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cleary, Paul W.

    DEM allows the prediction of complex industrial and geophysical particle flows. The importance of particle shape is demonstrated through a series of simple examples. Shape controls resistance to shear, the magnitude of collision stress, dilation and the angle of repose. We use a periodic flow of a bed of particles to demonstrate the different states of granular matter, the generation of dilute granular flow when granular temperature is high and the flow dependent nature of the granular thermodynamic boundary conditions. A series of industrial case studies examines how DEM can be used to understand and improve processes such as separation, mixing, grinding, excavation, hopper discharge, metering and conveyor interchange. Finally, an example of landslide motion over real topography is presented.

  4. A new synthetic granular calcium phosphate compound induces new bone in a sinus lift rabbit model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trbakovic, Amela; Hedenqvist, Patricia; Mellgren, Torbjörn; Ley, Cecilia; Hilborn, Jöns; Ossipov, Dmitri; Ekman, Stina; Johansson, Carina B; Jensen-Waern, Marianne; Thor, Andreas

    2018-03-01

    The aim of this study was to investigate if a synthetic granular calcium phosphate compound (CPC) and a composite bisphosphonate-linked hyaluronic acid-calcium phosphate hydrogel (HABP·CaP) induced similar or more amount of bone as bovine mineral in a modified sinus lift rabbit model. Eighteen adult male New Zeeland White rabbits, received randomly one of the two test materials on a random side of the face, and bovine mineral as control on the contralateral side. In a sinus lift, the sinus mucosa was elevated and a titanium mini-implant was placed in the alveolar bone. Augmentation material (CPC, HABP·CaP or bovine bone) was applied in the space around the implant. The rabbits were euthanized three months after surgery and qualitative and histomorphometric evaluation were conducted. Histomorphometric evaluation included three different regions of interest (ROIs) and the bone to implant contact on each installed implant. Qualitative assessment (p = <.05), histomorphometric evaluations (p = < .01), and implant incorporation (p = <.05) showed that CPC and bovine mineral induced similar amount of bone and more than the HABP·CaP hydrogel. CPC induced similar amount of bone as bovine mineral and both materials induced more bone than HABP·CaP hydrogel. The CPC is suggested as a synthetic alternative for augmentations in the maxillofacial area. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Biogas pre-upgrading by adsorption of trace compounds onto granular activated carbons and an activated carbon fiber-cloth.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boulinguiez, B; Le Cloirec, P

    2009-01-01

    The study assesses the adsorption onto activated carbon materials of selected volatile organic compounds -VOCs- (dichloromethane, 2-propanol, toluene, siloxane D4) in a biogas matrix composed of methane and carbon dioxide (55:45 v/v). Three different adsorbents are tested, two of them are granular activated carbon (GAC), and the last is an activated carbon fiber-cloth (ACFC). The adsorption isotherm data are fitted by different models by nonlinear regression. The Langmuir-Freundlich model appears to be the adequate one to describe the adsorption phenomena independently of the VOC considered or the adsorbent. The adsorbents present attractive adsorption capacity of the undesirable compounds in biogas atmosphere though the maximum adsorption capacities for a VOC are quite different from each other. The adsorption kinetics are characterized through three coefficients: the initial adsorption coefficient, the external film mass transfer coefficient and the internal diffusion coefficient of Weber. The ACFC demonstrates advanced kinetic yields compared to the granular activated carbon materials whatever VOC is considered. Therefore, pre-upgrading of biogas produced from wastewater sludge or co-digestion system by adsorption onto activated carbon appears worth investigating. Especially with ACFC material that presents correct adsorption capacities toward VOCs and concrete regeneration process opportunity to realize such process.

  6. Force and flow at the onset of drag in plowed granular media.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gravish, Nick; Umbanhowar, Paul B; Goldman, Daniel I

    2014-04-01

    We study the transient drag force FD on a localized intruder in a granular medium composed of spherical glass particles. A flat plate is translated horizontally from rest through the granular medium to observe how FD varies as a function of the medium's initial volume fraction, ϕ. The force response of the granular material differs above and below the granular critical state, ϕc, the volume fraction which corresponds to the onset of grain dilatancy. For ϕϕc, FD rapidly rises to a maximum and then decreases over further displacement. The maximum force for ϕ>ϕc increases with increasing drag velocity. In quasi-two-dimensional drag experiments, we use granular particle image velocimetry (PIV) to measure time resolved strain fields associated with the horizontal motion of a plate started from rest. PIV experiments show that the maxima in FD for ϕ>ϕc are associated with maxima in the spatially averaged shear strain field. For ϕ>ϕc the shear strain occurs in a narrow region in front of the plate, a shear band. For ϕϕc, surface particles move only during the formation of the shear band, coincident with the maxima in FD, after which the particles remain immobile until the sheared region reaches the measurement region.

  7. Mechanics of a granular skin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karmakar, Somnath; Sane, Anit; Bhattacharya, S.; Ghosh, Shankar

    2017-04-01

    Magic sand, a hydrophobic toy granular material, is widely used in popular science instructions because of its nonintuitive mechanical properties. A detailed study of the failure of an underwater column of magic sand shows that these properties can be traced to a single phenomenon: the system self-generates a cohesive skin that encapsulates the material inside. The skin, consisting of pinned air-water-grain interfaces, shows multiscale mechanical properties: they range from contact-line dynamics in the intragrain roughness scale, to plastic flow at the grain scale, all the way to sample-scale mechanical responses. With decreasing rigidity of the skin, the failure mode transforms from brittle to ductile (both of which are collective in nature) to a complete disintegration at the single-grain scale.

  8. Transient response in granular quasi-two-dimensional bounded heap flow.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiao, Hongyi; Ottino, Julio M; Lueptow, Richard M; Umbanhowar, Paul B

    2017-10-01

    We study the transition between steady flows of noncohesive granular materials in quasi-two-dimensional bounded heaps by suddenly changing the feed rate. In both experiments and simulations, the primary feature of the transition is a wedge of flowing particles that propagates downstream over the rising free surface with a wedge front velocity inversely proportional to the square root of time. An additional longer duration transient process continues after the wedge front reaches the downstream wall. The entire transition is well modeled as a moving boundary problem with a diffusionlike equation derived from local mass balance and a local relation between the flux and the surface slope.

  9. Robophysical study of jumping dynamics on granular media

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aguilar, Jeffrey; Goldman, Daniel I.

    2016-03-01

    Characterizing forces on deformable objects intruding into sand and soil requires understanding the solid- and fluid-like responses of such substrates and their effect on the state of the object. The most detailed studies of intrusion in dry granular media have revealed that interactions of fixed-shape objects during free impact (for example, cannonballs) and forced slow penetration can be described by hydrostatic- and hydrodynamic-like forces. Here we investigate a new class of granular interactions: rapid intrusions by objects that change shape (self-deform) through passive and active means. Systematic studies of a simple spring-mass robot jumping on dry granular media reveal that jumping performance is explained by an interplay of nonlinear frictional and hydrodynamic drag as well as induced added mass (unaccounted by traditional intrusion models) characterized by a rapidly solidified region of grains accelerated by the foot. A model incorporating these dynamics reveals that added mass degrades the performance of certain self-deformations owing to a shift in optimal timing during push-off. Our systematic robophysical experiment reveals both new soft-matter physics and principles for robotic self-deformation and control, which together provide principles of movement in deformable terrestrial environments.

  10. Compaction dynamics of crunchy granular material

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guillard François

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Compaction of brittle porous material leads to a wide variety of densification patterns. Static compaction bands occurs naturally in rocks or bones, and have important consequences in industry for the manufacturing of powder tablets or metallic foams for example. Recently, oscillatory compaction bands have been observed in brittle porous media like snow or cereals. We will discuss the great variety of densification patterns arising during the compaction of puffed rice, including erratic compaction at low velocity, one or several travelling compaction bands at medium velocity and homogeneous compaction at larger velocity. The conditions of existence of each pattern are studied thanks to a numerical spring lattice model undergoing breakage and is mapped to the phase diagram of the patterns based on dimensionless characteristic quantities. This also allows to rationalise the evolution of the compaction behaviour during a single test. Finally, the localisation of compaction bands is linked to the strain rate sensitivity of the material.

  11. Compaction dynamics of crunchy granular material

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guillard, François; Golshan, Pouya; Shen, Luming; Valdès, Julio R.; Einav, Itai

    2017-06-01

    Compaction of brittle porous material leads to a wide variety of densification patterns. Static compaction bands occurs naturally in rocks or bones, and have important consequences in industry for the manufacturing of powder tablets or metallic foams for example. Recently, oscillatory compaction bands have been observed in brittle porous media like snow or cereals. We will discuss the great variety of densification patterns arising during the compaction of puffed rice, including erratic compaction at low velocity, one or several travelling compaction bands at medium velocity and homogeneous compaction at larger velocity. The conditions of existence of each pattern are studied thanks to a numerical spring lattice model undergoing breakage and is mapped to the phase diagram of the patterns based on dimensionless characteristic quantities. This also allows to rationalise the evolution of the compaction behaviour during a single test. Finally, the localisation of compaction bands is linked to the strain rate sensitivity of the material.

  12. The critical current of granular superconductor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ignat'ev, V.K.

    1998-01-01

    A mechanism of hyper vortex pinning in granular superconductors is proposed to describe the field dependence of the critical current density and pinning potential. The results are in a good agreement with the experiment. The model represents the peak effect and the percolation mechanism of conductivity in ceramic superconductors

  13. Enhancements to the Tonge-Ramesh Ceramic Failure Model for Use in Eulerian Simulations

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-09-14

    that the model can be used for impact events where there is moderate deformation of the materials using a material point method numerical scheme.1,2 The...8) Once damage reaches a critical level , Dc, the granular flow phase of the material model is activated. In the granular flow phase, there is a...neighborhood of a crack σe depends on both the macroscopic stress (Gauss point or material point stress, σ) and the damage level . 10 Approved for

  14. Settling properties of aerobic granular sludge (AGS) and aerobic granular sludge molasses (AGSM)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mat Saad, Azlina; Aini Dahalan, Farrah; Ibrahim, Naimah; Yasina Yusuf, Sara; Aqlima Ahmad, Siti; Khalil, Khalilah Abdul

    2018-03-01

    Aerobic granulation technology is applied to treat domestic and industrial wastewater. The Aerobic granular sludge (AGS) cultivated has strong properties that appears to be denser and compact in physiological structure compared to the conventional activated sludge. It offers rapid settling for solid:liquid separation in wastewater treatment. Aerobic granules were developed using sequencing batch reactor (SBR) with intermittent aerobic - anaerobic mode with 8 cycles in 24 hr. This study examined the settling velocity performance of cultivated aerobic granular sludge (AGS) and aerobic granular sludge molasses (AGSM). The elemental composition in both AGS and AGSM were determined using X-ray fluorescence (XRF). The results showed that AGSM has higher settling velocity 30.5 m/h compared to AGS.

  15. Uniform shock waves in disordered granular matter

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gómez, L.R.; Turner, A.M.; Vitelli, V.

    2012-01-01

    The confining pressure P is perhaps the most important parameter controlling the properties of granular matter. Strongly compressed granular media are, in many respects, simple solids in which elastic perturbations travel as ordinary phonons. However, the speed of sound in granular aggregates

  16. Emotional Granularity Effects on Event-Related Brain Potentials during Affective Picture Processing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Ja Y; Lindquist, Kristen A; Nam, Chang S

    2017-01-01

    There is debate about whether emotional granularity , the tendency to label emotions in a nuanced and specific manner, is merely a product of labeling abilities, or a systematic difference in the experience of emotion during emotionally evocative events. According to the Conceptual Act Theory of Emotion (CAT) (Barrett, 2006), emotional granularity is due to the latter and is a product of on-going temporal differences in how individuals categorize and thus make meaning of their affective states. To address this question, the present study investigated the effects of individual differences in emotional granularity on electroencephalography-based brain activity during the experience of emotion in response to affective images. Event-related potentials (ERP) and event-related desynchronization and synchronization (ERD/ERS) analysis techniques were used. We found that ERP responses during the very early (60-90 ms), middle (270-300 ms), and later (540-570 ms) moments of stimulus presentation were associated with individuals' level of granularity. We also observed that highly granular individuals, compared to lowly granular individuals, exhibited relatively stable desynchronization of alpha power (8-12 Hz) and synchronization of gamma power (30-50 Hz) during the 3 s of stimulus presentation. Overall, our results suggest that emotional granularity is related to differences in neural processing throughout emotional experiences and that high granularity could be associated with access to executive control resources and a more habitual processing of affective stimuli, or a kind of "emotional complexity." Implications for models of emotion are also discussed.

  17. The equilibrium of rubble-pile satellites: The Darwin and Roche ellipsoids for gravitationally held granular aggregates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharma, Ishan

    2009-04-01

    Many new small moons of the giant planets have been discovered recently. In parallel, satellites of several asteroids, e.g., Ida, have been found. Strikingly, a majority of these new-found planetary moons are estimated to have very low densities, which, along with their hypothesized accretionary origins, suggests a rubble internal structure. This, coupled to the fact that many asteroids are also thought to be particle aggregates held together principally by self-gravity, motivates the present investigation into the possible ellipsoidal shapes that a rubble-pile satellite may achieve as it orbits an aspherical primary. Conversely, knowledge of the shape will constrain the granular aggregate's orbit—the closer it gets to a primary, both primary's tidal effect and the satellite's spin are greater. We will assume that the primary body is sufficiently massive so as not to be influenced by the satellite. However, we will incorporate the primary's possible ellipsoidal shape, e.g., flattening at its poles in the case of a planet, and the proloidal shape of asteroids. In this, the present investigation is an extension of the first classical Darwin problem to granular aggregates. General equations defining an ellipsoidal rubble pile's equilibrium about an ellipsoidal primary are developed. They are then utilized to scrutinize the possible granular nature of small inner moons of the giant planets. It is found that most satellites satisfy constraints necessary to exist as equilibrated granular aggregates. Objects like Naiad, Metis and Adrastea appear to violate these limits, but in doing so, provide clues to their internal density and/or structure. We also recover the Roche limit for a granular satellite of a spherical primary, and employ it to study the martian satellites, Phobos and Deimos, as well as to make contact with earlier work of Davidsson [Davidsson, B., 2001. Icarus 149, 375-383]. The satellite's interior will be modeled as a rigid-plastic, cohesion-less material

  18. Electromagnetic response of a highly granular hadronic calorimeter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Adloff, C.; Blaha, J.; Blaising, J.J. [Savoie Univ., CNRS/IN2P3, Annecy-le-Vieux (FR). Lab. d' Annecy-le-Vieux de Physique des Particules] (and others)

    2010-12-15

    The CALICE collaboration is studying the design of high performance electromagnetic and hadronic calorimeters for future International Linear Collider detectors. For the hadronic calorimeter, one option is a highly granular sampling calorimeter with steel as absorber and scintillator layers as active material. High granularity is obtained by segmenting the scintillator into small tiles individually read out via silicon photo-multipliers (SiPM). A prototype has been built, consisting of thirty-eight sensitive layers, segmented into about eight thousand channels. In 2007 the prototype was exposed to positrons and hadrons using the CERN SPS beam, covering a wide range of beam energies and incidence angles. The challenge of cell equalization and calibration of such a large number of channels is best validated using electromagnetic processes. The response of the prototype steel-scintillator calorimeter, including linearity and uniformity, to electrons is investigated and described. (orig.)

  19. Electromagnetic response of a highly granular hadronic calorimeter

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Adloff, C.; Blaha, J.; Blaising, J.J.

    2010-12-01

    The CALICE collaboration is studying the design of high performance electromagnetic and hadronic calorimeters for future International Linear Collider detectors. For the hadronic calorimeter, one option is a highly granular sampling calorimeter with steel as absorber and scintillator layers as active material. High granularity is obtained by segmenting the scintillator into small tiles individually read out via silicon photo-multipliers (SiPM). A prototype has been built, consisting of thirty-eight sensitive layers, segmented into about eight thousand channels. In 2007 the prototype was exposed to positrons and hadrons using the CERN SPS beam, covering a wide range of beam energies and incidence angles. The challenge of cell equalization and calibration of such a large number of channels is best validated using electromagnetic processes. The response of the prototype steel-scintillator calorimeter, including linearity and uniformity, to electrons is investigated and described. (orig.)

  20. On the Horizontal Deviation of a Spinning Projectile Penetrating into Granular Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Waseem Ghazi Alshanti

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The absence of a general theory that describes the dynamical behavior of the particulate materials makes the numerical simulations the most current powerful tool that can grasp many mechanical problems relevant to the granular materials. In this paper, based on a two-dimensional soft particle discrete element method (DEM, a numerical approach is developed to investigate the consequence of the orthogonal impact into various granular beds of projectile rotating in both clockwise (CW and counterclockwise (CCW directions. Our results reveal that, depending on the rotation direction, there is a significant deviation of the x-coordinate of the final stopping point of a spinning projectile from that of its original impact point. For CW rotations, a deviation to the right occurs while a left deviation has been recorded for CCW rotation case.

  1. The automated design of materials far from equilibrium

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miskin, Marc Z.

    Automated design is emerging as a powerful concept in materials science. By combining computer algorithms, simulations, and experimental data, new techniques are being developed that start with high level functional requirements and identify the ideal materials that achieve them. This represents a radically different picture of how materials become functional in which technological demand drives material discovery, rather than the other way around. At the frontiers of this field, materials systems previously considered too complicated can start to be controlled and understood. Particularly promising are materials far from equilibrium. Material robustness, high strength, self-healing and memory are properties displayed by several materials systems that are intrinsically out of equilibrium. These and other properties could be revolutionary, provided they can first be controlled. This thesis conceptualizes and implements a framework for designing materials that are far from equilibrium. We show how, even in the absence of a complete physical theory, design from the top down is possible and lends itself to producing physical insight. As a prototype system, we work with granular materials: collections of athermal, macroscopic identical objects, since these materials function both as an essential component of industrial processes as well as a model system for many non-equilibrium states of matter. We show that by placing granular materials in the context of design, benefits emerge simultaneously for fundamental and applied interests. As first steps, we use our framework to design granular aggregates with extreme properties like high stiffness, and softness. We demonstrate control over nonlinear effects by producing exotic aggregates that stiffen under compression. Expanding on our framework, we conceptualize new ways of thinking about material design when automatic discovery is possible. We show how to build rules that link particle shapes to arbitrary granular packing

  2. Granular flow down a flexible inclined plane

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sonar Prasad

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Discrete and continuous systems are commonly studied individually, but seldom together. Indeed, granular flows are typically studied through flows over a rigid base. Here, we investigate the behaviour of granular flows over an inclined, flexible base. The flexible base is modeled as a rigid platform mounted on springs and has one degree of freedom. The base vibrations are introduced by the flow. We simulate such flows through a discrete element method and compare with experiments. We find that a flexible base increased the upper limit of the inclination up to which a steady flow is possible by at least 3 degrees. This stabilized zone may have important implications in applications such as conveyor belts and chutes.

  3. Study of phase changing characteristics of granular composites using differential scanning calorimetry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rady, Mohamed

    2009-01-01

    Characterization of the phase changing behavior of granular materials is an important issue for design and optimization of latent heat thermal energy storage (LHTES) systems. In the present work, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) has been used to study the phase changing behavior of granular composites consisting of ceramic encapsulated phase change material (EPCM) with particle diameters of 1-3 mm. The obtained DSC curves characterizing melting and solidification of the composite material are shown to be dependent upon the values of heating and cooling rates. Direct utilization of the measured DSC curves could result in an inexact representation of the sample enthalpy change. A simple procedure has been advised to obtain accurate quantitative results from the DSC measurements based on the estimation of the thermal resistance between the sample and its enclosure. Analysis of the evolution of latent heat of EPCM with temperature at different values of cooling/heating rates is presented.

  4. Relaxation-type nonlocal inertial-number rheology for dry granular flows

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Keng-lin; Yang, Fu-ling

    2017-12-01

    We propose a constitutive model to describe the nonlocality, hysteresis, and several flow features of dry granular materials. Taking the well-known inertial number I as a measure of sheared-induced local fluidization, we derive a relaxation model for I according to the evolution of microstructure during avalanche and dissipation processes. The model yields a nonmonotonic flow law for a homogeneous flow, accounting for hysteretic solid-fluid transition and intermittency in quasistatic flows. For an inhomogeneous flow, the model predicts a generalized Bagnold shear stress revealing the interplay of two microscopic nonlocal mechanisms: collisions among correlated structures and the diffusion of fluidization within the structures. In describing a uniform flow down an incline, the model reproduces the hysteretic starting and stopping heights and the Pouliquen flow rule for mean velocity. Moreover, a dimensionless parameter reflecting the nonlocal effect on the flow is discovered, which controls the transition between Bagnold and creeping flow dynamics.

  5. The calculation of resonance capture in granular fuels

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Askew, J R; Harris, D W.G.; Hutton, J L

    1971-02-15

    The methods used in the UK for the calculation of resonance capture in granular HTR fuels follow the long established path of determining a 'geometric equivalence' which equates the resonance shielding to that in a homogeneous mixture of the resonance absorber in hydrogen. Simple collision probability arguments, usually for the black limit, were used for AGR and SGHW systems. For granular fuel a 'grey' equivalence, convenient for numerical use, has been adopted, and the geometric solution performed in two ways: by a synthetic collision probability model which is rapid and appropriate for design work and by a Monte Carlo model which allows details of the grain lattice structure to be studied. The results are in good agreement, and are shown to give good results compared with measured relative conversion ratios in the NESTOR stack experiments.

  6. Recent advances in understanding deformation and flow of granular matter

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mesarović Siniša Đ.

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available By means of graph theory, we analyze the changes in topology of a granular assembly during deformation. The elementary mechanism of diffuse deformation consists of intermittent flips. We show that dilatancy is the direct result of: an increasing number of flips, and, elastic relaxation of particles upon flips. Both are dependent on particles' elastic potential energy prior to flip and after the flip. The latter is the result of non uniform distribution of interparticle forces in force chains. Next, we consider shear bands in granular materials. Formation of shear bands is accompanied by accompanied by massive rolling of particle. Since rolling is constrained by neighbors, a characteristic rolling correlation length appears. The transmission of rotations in a particular direction depends on the strength of the force chain branches in the direction of propagation and across. The maximum propagation distance is comparable to observed widths of shear bands. Finally, we turn to the question of vortex formation within shear bands and argue that vortex pattern minimizes the dissipation/resistance in granular fluid.

  7. Leaching behaviour of municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash: From granular material to monolithic concrete.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sorlini, Sabrina; Collivignarelli, Maria Cristina; Abbà, Alessandro

    2017-09-01

    The aim of this work was to assess the leaching behaviour of the bottom ash derived from municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) used in concrete production. In particular, the release of pollutants was evaluated by the application of different leaching tests, both on granular materials and monolithic samples (concrete mixtures cast with bottom ash). The results confirmed that, according to Italian regulations, unwashed bottom ashes present critical issues for the use as alternative aggregates in the construction sector due to the excessive release of pollutants; instead, the leachate from washed bottom ashes was similar to natural aggregates. The concentration of pollutants in the leachate from concrete mixtures was lower than regulation limits for reuse. The crushing process significantly influenced the release of pollutants: this behaviour was due both to the increase in surface area and the release of contaminants from cement. Moreover, the increase in contact time (up to 64 days) involved more heavy metals to be released.

  8. Critical state flow rules for CFD simulations of wet granular flows

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schwarze, R.; Gladkyy, A.; Luding, Stefan; E. Onate M. Bischoff, E. Ramm; P. Wriggers,

    2013-01-01

    First rheological investigation results of weakly wet granular media are presented. The materials have been examined experimentally and numerically in well- defined shear configurations in steady state, in the intermediate flow regime. For the experiments, a Searl-type ring shear cell with rotating

  9. Experimental investigation of granular dynamics close to the jamming transition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caballero, G.; Kolb, E.; Lindner, A.; Lanuza, J.; Clément, E.

    2005-06-01

    We present different experiments on dense granular assemblies with the aim of clarifying the notion of 'jamming transition' for these assemblies of non-Brownian particles. The experimental set-ups differ in the way in which external perturbations are applied in order to unjam the systems. The first experiment monitors the response to a locally applied deformation of a model packing at rest. The two other experiments study local and collective dynamics in a granular assembly weakly excited by vibration.

  10. Resolved granular debris-flow simulations with a coupled SPH-DCDEM model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Birjukovs Canelas, Ricardo; Domínguez, José M.; Crespo, Alejandro J. C.; Gómez-Gesteira, Moncho; Ferreira, Rui M. L.

    2016-04-01

    Debris flows represent some of the most relevant phenomena in geomorphological events. Due to the potential destructiveness of such flows, they are the target of a vast amount of research (Takahashi, 2007 and references therein). A complete description of the internal processes of a debris-flow is however still an elusive achievement, explained by the difficulty of accurately measuring important quantities in these flows and developing a comprehensive, generalized theoretical framework capable of describing them. This work addresses the need for a numerical model applicable to granular-fluid mixtures featuring high spatial and temporal resolution, thus capable of resolving the motion of individual particles, including all interparticle contacts. This corresponds to a brute-force approach: by applying simple interaction laws at local scales the macro-scale properties of the flow should be recovered by upscaling. This methodology effectively bypasses the complexity of modelling the intermediate scales by resolving them directly. The only caveat is the need of high performance computing, a demanding but engaging research challenge. The DualSPHysics meshless numerical implementation, based on Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH), is expanded with a Distributed Contact Discrete Element Method (DCDEM) in order to explicitly solve the fluid and the solid phase. The model numerically solves the Navier-Stokes and continuity equations for the liquid phase and Newton's motion equations for solid bodies. The interactions between solids are modelled with classical DEM approaches (Kruggel-Emden et al, 2007). Among other validation tests, an experimental set-up for stony debris flows in a slit check dam is reproduced numerically, where solid material is introduced trough a hopper assuring a constant solid discharge for the considered time interval. With each sediment particle undergoing tens of possible contacts, several thousand time-evolving contacts are efficiently treated

  11. Advances in studies of dense volcanic granular flows

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bursik, M [University of Buffalo, SUNY, Buffalo, NY 14260 (United States); Patra, A [University of Buffalo, SUNY, Buffalo, NY 14260 (United States); Pitman, E B [University of Buffalo, SUNY, Buffalo, NY 14260 (United States); Nichita, C [University of Buffalo, SUNY, Buffalo, NY 14260 (United States); Macias, J L [Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Coyoacan, Mexico D F (Mexico); Saucedo, R [Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Coyoacan, Mexico D F (Mexico); Girina, O [Institute of Volcanic Geology and Geochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskii (Russian Federation)

    2005-02-01

    The collapse and decrepitation of a lava dome at the summit of a volcano generally results in the generation of dense granular flows, often referred to as block and ash flows. As the dome particles propagate from the source, they break apart by internal pressure as well as collision. The propagation of block and ash flows can be simulated to some accuracy with a depth averaged numerical model of the equations of continuity and momentum for a material with a frictional resistance. However, important features of such flows, such as the influence of remote stress through force chains, erosion of the volcano substrate, and shock formation and pressurization upon particle break up are poorly understood. In the near future, the influence of these factors will be incorporated into depth averaged models. Various numerical techniques based on particles will some day yield results that can be compared not only with bulk flow properties, but to the internal layering of block and ash flow deposits.

  12. Numerical Simulations of Granular Physics in the Solar System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ballouz, Ronald

    2017-08-01

    Granular physics is a sub-discipline of physics that attempts to combine principles that have been developed for both solid-state physics and engineering (such as soil mechanics) with fluid dynamics in order to formulate a coherent theory for the description of granular materials, which are found in both terrestrial (e.g., earthquakes, landslides, and pharmaceuticals) and extra-terrestrial settings (e.g., asteroids surfaces, asteroid interiors, and planetary ring systems). In the case of our solar system, the growth of this sub-discipline has been key in helping to interpret the formation, structure, and evolution of both asteroids and planetary rings. It is difficult to develop a deterministic theory for granular materials due to the fact that granular systems are composed of a large number of elements that interact through a non-linear combination of various forces (mechanical, gravitational, and electrostatic, for example) leading to a high degree of stochasticity. Hence, we study these environments using an N-body code, pkdgrav, that is able to simulate the gravitational, collisional, and cohesive interactions of grains. Using pkdgrav, I have studied the size segregation on asteroid surfaces due to seismic shaking (the Brazil-nut effect), the interaction of the OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample-return mission sampling head, TAGSAM, with the surface of the asteroid Bennu, the collisional disruptions of rubble-pile asteroids, and the formation of structure in Saturn's rings. In all of these scenarios, I have found that the evolution of a granular system depends sensitively on the intrinsic properties of the individual grains (size, shape, sand surface roughness). For example, through our simulations, we have been able to determine relationships between regolith properties and the amount of surface penetration a spacecraft achieves upon landing. Furthermore, we have demonstrated that this relationship also depends on the strength of the local gravity. By comparing our

  13. Percolation-induced plasmonic state and double negative electromagnetic properties of Ni-Zn Ferrite/Cu granular composite materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Massango, Herieta; Kono, Koji; Tsutaoka, Takanori; Kasagi, Teruhiro; Yamamoto, Shinichiro; Hatakeyama, Kenichi

    2018-05-01

    Complex permeability and permittivity spectra of Ni-Zn Ferrite/Cu hybrid granular composite materials have been studied in the RF to microwave frequency range. The electrical conductivity σ shows insulating properties in the volume fraction of Cu particles below φ = 0.14. A large jump in conductivity was observed between φ = 0.14 and 0.24 indicating that the Cu particles make metallic conduction between this interval. Hence, the percolation threshold φC, was estimated to be 0.14. A percolation-induced low frequency plasmonic state with negative permittivity spectrum was observed from φ = 0.14-0.24. Meanwhile the negative permeability was observed at φ = 0.16, 0.19 and 0.24. Hence the DNG characteristic was realized in these Cu volume content in the frequency range from 105 MHz to 2 GHz.

  14. Fragility and hysteretic creep in frictional granular jamming.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bandi, M M; Rivera, M K; Krzakala, F; Ecke, R E

    2013-04-01

    The granular jamming transition is experimentally investigated in a two-dimensional system of frictional, bidispersed disks subject to quasistatic, uniaxial compression without vibrational disturbances (zero granular temperature). Three primary results are presented in this experimental study. First, using disks with different static friction coefficients (μ), we experimentally verify numerical results that predict jamming onset at progressively lower packing fractions with increasing friction. Second, we show that the first compression cycle measurably differs from subsequent cycles. The first cycle is fragile-a metastable configuration with simultaneous jammed and unjammed clusters-over a small packing fraction interval (φ(1)disk displacements over the same packing fraction interval. This fragile behavior is explained through a percolation mechanism of stressed contacts where cluster growth exhibits spatial correlation with disk displacements and contributes to recent results emphasizing fragility in frictional jamming. Control experiments show that the fragile state results from the experimental incompatibility between the requirements for zero friction and zero granular temperature. Measurements with several disk materials of varying elastic moduli E and friction coefficients μ show that friction directly controls the start of the fragile state but indirectly controls the exponential pressure rise. Finally, under repetitive loading (compression) and unloading (decompression), we find the system exhibits pressure hysteresis, and the critical packing fraction φ(c) increases slowly with repetition number. This friction-induced hysteretic creep is interpreted as the granular pack's evolution from a metastable to an eventual structurally stable configuration. It is shown to depend on the quasistatic step size Δφ, which provides the only perturbative mechanism in the experimental protocol, and the friction coefficient μ, which acts to stabilize the pack.

  15. How granular vortices can help understanding rheological and mixing properties of dense granular flows

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rognon Pierre

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Dense granular flows exhibit fascinating kinematic patterns characterised by strong fluctuations in grain velocities. In this paper, we analyse these fluctuations and discuss their possible role on macroscopic properties such as effective viscosity, non-locality and shear-induced diffusion. The analysis is based on 2D experimental granular flows performed with the stadium shear device and DEM simulations. We first show that, when subjected to shear, grains self-organised into clusters rotating like rigid bodies. The average size of these so-called granular vortices is found to increase and diverge for lower inertial numbers, when flows decelerate and stop. We then discuss how such a microstructural entity and its associated internal length scale, possibly much larger than a grain, may be used to explain two important properties of dense granular flows: (i the existence of shear-induced diffusion of grains characterised by a shear-rate independent diffusivity and (ii the development of boundary layers near walls, where the viscosity is seemingly lower than the viscosity far from walls.

  16. Effect of dynamic and static friction on an asymmetric granular piston.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Talbot, Julian; Viot, Pascal

    2012-02-01

    We investigate the influence of dry friction on an asymmetric, granular piston of mass M, composed of two materials, undergoing inelastic collisions with bath particles of mass m. Numerical simulations of the Boltzmann-Lorentz equation reveal the existence of two scaling regimes depending on the friction strength. In the large friction limit, we introduce an exact model giving the asymptotic behavior of the Boltzmann-Lorentz equation. For small friction and for large mass ratio M/m, we derive a Fokker-Planck equation for which the exact solution is also obtained. Static friction attenuates the motor effect and results in a discontinuous velocity distribution. © 2012 American Physical Society

  17. Adsorption of Volatile Organic Compounds from Aqueous Solution by Granular Activated Carbon in Batch System

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zeinali, F.; Ghoreyshi, A. A.; Najafpour, G.

    2011-01-01

    Chlorinated hydrocarbons and aromatics are the major volatile organic compounds that contaminate the ground water and industrial waste waters. The best way to overcome this problem is to recover the dissolved compounds in water. In order to evaluate the potential ability of granular activated carbon for recovery of volatile organic compounds from water, the equilibrium adsorption was investigated. This study deals with the adsorption of dichloromethane as a typical chlorinated volatile organic compound and toluene as the representative of aromatic volatile organic compounds on a commercial granular activated carbon. The adsorption isotherms of these two volatile organic compounds on granular activated carbon were measured at three different temperatures, toluene at 293, 303 and 313 K and dichloromethane at 298, 303 and 313 K within their solubility concentration range in water. The maximum adsorption capacity of dichloromethane and toluene adsorption by granular activated carbon was 4 and 0.2 mol/Kg-1, respectively. The experimental data obtained were correlated with different adsorption isotherm models. The Langmuir model was well adapted to the description of dichloromethane adsorption on granular activated carbon at all three temperatures, while the adsorption of toluene on granular activated carbon was found to be well described by the Langmuir-BET hybrid model at all three temperatures. The heat of adsorption was also calculated based on the thermodynamic equation of Clausius Clapeyron, which indicates the adsorption process is endothermic for both compounds.

  18. Propulsion via flexible flapping in granular media

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peng, Zhiwei; Ding, Yang; Pietrzyk, Kyle; Elfring, Gwynn; Pak, On Shun

    2017-11-01

    Biological locomotion in nature is often achieved by the interaction between a flexible body and its surrounding medium. The interaction of a flexible body with granular media is less understood compared with viscous fluids partially due to its complex rheological properties. In this work, we explore the effect of flexibility on granular propulsion by considering a simple mechanical model in which a rigid rod is connected to a torsional spring that is under a displacement actuation using a granular resistive force theory. Through a combined numerical and asymptotic investigation, we characterize the propulsive dynamics of such a flexible flapper in relation to the actuation amplitude and spring stiffness, and we compare these dynamics with those observed in a viscous fluid. In addition, we demonstrate that the maximum possible propulsive force can be obtained in the steady propulsion limit with a finite spring stiffness and large actuation amplitude. These results may apply to the development of synthetic locomotive systems that exploit flexibility to move through complex terrestrial media. Funding for Z.P. and Y.D. was partially provided by NSFC 394 Grant No. 11672029 and NSAF-NSFC Grant No. U1530401.

  19. Granular rheology: measuring boundary forces with laser-cut leaf springs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, Zhu; Brzinski, Theodore A.; Daniels, Karen E.

    2017-06-01

    In granular physics experiments, it is a persistent challenge to obtain the boundary stress measurements necessary to provide full a rheological characterization of the dynamics. Here, we describe a new technique by which the outer boundary of a 2D Couette cell both confines the granular material and provides spatially- and temporally- resolved stress measurements. This key advance is enabled by desktop laser-cutting technology, which allows us to design and cut linearly-deformable walls with a specified spring constant. By tracking the position of each segment of the wall, we measure both the normal and tangential stress throughout the experiment. This permits us to calculate the amount of shear stress provided by basal friction, and thereby determine accurate values of μ(I).

  20. Manifestation of Particle Morphology on the Mechanical Response of a Granular Ensemble

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murthy, Tejas; Kandasami, Ramesh

    We present the effect of particle morphology (grain shape) on the mechanical response of granular materials at an ensemble level. We chose two model systems with extreme differences in morphology, i.e. spherical glass ballotini and angular sand in our experimental programme. We conducted a series of continuum elemental tests under these model materials reconstituted to the same packing. We arrive at the failure locus on the octahedral plane experimentally for these two systems. The ballotini shows increased dilation at the outset of the test, however, at large strains, the particle rearrangement in the angular sand and the increased interlocking leads to higher strength. The effect of individual particle morphology is manifested in both the increased friction angle and a larger sized failure locus in stress space with increase in angularity. The stresses developed in these two model materials are also accompanied by intriguing volume change behaviour. The glass ballotini despite a lower strength presents a predominantly dilative response while the angular sand shows showing a contractive response. Such an ensemble manifestation of individual particle morphology is useful in interpreting the extensive DEM simulations that are available in literature.

  1. Pneumatic fractures in Confined Granular Media

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eriksen, Fredrik K.; Toussaint, Renaud; Jørgen Måløy, Knut; Grude Flekkøy, Eirik; Turkaya, Semih

    2016-04-01

    We will present our ongoing study of the patterns formed when air flows into a dry, non-cohesive porous medium confined in a horizontal Hele-Shaw cell. This is an optically transparent system consisting of two glass plates separated by 0.5 to 1 mm, containing a packing of dry 80 micron beads in between. The cell is rectangular and has an air-permeable boundary (blocking beads) at one short edge, while the other three edges are completely sealed. The granular medium is loosely packed against the semi-permeable boundary and fills about 80 % of the cell volume. This leaves an empty region at the sealed side, where an inlet allows us to set and maintain the air at a constant overpressure (0.1 - 2 bar). For the air trapped inside the cell to relax its overpressure it has to move through the deformable granular medium. Depending on the applied overpressure and initial density of the medium, we observe a range of different behaviors such as seepage through the pore-network with or without an initial compaction of the solid, formation of low density bubbles with rearrangement of particles, granular fingering/fracturing, and erosion inside formed channels/fractures. The experiments are recorded with a high-speed camera at a framerate of 1000 images/s and a resolution of 1024x1024 pixels. We use various image processing techniques to characterize the evolution of the air invasion patterns and the deformations in the surrounding material. The experiments are similar to deformation processes in porous media which are driven by pore fluid overpressure, such as mud volcanoes and hydraulic or pneumatic (gas-induced) fracturing, and the motivation is to increase the understanding of such processes by optical observations. In addition, this setup is an experimental version of the numerical models analyzed by Niebling et al. [1,2], and is useful for comparison with their results. In a directly related project [3], acoustic emissions from the cell plate are recorded during

  2. Size-induced axial band structure and directional flow of a ternary-size granular material in a 3-D horizontal rotating drum

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Shiliang; Sun, Yuhao; Ma, Honghe; Chew, Jia Wei

    2018-05-01

    Differences in the material property of the granular material induce segregation which inevitably influences both natural and industrial processes. To understand the dynamical segregation behavior, the band structure, and also the spatial redistribution of particles induced by the size differences of the particles, a ternary-size granular mixture in a three-dimensional rotating drum operating in the rolling flow regime is numerically simulated using the discrete element method. The results demonstrate that (i) the axial bands of the medium particles are spatially sandwiched in between those of the large and small ones; (ii) the total mass in the active and passive regions is a global parameter independent of segregation; (iii) nearly one-third of all the particles are in the active region, with the small particles having the highest mass fraction; (iv) the axial bands initially appear near the end wall, then become wider and purer in the particular species with time as more axial bands form toward the axial center; and (v) the medium particle type exhibits segregation later and has the narrowest axial bandwidth and least purity in the bands. Compared to the binary-size system, the presence of the medium particle type slightly increases the total mass in the active region, leads to larger mass fractions of the small and large particle types in the active region, and enhances the axial segregation in the system. The results obtained in the current work provide valuable insights regarding size segregation, and band structure and formation in the rotating drum with polydisperse particles.

  3. Micro-mechanical investigation of the effect of fine content on mechanical behavior of gap graded granular materials using DEM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Taha Habib

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we present a micro-mechanical study of the effect of fine content on the behavior of gap graded granular samples by using numerical simulations performed with the Discrete Element Method. Different samples with fine content varied from 0% to 30% are simulated. The role of fine content in reinforcing the granular skeleton and in supporting the external deviatoric stress is then brought into the light.

  4. Sinking a Granular Raft

    Science.gov (United States)

    Protière, Suzie; Josserand, Christophe; Aristoff, Jeffrey M.; Stone, Howard A.; Abkarian, Manouk

    2017-03-01

    We report experiments that yield new insights on the behavior of granular rafts at an oil-water interface. We show that these particle aggregates can float or sink depending on dimensionless parameters taking into account the particle densities and size and the densities of the two fluids. We characterize the raft shape and stability and propose a model to predict its shape and maximum length to remain afloat. Finally we find that wrinkles and folds appear along the raft due to compression by its own weight, which can trigger destabilization. These features are characteristics of an elastic instability, which we discuss, including the limitations of our model.

  5. Micro origins for macro behavior in granular media

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zhao, J.; Jiang, M.; Soga, K.; Luding, Stefan

    2016-01-01

    We report the latest advances in understanding, characterization and modeling of key micro mechanisms and origins underpinning the interesting and complex macroscopic behavior of granular matter. Included in this Topical Collection are novel theories, innovative experimental tools and new numerical

  6. Active earth pressure model tests versus finite element analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pietrzak, Magdalena

    2017-06-01

    The purpose of the paper is to compare failure mechanisms observed in small scale model tests on granular sample in active state, and simulated by finite element method (FEM) using Plaxis 2D software. Small scale model tests were performed on rectangular granular sample retained by a rigid wall. Deformation of the sample resulted from simple wall translation in the direction `from the soil" (active earth pressure state. Simple Coulomb-Mohr model for soil can be helpful in interpreting experimental findings in case of granular materials. It was found that the general alignment of strain localization pattern (failure mechanism) may belong to macro scale features and be dominated by a test boundary conditions rather than the nature of the granular sample.

  7. Pressure dependence of the magneto-transport properties in Fe/MgO granular systems

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    García-García, A.; Algarabel, P.A.; Pardo, J.A.; Arnold, Zdeněk; Kamarád, Jiří

    2013-01-01

    Roč. 62, č. 10 (2013), s. 1458-1460 ISSN 0374-4884 Institutional support: RVO:68378271 Keywords : granular materials * tunneling magnetoresistance * hydrostatic pressure Subject RIV: BM - Solid Matter Physics ; Magnetism Impact factor: 0.425, year: 2013

  8. Granular flows on erodible layers: type and evolution of flow and deposit structures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crosta, G.; De Blasio, F.; De Caro, M.; Volpi, G.; Frattini, P.

    2012-04-01

    The interaction of a fast moving landslide mass with the basal layer over which movement takes place has been discussed in previous contributions. Nevertheless, the evolution of the structures within the moving mass and the erodible layer are still to be described in detail (Hungr and Evans, 2004; Crosta et al., 1992, 2006, 2009, 2011; Dufresne et al., 2010; Mangeney et al., 2010) and modeling results (Crosta et al., 2006, 2009, 2011; Mangeney et al., 2010). We present some of the results from a campaign of laboratory experiments aimed at studying the evolution of a granular flow at the impact with and during the successive spreading over a cohesionless erodible layer. We performed these test to study the processes and to collect data and evidences to compare them with the results of numerical simulations and to verify capabilities of numerical codes. The laboratory setup consists of an inclined slope and an horizontal sector where release and transport, and deposition take place, respectively. Materials used for the tests are: a uniform rounded siliceous sand (Hostun sand; 0.125-0.5 mm) commonly adopted in lab tests because free of scale effects, and a gravel made of angular elements (12 mm in ave. size). Both the materials have been tested in dry conditions. Different slope angles have been tested (40, 45, 50, 55, 50, 66°) as well as different thicknesses of the erodible layer (0, 0.5, 1, 2 cm) and volumes of the released material (1.5, 3, 5, 9.6 liters). Tests have been monitored by means of a high speed camera and the pre- and post-failure geometries have been surveyed by means of a laser scanner. Deposit description allowed also the computation of volumes and the characterization of the different structures developed and frozen into the deposit. Experiments allowed us to observe the extreme processes occurring during the movement and the mise en place of the deposits. In particular, we observe the formation of a clear wave-like feature developing during the

  9. Understanding creep in sandstone reservoirs - theoretical deformation mechanism maps for pressure solution in granular materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hangx, Suzanne; Spiers, Christopher

    2014-05-01

    -boundary diffusion and precipitation on pore walls. As a first step to better describe creep in sands and sandstones, we have derived a simple model for intergranular pressure solution (IPS) within an ordered pack of spherical grains, employing existing IPS rate models, such as those derived by Renard et al. (1999) and Spiers et al. (2004). This universal model is able to predict the conditions under which each of the respective pressure solution serial processes, i.e. diffusion, precipitation or dissolution, is dominant. In essence, this creates generic deformation mechanism maps for any granular material. We have used our model to predict the amount and rate of compaction for sandstone reservoirs, and compared our predictions to known subsidence rates for reservoirs around the world. This gives a first order-comparison to verify whether or not IPS is an important mechanism in controlling reservoir compaction.

  10. The Stability Analysis Method of the Cohesive Granular Slope on the Basis of Graph Theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guan, Yanpeng; Liu, Xiaoli; Wang, Enzhi; Wang, Sijing

    2017-02-27

    This paper attempted to provide a method to calculate progressive failure of the cohesivefrictional granular geomaterial and the spatial distribution of the stability of the cohesive granular slope. The methodology can be divided into two parts: the characterization method of macro-contact and the analysis of the slope stability. Based on the graph theory, the vertexes, the edges and the edge sequences are abstracted out to characterize the voids, the particle contact and the macro-contact, respectively, bridging the gap between the mesoscopic and macro scales of granular materials. This paper adopts this characterization method to extract a graph from a granular slope and characterize the macro sliding surface, then the weighted graph is analyzed to calculate the slope safety factor. Each edge has three weights representing the sliding moment, the anti-sliding moment and the braking index of contact-bond, respectively, . The safety factor of the slope is calculated by presupposing a certain number of sliding routes and reducing Weight repeatedly and counting the mesoscopic failure of the edge. It is a kind of slope analysis method from mesoscopic perspective so it can present more detail of the mesoscopic property of the granular slope. In the respect of macro scale, the spatial distribution of the stability of the granular slope is in agreement with the theoretical solution.

  11. Transport measurements in superconductors: critical current of granular high TC ceramic superconductor samples; Medidas de transporte em supercondutores: corrente critica de supercondutores granulares de alta temperatura critica

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Passos, W.A.C., E-mail: wagner.passos@univasf.edu.br [Universidade Federal do Vale do Sao Francisco (IPCM/UNIVASF), Juazeiro do Norte, BA (Brazil). Instituto de Pesquisas em Ciencia dos Materiais; Silva, E.B. [Companhia Energetica do Sao Francisco (CHESF), Recife, PE (Brazil)

    2016-07-01

    This work presents a method to obtain critical current of granular superconductors. We have carried out transport measurements (ρxT curves and VxI curves) in a YBa{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub 7-δ} sample to determine critical current density of it. Some specimens reveal a 'semiconductor-like' behavior (electrical resistivity decreases with increasing temperatures above critical temperature T{sub c} of material) competing with superconductor behavior. Due to high granular fraction of the sample, these competition is clearly noted in ρxT curves. Measurements carried out from 0 to 8500 Oe of applied field show the same behavior, and the critical current density of the samples is shown. (author)

  12. NMR experiments on a three-dimensional vibrofluidized granular medium

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huan, Chao; Yang, Xiaoyu; Candela, D.; Mair, R. W.; Walsworth, R. L.

    2004-04-01

    A three-dimensional granular system fluidized by vertical container vibrations was studied using pulsed field gradient NMR coupled with one-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging. The system consisted of mustard seeds vibrated vertically at 50 Hz, and the number of layers Nl⩽4 was sufficiently low to achieve a nearly time-independent granular fluid. Using NMR, the vertical profiles of density and granular temperature were directly measured, along with the distributions of vertical and horizontal grain velocities. The velocity distributions showed modest deviations from Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics, except for the vertical velocity distribution near the sample bottom, which was highly skewed and non-Gaussian. Data taken for three values of Nl and two dimensionless accelerations Γ=15,18 were fitted to a hydrodynamic theory, which successfully models the density and temperature profiles away from the vibrating container bottom. A temperature inversion near the free upper surface is observed, in agreement with predictions based on the hydrodynamic parameter μ which is nonzero only in inelastic systems.

  13. STUDY OF HYDRODYNAMICS IN FIXED BED OF COMPOSITE GRANULAR MATERIALS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stelian Petrescu

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available This study aims at the experimental determination of pressure drop and friction factor at gas flow through fixed beds of granular silica gel, alumina and activated carbon, and establishment of an equation containing a modified friction factor Fm to calculate pressure drop. In order to calculate the modified friction factor, an equation was suggested.The experimental values for pressure drop and friction factor were determined using spherical grains of silica gel, cylindrical grains of alumina and silica gel, alumina and activated carbon impregnated with calcium chloride. By means of the suggested equation, the values of pressure drop in fixed bed were calculated and compared with the experimental values. A good agreement between the predicted and experimental data is noticed.

  14. Multi-granularity synthesis segmentation for high spatial resolution Remote sensing images

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yi, Lina; Liu, Pengfei; Qiao, Xiaojun; Zhang, Xiaoning; Gao, Yuan; Feng, Boyan

    2014-01-01

    Traditional segmentation method can only partition an image in a single granularity space, with segmentation accuracy limited to the single granularity space. This paper proposes a multi-granularity synthesis segmentation method for high spatial resolution remote sensing images based on a quotient space model. Firstly, we divide the whole image area into multiple granules (regions), each region is consisted of ground objects that have similar optimal segmentation scale, and then select and synthesize the sub-optimal segmentations of each region to get the final segmentation result. To validate this method, the land cover category map is used to guide the scale synthesis of multi-scale image segmentations for Quickbird image land use classification. Firstly, the image is coarsely divided into multiple regions, each region belongs to a certain land cover category. Then multi-scale segmentation results are generated by the Mumford-Shah function based region merging method. For each land cover category, the optimal segmentation scale is selected by the supervised segmentation accuracy assessment method. Finally, the optimal scales of segmentation results are synthesized under the guide of land cover category. Experiments show that the multi-granularity synthesis segmentation can produce more accurate segmentation than that of a single granularity space and benefit the classification

  15. Modeling of interaction effects in granular systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    El-Hilo, M.; Shatnawy, M.; Al-Rsheed, A.

    2000-01-01

    Interaction effects on the magnetic behavior of granular solid systems are examined using a numerical model which is capable of predicting the field, temperature and time dependence of magnetization. In this work, interaction effects on the temperature dependence of time viscosity coefficient S(T) and formation of minor hysteresis loops have been studied. The results for the time- and temperature dependence of remanence ratio have showed that the distribution of energy barriers f(ΔE) obtained depend critically on the strength and nature of interactions. These interactions-based changes in f(ΔE) can easily give a temperature-independent behavior of S(T) when these changes give a 1/ΔE behavior to the distribution of energy barriers. Thus, conclusions about macroscopic quantum tunneling must be carefully drawn when the temperature dependence of S(T) is used to probe for MQT effects. For minor hysteresis effects, the result shows that for the non-interacting case, no minor hysteresis loops occur and the loops are only predicted when the interaction field is positive. From these predictions, minor loops will form when the interaction field is strong enough to magnetize some moments during the recoil process back to zero field. Thus, these minor loops are originated from interaction driving irreversible changes along the recoil curve and the irreversible component of magnetization has no direct influence on the formation of these minor loops

  16. What Actually Happens When Granular Materials Deform Under Shear: A Look Within

    Science.gov (United States)

    Viggiani, C.

    2012-12-01

    depends on the quality of the physics one injects: ideally, this comes directly from experiments. In Grenoble, this is what we do, combining various advanced experimental techniques. We are able to image, in three dimensions and at small scales, the deformation processes accompanying failure in geomaterials. This allows us to understand these processes and subsequently to define models at a pertinently small scale. I will present a few examples of the kind of experimental results which could inform a micro scale model. X-ray micro tomography imaging is the key measurement tool. This is used during loading, providing complete 3D images of a sand specimen at several stages throughout a triaxial compression test. Images from x-rays are then analyzed either in a continuum sense (using 3D Digital Image Correlation) or looking at the individual particle kinematics (Particle Tracking). I will show some of our most recent results, in which individual sand grains are followed with a technique combining very recent developments in image correlation and particle tracking. These advanced techniques offer us a look at what actually happens when a granular material deforms and eventually fails.

  17. Role of hydraulic retention time and granular medium in microbial removal in tertiary treatment reed beds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    García, Joan; Vivar, Joan; Aromir, Maria; Mujeriego, Rafael

    2003-06-01

    The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the role of hydraulic retention time (HRT) and granular medium in faecal coliform (FC) and somatic coliphage (SC) removal in tertiary reed beds. Experiments were carried out in a pilot plant with four parallel reed beds (horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands), each one containing a different type of granular medium. This pilot plant is located in a wastewater treatment plant in Montcada i Reixac, near Barcelona, in northeastern Spain. The microbial inactivation ratios obtained in the different beds are compared as a function of three selected HRTs. Secondary effluent from the wastewater treatment plant was used as the influent of the pilot system. The microbial inactivation ratio ranged between 0.1 and 2.7 log-units for FC and from 0.5 to 1.7 log-units for SC in beds with coarser granular material (5-25mm), while it ranged between 0.7 and 3.4 log-units for FC and from 0.9 to 2.6 log-units for SC in the bed with finer material (2-13mm). HRT and granular medium are both key factors in microbial removal in the tertiary reed beds. The microbial inactivation ratio rises as the HRT increases until it reaches a saturation value (in general at an HRT of 3 days). The value of the microbial inactivation ratio at the saturation level depends on the granular medium contained in the bed. The specific surface area necessary to reach 2-3 log-units of FC and SC is approximately 3m(2)/person-equivalent.

  18. Attachment and Detachment Behavior of Human Adenovirus and Surrogates in Fine Granular Limestone Aquifer Material.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stevenson, Margaret E; Sommer, Regina; Lindner, Gerhard; Farnleitner, Andreas H; Toze, Simon; Kirschner, Alexander K T; Blaschke, Alfred P; Sidhu, Jatinder P S

    2015-09-01

    The transport of human adenovirus, nanoparticles, and PRD1 and MS2 bacteriophages was tested in fine granular limestone aquifer material taken from a borehole at a managed aquifer recharge site in Adelaide, South Australia. Comparison of transport and removal of virus surrogates with the pathogenic virus is necessary to understand the differences between the virus and surrogate. Because experiments using pathogenic viruses cannot be done in the field, laboratory tests using flow-through soil columns were used. Results show that PRD1 is the most appropriate surrogate for adenovirus in an aquifer dominated by calcite material but not under high ionic strength or high pH conditions. It was also found that straining due to size and the charge of the colloid were not dominant removal mechanisms in this system. Implications of this study indicate that a certain surrogate may not represent a specific pathogen solely based on similar size, morphology, and/or surface charge. Moreover, if a particular surrogate is representative of a pathogen in one aquifer system, it may not be the most appropriate surrogate in another porous media system. This was apparent in the inferior performance of MS2 as a surrogate, which is commonly used in virus transport studies. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

  19. Simulation study on insoluble granular corrosion products deposited in PWR core

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yang Xu; Zhou Tao; Ru Xiaolong; Lin Daping; Fang Xiaolu

    2014-01-01

    In the operation of reactor, such as fuel rods, reactor vessel internals etc. will be affected by corrosion erosion of high pressure coolant. It will produce many insoluble corrosion products. The FLUENT software is adopted to simulate insoluble granular corrosion products deposit distribution in the reactor core. The fluid phase uses the standard model to predict the flow field in the channel and forecast turbulence variation in the near-wall region. The insoluble granular corrosion products use DPM (Discrete Phase Model) to track the trajectory of the particles. The discrete phase model in FLUENT follows the Euler-Lagrange approach. The fluid phase is treated as a continuum by solving the Navier-Stokes equations, while the dispersed phase is solved by tracking a large number of particles through the calculated flow field. Through the study found, Corrosion products particles form high concentration area near the symmetry, and the entrance section of the corrosion products particles concentration is higher than export section. Corrosion products particles deposition attached on large area for the entrance of the cladding, this will change the core neutron flux distribution and the thermal conductivity of cladding material, and cause core axial offset anomaly (AOA). Corrosion products particles dot deposit in the outlet of cladding, which can lead to pitting phenomenon in a sheath. Pitting area will cause deterioration of heat transfer, destroy the cladding integrity. In view of the law of corrosion products deposition and corrosion characteristics of components in the reactor core. this paper proposes regular targeted local cleanup and other mitigation measures. (authors)

  20. Kinematics and statistics of dense, slow granular flow through vertical channels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ananda, K. S.; Moka, Sudheshna; Nott, Prabhu R.

    We have investigated the flow of dry granular materials through vertical channels in the regime of dense slow flow using video imaging of the particles adjacent to a transparent wall. Using an image processing technique based on particle tracking velocimetry, the video movies were analysed to obtain the velocities of individual particles. Experiments were conducted in two- and three-dimensional channels. In the latter, glass beads and mustard seeds were used as model granular materials, and their translational velocities were measured. In the former, aluminium disks with a dark diametral stripe were used and their translational velocities and spin were measured. Experiments in the three-dimensional channels were conducted for a range of the channel width W, and for smooth and rough sidewalls. As in earlier studies, we find that shearing takes place predominantly in thin layers adjacent to the walls, while the rest of the material appears to move as a plug. However, there are large velocity fluctuations even in the plug, where the macroscopic deformation rate is negligibly small. The thickness of the shear layer, scaled by the particle diameter dp, increases weakly with W/dp. The experimental data for the velocity field are in good agreement with the Cosserat plasticity model proposed recently. We also measured the mean spin of the particles in the two-dimensional channel, and its deviation from half the vorticity. There is a clear, measurable deviation, which too is in qualitative agreement with the Cosserat plasticity model. The statistics of particle velocity and spin fluctuations in the two-dimensional channel were analysed by determining their probability distribution function, and their spatial and temporal correlation. They were all found to be broadly similar to previous observations for three-dimensional channels, but some differences are evident. The spatial correlation of the velocity fluctuations are much stronger in the two-dimensional channel, implying

  1. Stabilizing effect of plasma discharge on bubbling fluidized granular bed

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hu Mao-Bin; Dang Sai-Chao; Ma Qiang; Xia Wei-Dong

    2015-01-01

    Fluidized beds have been widely used for processing granular materials. In this paper, we study the effect of plasma on the fluidization behavior of a bubbling fluidized bed with an atmospheric pressure plasma discharger. Experiment results show that the bubbling fluidized bed is stabilized with the discharge of plasma. When the discharge current reaches a minimum stabilization current C ms , air bubbles in the bed will disappear and the surface fluctuation is completely suppressed. A simplified model is proposed to consider the effect of electric Coulomb force generated by the plasma. It is found that the Coulomb force will propel the particles to move towards the void area, so that the bubbling fluidized bed is stabilized with a high enough plasma discharge. (paper)

  2. Development of a fluidized bed agglomeration modeling methodology to include particle-level heterogeneities in ash chemistry and granular physics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khadilkar, Aditi B.

    . Each particle class undergoes distinct transformations of mineral matter at fluidized bed operating temperatures, as determined by using high temperature X-ray diffraction, thermo-mechanical analysis and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX). For the incorporation of a particle size distribution, bottom ash from an operating plant was divided into four size intervals and the system granular temperatures and dynamic bed height were computed using MFIX, a CFD simulation software. The kinetic theory of granular flow was used to obtain a distribution of binary collision frequencies for the entire particle size distribution. With this distribution of collision frequencies, which is computed based on hydrodynamics and granular physics of the poly-disperse system, as the particles grow, defluidize and decrease in number, the collision frequency also decreases. Under the conditions studied, the growth rate in the latter half of the run decreased to almost 1/5th the initial rate, with this decrease in collision frequency. This interdependent effect of chemistry and physics-based parameters, at the particle-level, was used to predict the agglomerate growth probabilities of Pittsburgh No. 8, Illinois No. 6 and Skidmore anthracite coals in this study, to illustrate the utility of the modeling methodology. The study also showed that agglomerate growth probability significantly increased above 15 to 20 wt. % slag. It was limited by ash chemistry at levels below this amount. Ash agglomerates were generated in a laboratory-scale fluidized bed combustor at Penn State to support the proposed agglomerate growth mechanism. This study also attempted to gain a mechanistic understanding of agglomerate growth with particle-level initiation occurring at the relatively low operating temperatures of about 950 °C, found in some fluidized beds. The results of this study indicated that, for the materials examined, agglomerate growth in fluidized bed

  3. Small-number statistics near the clustering transition in a compartementalized granular gas

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mikkelsen, René; van der Weele, Ko; van der Meer, Devaraj; van Hecke, Martin; Lohse, Detlef

    2005-01-01

    Statistical fluctuations are observed to profoundly influence the clustering behavior of granular material in a vibrated system consisting of two connected compartments. When the number of particles N is sufficiently large sN<300 is sufficientd, the clustering follows the lines of a standard

  4. Removal of oxytetracycline and determining its biosorption properties on aerobic granular sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mihciokur, Hamdi; Oguz, Merve

    2016-09-01

    This study investigates biosorption of Oxytetracycline, a broad-spectrum antibiotic, using aerobic granular sludge as an adsorbent in aqueous solutions. A sequencing batch reactor fed by a synthetic wastewater was operated to create aerobic granular sludge. Primarily, the pore structure and surface area of granular sludge, the chemical structure and the molecular sizes of the pharmaceutical, operating conditions, such as pH, stirring rate, initial concentration of Oxytetracycline, during adsorption process was verified. Subsequently, thermodynamic and kinetic aspects of the adsorption were examined and adsorption isotherm studies were carried out. It was shown that the aerobic granular sludge was a good alternative for biosorption of this pharmaceutical. The pharmaceutical was adsorbed better at pH values of 6-8. The adsorption efficiency increased with rising ionic strength. Also, it was seen that the adsorption process was an exothermic process in terms of thermodynamics. The adsorption can be well explained by Langmuir isotherm model. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. Tunable evolutions of shock absorption and energy partitioning in magnetic granular chains

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leng, Dingxin; Liu, Guijie; Sun, Lingyu

    2018-01-01

    In this paper, we investigate the tunable characteristics of shock waves propagating in one-dimensional magnetic granular chains at various chain lengths and magnetic flux densities. According to the Hertz contact theory and Maxwell principle, a discrete element model with coupling elastic and field-induced interaction potentials of adjacent magnetic grains is proposed. We also present hard-sphere approximation analysis to describe the energy partitioning features of magnetic granular chains. The results demonstrate that, for a fixed magnetic field strength, when the chain length is greater than two times of the wave width of the solitary wave, the chain length has little effect on the output energy of the system; for a fixed chain length, the shock absorption and energy partitioning features of magnetic granular chains are remarkably influenced by varying magnetic flux densities. This study implies that the magnetic granular chain is potential to construct adaptive shock absorption components for impulse mitigation.

  6. Granular dynamics, contact mechanics and particle system simulations a DEM study

    CERN Document Server

    Thornton, Colin

    2015-01-01

    This book is devoted to the Discrete Element Method (DEM) technique, a discontinuum modelling approach that takes into account the fact that granular materials are composed of discrete particles which interact with each other at the microscale level. This numerical simulation technique can be used both for dispersed systems in which the particle-particle interactions are collisional and compact systems of particles with multiple enduring contacts. The book provides an extensive and detailed explanation of the theoretical background of DEM. Contact mechanics theories for elastic, elastic-plastic, adhesive elastic and adhesive elastic-plastic particle-particle interactions are presented. Other contact force models are also discussed, including corrections to some of these models as described in the literature, and important areas of further research are identified. A key issue in DEM simulations is whether or not a code can reliably simulate the simplest of systems, namely the single particle oblique impact wit...

  7. Some effects of gas-induced fluidization in dry granular media

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nermoen, Anders

    2010-06-15

    The main body of this thesis consists of three papers in which aspects of fluid induced deformation in granular materials are studied. Insight from experiments, dimensional analysis, numerical modeling and analytic predictions are combined to interpret observations various aspects of piercement structures in the geological record. A fourth paper is included showing how analogue modeling has been used to understand a geological processes. Paper 1 presents experimental work on the segregation pattern forming in partially fluidized, bi-modal sized granular mixtures. The experiments are performed on a vertically oriented Hele-Shaw cell (HS-cell), the narrow box between two parallel glass plates, filled with glass beads. Gas flow is imparted through the bottom of the bed causing fluidization when the system is driven at velocities exceeding a critical limit. The co-existence of fluidized and static zones is termed partial fluidization and occurs when the imposed gas flux is insufficient to fluidize the whole system. Within the fluidized zones, the particles re-organize and the large particles sediment down while the small particles remains fluidized. The re-organization is caused by differences in the ratio of the weight to the viscous drag. A pipe-like pattern develops due to a feedback mechanism in which the flow is focused through domains dominated by large particles. The focusing of the flow localizes the fluidization, which in turn enables the sedimentation of the large grains. Paper 2 presents an experimental and analytical study of the critical conditions for fluidization of a dry granular material. Based on the experiments, we find that the critical velocity of fluidization scales almost linear with the ratio of the filling height to the inlet width. An analytic model for the pressure field is obtained by solving the Laplace equation for the velocity boundary conditions given by the geometry of the experimental setup. By integrating the vertical component of the

  8. Grain scale observations of stick-slip dynamics in fluid saturated granular fault gouge

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, P. A.; Dorostkar, O.; Guyer, R. A.; Marone, C.; Carmeliet, J.

    2017-12-01

    We are studying granular mechanics during slip. In the present work, we conduct coupled computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and discrete element method (DEM) simulations to study grain scale characteristics of slip instabilities in fluid saturated granular fault gouge. The granular sample is confined with constant normal load (10 MPa), and sheared with constant velocity (0.6 mm/s). This loading configuration is chosen to promote stick-slip dynamics, based on a phase-space study. Fluid is introduced in the beginning of stick phase and characteristics of slip events i.e. macroscopic friction coefficient, kinetic energy and layer thickness are monitored. At the grain scale, we monitor particle coordination number, fluid-particle interaction forces as well as particle and fluid kinetic energy. Our observations show that presence of fluids in a drained granular fault gouge stabilizes the layer in the stick phase and increases the recurrence time. In saturated model, we observe that average particle coordination number reaches higher values compared to dry granular gouge. Upon slip, we observe that a larger portion of the granular sample is mobilized in saturated gouge compared to dry system. We also observe that regions with high particle kinetic energy are correlated with zones of high fluid motion. Our observations highlight that spatiotemporal profile of fluid dynamic pressure affects the characteristics of slip instabilities, increasing macroscopic friction coefficient drop, kinetic energy release and granular layer compaction. We show that numerical simulations help characterize the micromechanics of fault mechanics.

  9. Microfluidics of soft granular gels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nixon, Ryan; Bhattacharjee, Tapomoy; Sawyer, W. Gregory; Angelini, Thomas E.

    Microfluidic methods for encapsulating cells and particles typically involve drop making with two immiscible fluids. The main materials constraint in this approach is surface tension, creating inherent instability between the two fluids. We can eliminate this instability by using miscible inner and outer phases. This is achieved by using granular micro gels which are chemically miscible but physically do not mix. These microgels are yield stress materials, so they flow as solid plugs far from shear gradients, and fluidize where gradients are generated - near an injection nozzle for example. We have found that tuning the yield stress of the material by varying polymer concentration, device performance can be controlled. The solid like behavior of the gel allows us to produces infinitely stable jets that maintain their integrity and configuration over long distances and times. These properties can be combined and manipulated to produce discrete particulate bunches of an inner phase, flowing inside of an outer phase, well enough even to print a Morse code message suspended within flow chambers about a millimeter in diameter moving at millimeters a second.

  10. 10th International Conference “Traffic and Granular Flow”

    CERN Document Server

    Boltes, Maik; Schadschneider, Andreas; Seyfried, Armin

    2015-01-01

    This book continues the biannual series of conference proceedings, which has become a classical reference resource in traffic and granular research alike, and addresses the latest developments at the intersection of physics, engineering and computational science. These involve complex systems, in which multiple simple agents, be they vehicles or particles, give rise to surprising and fascinating phenomena. The contributions collected in these proceedings cover several research fields, all of which deal with transport. Topics include highway, pedestrian and internet traffic; granular matter; biological transport; transport networks; data acquisition; data analysis and technological applications. Different perspectives, i.e., modeling, simulations, experiments, and phenomenological observations are considered.    

  11. Free Cooling of a Granular Gas of Rodlike Particles in Microgravity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harth, Kirsten; Trittel, Torsten; Wegner, Sandra; Stannarius, Ralf

    2018-05-01

    Granular gases as dilute ensembles of particles in random motion are at the basis of elementary structure-forming processes in the Universe, involved in many industrial and natural phenomena, and also excellent models to study fundamental statistical dynamics. The essential difference to molecular gases is the energy dissipation in particle collisions. Its most striking manifestation is the so-called granular cooling, the gradual loss of mechanical energy E (t ) in the absence of external excitation. We report an experimental study of homogeneous cooling of three-dimensional granular gases in microgravity. The asymptotic scaling E (t )∝t-2 obtained by Haff's minimal model [J. Fluid Mech. 134, 401 (1983), 10.1017/S0022112083003419] proves to be robust, despite the violation of several of its central assumptions. The shape anisotropy of the grains influences the characteristic time of energy loss quantitatively but not qualitatively. We compare kinetic energies in the individual degrees of freedom and find a slight predominance of translational motions. In addition, we observe a preferred rod alignment in the flight direction, as known from active matter or animal flocks.

  12. Role of gravity or confining pressure and contact stiffness in granular rheology

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Singh, A.; Saitoh, K.; Magnanimo, Vanessa; Luding, Stefan

    2015-01-01

    The steady-state shear rheology of granular materials is investigated in slow quasistatic and inertial flows. The effect of gravity (thus the local pressure) and the often-neglected contact stiffness are the focus of this study. A series of particle simulations are performed on a weakly frictional

  13. Impact of granular drops

    KAUST Repository

    Marston, J. O.

    2013-07-15

    We investigate the spreading and splashing of granular drops during impact with a solid target. The granular drops are formed from roughly spherical balls of sand mixed with water, which is used as a binder to hold the ball together during free-fall. We measure the instantaneous spread diameter for different impact speeds and find that the normalized spread diameter d/D grows as (tV/D)1/2. The speeds of the grains ejected during the “splash” are measured and they rarely exceed twice that of the impact speed.

  14. Impact of granular drops

    KAUST Repository

    Marston, J. O.; Mansoor, Mohammad M.; Thoroddsen, Sigurdur T

    2013-01-01

    We investigate the spreading and splashing of granular drops during impact with a solid target. The granular drops are formed from roughly spherical balls of sand mixed with water, which is used as a binder to hold the ball together during free-fall. We measure the instantaneous spread diameter for different impact speeds and find that the normalized spread diameter d/D grows as (tV/D)1/2. The speeds of the grains ejected during the “splash” are measured and they rarely exceed twice that of the impact speed.

  15. Viscosity evolution of anaerobic granular sludge

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Pevere, A.; Guibaud, G.; Hullebusch, van E.D.; Lens, P.N.L.; Baudu, M.

    2006-01-01

    The evolution of the apparent viscosity at steady shear rate of sieved anaerobic granular sludge (20¿315 ¿m diameter) sampled from different full-scale anaerobic reactors was recorded using rotation tests. The ¿limit viscosity¿ of sieved anaerobic granular sludge was determined from the apparent

  16. Jamming and chaotic dynamics in different granular systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maghsoodi, Homayoon; Luijten, Erik

    Although common in nature and industry, the jamming transition has long eluded a concrete, mechanistic explanation. Recently, Banigan et al. (Nat. Phys. 9, 288-292, 2013) proposed a method for characterizing this transition in a granular system in terms of the system's chaotic properties, as quantified by the largest Lyapunov exponent. They demonstrated that in a two-dimensional shear cell the jamming transition coincides with the bulk density at which the system's largest Lyapunov exponent changes sign, indicating a transition between chaotic and non-chaotic regimes. To examine the applicability of this observation to realistic granular systems, we study a model that includes frictional forces within an expanded phase space. Furthermore, we test the generality of the relation between chaos and jamming by investigating the relationship between jamming and the chaotic properties of several other granular systems, notably sheared systems (Howell, D., Behringer R. P., Veje C., Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 5241-5244, 1999) and systems with a free boundary. Finally, we quantify correlations between the largest Lyapunov vector and collective rearrangements of the system to demonstrate the predictive capabilities enabled by adopting this perspective of jamming.

  17. Kinetic Study of Water Contaminants Adsorption by Bamboo Granular Activated and Non-Activated Carbon

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Opololaoluwa Oladimarun Ijaola

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available The adsorptive capacity of metal ions from surface water with activated and non-activated carbon derived from bamboo was investigated. The validation of adsorption kinetics of Cl, PO4 and Pb was done by pseudo-first and second order model while adsorption isotherms was proved by Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm model for activated and non- activated bamboo granular carbon. Generally, the amount of metal ions uptake increases with time and activation levels and the pH of bamboo granular carbon increase with activation. Similarly, the pore space of the activated carbon also increases with activation levels. The correlation coefficients (R2 show that the pseudo-second order model gave a better fit to the adsorption process with 0.9918 as the least value and 1.00 as the highest value as compared with the pseudo-first order with 0.813 as the highest value and 0 as the least. The Freundlich isotherm was more favorable when compared with the Langmuir isotherm in determining the adsorptive capacity of bamboo granular activated carbon. The study has shown that chemical activation increases the pore space, surface area and the pH of bamboo granular carbon which ultimately increases the adsorption rate of metal ions in the contaminated surface water.

  18. Transport measurements in superconductors: critical current of granular high TC ceramic superconductor samples

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Passos, W.A.C.

    2016-01-01

    This work presents a method to obtain critical current of granular superconductors. We have carried out transport measurements (ρxT curves and VxI curves) in a YBa_2Cu_3O_7_-_δ sample to determine critical current density of it. Some specimens reveal a 'semiconductor-like' behavior (electrical resistivity decreases with increasing temperatures above critical temperature T_c of material) competing with superconductor behavior. Due to high granular fraction of the sample, these competition is clearly noted in ρxT curves. Measurements carried out from 0 to 8500 Oe of applied field show the same behavior, and the critical current density of the samples is shown. (author)

  19. Granular flow considerations in the design of a cascade solid breeder reaction chamber

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Walton, O.R.

    1983-10-01

    Both horizontally and vertically oriented rotating chambers with granular material held on the inner surface by centrifugal action are examined. Modifications to the condition for controlled quasi-static flow on an incline plane, phi/sub w/ 0 +- 10 0 for ceramic particles and metal surfaces. For vertical orientations the maximum half-angle of the top cone is slightly less than the wall friction angle phi/sub w/ while the lower portion can have a half angle as large as (90 0 - phi/sub w). Percolation of fines through shearing granular solids is briefly discussed and recommended experimental and calculational studies to obtain a better understanding of this behavior are described

  20. Testing hadronic interaction models using a highly granular silicon-tungsten calorimeter

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Bilki, B.; Repond, J.; Schlereth, J.; Cvach, Jaroslav; Gallus, Petr; Havránek, Miroslav; Janata, Milan; Kvasnička, Jiří; Lednický, Richard; Marčišovský, Michal; Polák, Ivo; Popule, Jiří; Tomášek, Lukáš; Tomášek, Michal; Růžička, Pavel; Šícho, Petr; Smolík, Jan; Vrba, Václav; Zálešák, Jaroslav

    2015-01-01

    Roč. 794, Sep (2015), s. 240-254 ISSN 0168-9002 R&D Projects: GA MŠk LG14033 Institutional support: RVO:68378271 Keywords : electromagnetic silicon tungsten calorimeter * highly granular detectors * hadronic showers * data and simulations Subject RIV: BF - Elementary Particles and High Energy Physics Impact factor: 1.200, year: 2015

  1. Erosion onset of a cohesionless granular medium by an immersed impinging round jet

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brunier-Coulin, Florian; Cuéllar, Pablo; Philippe, Pierre

    2017-03-01

    Among different devices developed quite recently to quantify the resistance to erosion of natural soil within the broader context of dyke safety, the most commonly used is probably the jet erosion test in which a scouring crater is induced by impingement of an immersed water jet. A comprehensive experimental investigation on the jet erosion in the specific situation of a cohesionless granular material is presented here. The tests were performed by combining special optical techniques allowing for an accurate measurement of the scouring onset and evolution inside an artificially translucent granular sample. The impinging jet hydrodynamics are also analyzed, empirically validating the use of a self-similar theoretical framework for the laminar round jet. The critical conditions at the onset of erosion appear to be best described by a dimensionless Shields number based on the inertial drag force created by the fluid flow on the eroded particles rather than on the pressure gradients around them. To conclude, a tentative empirical model for the maximal flow velocity initiating erosion at the bottom of the scoured crater is put forward and discussed in the light of some preliminary results.

  2. Critical phenomenon of granular flow on a conveyor belt.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De-Song, Bao; Xun-Sheng, Zhang; Guang-Lei, Xu; Zheng-Quan, Pan; Xiao-Wei, Tang; Kun-Quan, Lu

    2003-06-01

    The relationship between the granular wafer movement on a two-dimensional conveyor belt and the size of the exit together with the velocity of the conveyor belt has been studied in the experiment. The result shows that there is a critical speed v(c) for the granular flow when the exit width d is fixed (where d=R/D, D being the diameter of a granular wafers). When vv(c), the flow rate Q is described as Q=Crho(v)(beta)(d-k)(3/2). These are the effects of the interaction among the granular wafers and the change of the states of the granular flow due to the changing of the speed or the exit width d.

  3. Survivable integrated grooming in multi-granularity optical networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Jingjing; Guo, Lei; Wei, Xuetao; Liu, Yejun

    2012-05-01

    Survivability is an important issue to ensure the service continuity in optical network. At the same time, with the granularity of traffic demands ranging from sub-wavelength-level to wavelength-level, traffic demands need to be aggregated and carried over the network in order to utilize resources effectively. Therefore, multi-granularity grooming is proposed to save the cost and reduce the number of switching ports in Optical-Cross Connects (OXCs). However, current works mostly addressed the survivable wavelength or waveband grooming. Therefore, in this paper, we propose three heuristic algorithms called Multi-granularity Dedicated Protection Grooming (MDPG), Multi-granularity Shared Protection Grooming (MSPG) and Multi-granularity Mixed Protection Grooming (MMPG), respectively. All of them are performed based on the Survivable Multi-granularity Integrated Auxiliary Graph (SMIAG) that includes one Wavelength Integrated Auxiliary Graph (WIAG) for wavelength protection and one waveBand Integrated Auxiliary Graph (BIAG) for waveband protection. Numerical results show that MMPG has the lowest average port-cost, the best resource utilization ratio and the lowest blocking probability among these three algorithms. Compared with MDPG, MSPG has lower average port-cost, better resource utilization ratio and lower blocking probability.

  4. "Coulombic Viscosity" In Granular Materials: Planetary and Astrophysical Implications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marshall, J. R.

    1999-01-01

    The term "Coulombic viscosity" is introduced here to define an empirically observed phenomenon from experiments conducted in both microgravity, and in ground-based 1-g conditions. In the latter case, a sand attrition device was employed to test the longevity of aeolian materials by creating two intersecting grain-circulation paths or cells that would lead to most of the grain energy being expended on grain-to-grain collisions (simulating dune systems). In the areas in the device where gravitationally-driven grain-slurries recycled the sand, the slurries moved with a boundary-layer impeded motion down the chamber walls. Excessive electrostatic charging of the grains during these experiments was prevented by the use of an a.c. corona (created by a Tesla coil) through which the grains passed on every cycle. This created both positive and negative ions which neutralized the triboelectrically-generated grain charges. When the corona was switched on, the velocity of the wall-attached slurries increased by a factor of two as approximately determined by direct observation. What appeared to be a freely-flowing slurry of grains impeded only by intergranular mechanical friction, had obviously been significantly retarded in its motion by electrostatic forces between the grains; with the charging reduced, the grains were able to move past one another without a flow "viscosity" imposed by the Coulombic intergranular forces. A similar phenomenon was observed during microgravity experiments aboard Space Shuttle in USML-1 & USML-2 spacelabs where freely-suspended clouds of sand were being investigated for their potential to for-m aggregates. In this environment, the grains were also charged electrostatically (by natural processes prior to flight), but were free from the intervention of gravity in their interactions. The grains were dispersed into dense clouds by bursts of air turbulence and allowed to form aggregates as the ballistic and turbulent motions damped out. During this

  5. "Coulombic Viscosity" In Granular Materials: Planetary and Astrophysical Implications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marshall, J. R.

    1999-09-01

    The term "Coulombic viscosity" is introduced here to define an empirically observed phenomenon from experiments conducted in both microgravity, and in ground-based 1-g conditions. In the latter case, a sand attrition device was employed to test the longevity of aeolian materials by creating two intersecting grain-circulation paths or cells that would lead to most of the grain energy being expended on grain-to-grain collisions (simulating dune systems). In the areas in the device where gravitationally-driven grain-slurries recycled the sand, the slurries moved with a boundary-layer impeded motion down the chamber walls. Excessive electrostatic charging of the grains during these experiments was prevented by the use of an a.c. corona (created by a Tesla coil) through which the grains passed on every cycle. This created both positive and negative ions which neutralized the triboelectrically-generated grain charges. When the corona was switched on, the velocity of the wall-attached slurries increased by a factor of two as approximately determined by direct observation. What appeared to be a freely-flowing slurry of grains impeded only by intergranular mechanical friction, had obviously been significantly retarded in its motion by electrostatic forces between the grains; with the charging reduced, the grains were able to move past one another without a flow "viscosity" imposed by the Coulombic intergranular forces. A similar phenomenon was observed during microgravity experiments aboard Space Shuttle in USML-1 & USML-2 spacelabs where freely-suspended clouds of sand were being investigated for their potential to for-m aggregates. In this environment, the grains were also charged electrostatically (by natural processes prior to flight), but were free from the intervention of gravity in their interactions. The grains were dispersed into dense clouds by bursts of air turbulence and allowed to form aggregates as the ballistic and turbulent motions damped out. During this

  6. Behavior of pressure and viscosity at high densities for two-dimensional hard and soft granular materials

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Otsuki, Michio; Hayakawa, Hisao; Luding, Stefan

    2010-01-01

    The pressure and the viscosity in two-dimensional sheared granular assemblies are investigated numerically. The behavior of both pressure and viscosity is smoothly changing qualitatively when starting from a mono-disperse hard-disk system without dissipation and moving towards a system of (i)

  7. On inconsistency in frictional granular systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alart, Pierre; Renouf, Mathieu

    2018-04-01

    Numerical simulation of granular systems is often based on a discrete element method. The nonsmooth contact dynamics approach can be used to solve a broad range of granular problems, especially involving rigid bodies. However, difficulties could be encountered and hamper successful completion of some simulations. The slow convergence of the nonsmooth solver may sometimes be attributed to an ill-conditioned system, but the convergence may also fail. The prime aim of the present study was to identify situations that hamper the consistency of the mathematical problem to solve. Some simple granular systems were investigated in detail while reviewing and applying the related theoretical results. A practical alternative is briefly analyzed and tested.

  8. Elastic Nonlinear Response in Granular Media Under Resonance Conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jia, X.; Johnson, P. A.

    2004-12-01

    We are studying the elastic linear and nonlinear behavior of granular media using dynamic wave methods. In the work presented here, our goal is to quantify the elastic nonlinear response by applying wave resonance. Resonance studies are desirable because they provide the means to easily study amplitude dependencies of elastic nonlinear behavior and thus to characterize the physical nature of the elastic nonlinearity. This work has implications for a variety of topics, in particular, the in situ nonlinear response of surface sediments. For this work we constructed an experimental cell in which high sensitivity dynamic resonance studies were conducted using granular media under controlled effective pressure. We limit our studies here to bulk modes but have the capability to employ shear waves as well. The granular media are composed of glass beads held under pressure by a piston, while applying resonance waves from transducers as both the excitation and the material probe. The container is closed with two fitted pistons and a normal load is applied to the granular sample across the top piston. Force and displacement are measured directly. Resonant frequency sweeps with frequencies corresponding to the fundamental bulk mode are applied to the longitudinal source transducer. The pore pressure in the system is 1 atm. The glass beads used in our experiments are of diameter 0.5 mm, randomly deposited in a duralumin cylinder of diameter 30 mm and height of 15 mm. This corresponds to a granular skeleton acoustic wave velocity of v ª 750m/s under 50 N of force [0.07 Mpa]. The loaded system gives fundamental mode resonances in the audio frequency band at half a wavelength where resonance frequency is effective-pressure dependent. The volume fraction of glass beads thus obtained is found to be 0.63 ± 0.01. Plane-wave generating and detecting transducers of diameter 30 mm are placed on axis at the top and bottom of the cylindrical container in direct contact with the glass

  9. Storage and discharge of a granular fluid.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pacheco-Martinez, Hector; van Gerner, Henk Jan; Ruiz-Suárez, J C

    2008-02-01

    Experiments and computational simulations are carried out to study the behavior of a granular column in a silo whose walls are able to vibrate horizontally. The column is brought to a steady fluidized state and it behaves similar to a hydrostatic system. We study the dynamics of the granular discharge through openings at the bottom of the silo in order to search for a Torricelli-like behavior. We show that the flow rate scales with the wall induced shear rate, and at high rates, the granular bed indeed discharges similar to a viscous fluid.

  10. Behavior of granular rubber waste tire reinforced soil for application in geosynthetic reinforced soil wall

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    G. G. D. RAMIREZ

    Full Text Available AbstractLarge quantities of waste tires are released to the environment in an undesirable way. The potential use of this waste material in geotechnical applications can contribute to reducing the tire disposal problem and to improve strength and deformation characteristics of soils. This paper presents a laboratory study on the effect of granular rubber waste tire on the physical properties of a clayey soil. Compaction tests using standard effort and consolidated-drained triaxial tests were run on soil and mixtures. The results conveyed an improvement in the cohesion and the angle of internal friction the clayey soil-granular rubber mixture, depending on the level of confining stress. These mixtures can be used like backfill material in soil retaining walls replacing the clayey soil due to its better strength and shear behavior and low unit weight. A numerical simulation was conducted for geosynthetic reinforced soil wall using the clayey soil and mixture like backfill material to analyzing the influence in this structure.

  11. Textural and Isotopic Evidence for Silica Cementation in 1.88 GA Granular Iron Formation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brengman, L. A.; Fedo, C.; Martin, W.

    2016-12-01

    Controls on quartz precipitation mechanisms and silicon isotope fractionation during diagenesis of Precambrian iron formation (IF) are not well constrained. The goal of this study is to identify textural evidence for the relative timing of silica cementation of granular units from the near un-metamorphosed 1.88 Ga Biwabik IF and determine the silicon isotope composition for such a silicification event. The lowermost IF (lower cherty, LC) consists of granular units associated with high-energy sedimentary structures interpreted to represent shallow-marine shelf deposition. Up-section is marked by an abrupt shift to banded units interpreted as a transition to quiescent (deeper) water, followed by a return to granular textures and shallower conditions (upper cherty, UC). We first surveyed granular samples of the lower stromatolitic (LC) and upper oncolitic facies (UC) to identify sedimentary textures and cement. LC units consist of microquartz (chert), megaquartz, hematite, carbonate, and detrital quartz, chert, and quartz/Fe-oxide intraclastic material. In UC samples, space between granular material (hematite, magnetite, quartz ooids/intraclasts) is filled by mega-quartz cement, and cross-cutting mega-quartz veins. We targeted mega-quartz cement, and veins for δ30Si analysis via secondary ion mass spectrometry. The average measured δ30Si value of cement (δ30Siavg. cement UC6b = -3.11 ± 0.21 ‰) is significantly different than associated veins (δ30Siavg. vein UC6b = 0.21 ± 0.21 ‰; δ30Siavg. vein LC4 = 0.39 ± 0.21 ‰), both within and between samples. We interpret the relative difference between cement and veins to represent quartz precipitation under different geochemical conditions, and therefore at different times. Combining isotopic and textural evidence, we interpret silica cementation to pre-date veins, and represent quartz precipitation that either varied in rate, or occurred under closed-system conditions affected by Rayleigh distillation. Both

  12. Gravity-driven granular flow in a silo: Characterizing local forces and rearrangements

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thackray Emma

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available While the gravity-driven flow of a granular material in a silo geometry can be modeled by the Beverloo equation, the mesoscale-level particle rearrangements and interactions that drive this flow are not wellunderstood. We have constructed a quasi-two-dimensional system of bidisperse, millimeter-scale disks with photoelastic properties that make force networks within the material visible. The system is contained in an acrylic box with an adjustable bottom opening. We can approach the clogging transition by adjusting this opening. By placing the system between cross-polarizers, we can obtain high-speed video of this system during flow, and extract intensity signals that can be used to identify and quantify localized, otherwise indeterminate forces. We can simultaneously track individual particle motions, which can be used to identify shear transformation zones in the system. In this paper, we present our results thus far.

  13. Lightweight Expression of Granular Objects (LEGO) Content Modeling Using the SNOMED CT Observables Model to Represent Nursing Assessment Data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, Christie

    2016-01-01

    This poster presentation presents a content modeling strategy using the SNOMED CT Observable Model to represent large amounts of detailed clinical data in a consistent and computable manner that can support multiple use cases. Lightweight Expression of Granular Objects (LEGOs) represent question/answer pairs on clinical data collection forms, where a question is modeled by a (usually) post-coordinated SNOMED CT expression. LEGOs transform electronic patient data into a normalized consumable, which means that the expressions can be treated as extensions of the SNOMED CT hierarchies for the purpose of performing subsumption queries and other analytics. Utilizing the LEGO approach for modeling clinical data obtained from a nursing admission assessment provides a foundation for data exchange across disparate information systems and software applications. Clinical data exchange of computable LEGO patient information enables the development of more refined data analytics, data storage and clinical decision support.

  14. Record Dynamics and the Parking Lot Model for granular dynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sibani, Paolo; Boettcher, Stefan

    Also known for its application to granular compaction (E. Ben-Naim et al., Physica D, 1998), the Parking Lot Model (PLM) describes the random parking of identical cars in a strip with no marked bays. In the thermally activated version considered, cars can be removed at an energy cost and, in thermal equilibrium, their average density increases as temperature decreases. However, equilibration at high density becomes exceedingly slow and the system enters an aging regime induced by a kinematic constraint, the fact that parked cars may not overlap. As parking an extra car reduces the available free space,the next parking event is even harder to achieve. Records in the number of parked cars mark the salient features of the dynamics and are shown to be well described by the log-Poisson statistics known from other glassy systems with record dynamics. Clusters of cars whose positions must be rearranged to make the next insertion possible have a length scale which grows logarithmically with age, while their life-time grows exponentially with size. The implications for a recent cluster model of colloidal dynamics,(S. Boettcher and P. Sibani, J. Phys.: Cond. Matter, 2011 N. Becker et al., J. Phys.: Cond. Matter, 2014) are discussed. Support rom the Villum Foundation is gratefully acknowledged.

  15. Similitude study of a moving bed granular filter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Robert C. Brown; Huawei Shi; Gerald Colver; Saw-Choon Soo [Iowa State University, IA (United States)

    2003-12-10

    The goal of this study was to evaluate the performance of a moving bed granular filter designed for hot gas clean up. This study used similitude theory to devise experiments that were conducted at near-ambient conditions while simulating the performance of filters operated at elevated temperatures and pressures (850{sup o}C and 1000 kPa). These experiments revealed that the proposed moving bed granular filter can operate at high collection efficiencies, typically exceeding 99%, and low pressure drops without the need for periodic regeneration through the use of a continuous flow of fresh granular filter media in the filter. In addition, important design constraints were discovered for the successful operation of the proposed moving bed granular filter.

  16. Compliant contact versus rigid contact: A comparison in the context of granular dynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pazouki, Arman; Kwarta, Michał; Williams, Kyle; Likos, William; Serban, Radu; Jayakumar, Paramsothy; Negrut, Dan

    2017-10-01

    We summarize and numerically compare two approaches for modeling and simulating the dynamics of dry granular matter. The first one, the discrete-element method via penalty (DEM-P), is commonly used in the soft matter physics and geomechanics communities; it can be traced back to the work of Cundall and Strack [P. Cundall, Proc. Symp. ISRM, Nancy, France 1, 129 (1971); P. Cundall and O. Strack, Geotechnique 29, 47 (1979), 10.1680/geot.1979.29.1.47]. The second approach, the discrete-element method via complementarity (DEM-C), considers the grains perfectly rigid and enforces nonpenetration via complementarity conditions; it is commonly used in robotics and computer graphics applications and had two strong promoters in Moreau and Jean [J. J. Moreau, in Nonsmooth Mechanics and Applications, edited by J. J. Moreau and P. D. Panagiotopoulos (Springer, Berlin, 1988), pp. 1-82; J. J. Moreau and M. Jean, Proceedings of the Third Biennial Joint Conference on Engineering Systems and Analysis, Montpellier, France, 1996, pp. 201-208]. The DEM-P and DEM-C are manifestly unlike each other: They use different (i) approaches to model the frictional contact problem, (ii) sets of model parameters to capture the physics of interest, and (iii) classes of numerical methods to solve the differential equations that govern the dynamics of the granular material. Herein, we report numerical results for five experiments: shock wave propagation, cone penetration, direct shear, triaxial loading, and hopper flow, which we use to compare the DEM-P and DEM-C solutions. This exercise helps us reach two conclusions. First, both the DEM-P and DEM-C are predictive, i.e., they predict well the macroscale emergent behavior by capturing the dynamics at the microscale. Second, there are classes of problems for which one of the methods has an advantage. Unlike the DEM-P, the DEM-C cannot capture shock-wave propagation through granular media. However, the DEM-C is proficient at handling arbitrary grain

  17. Granular Gases: Probing the Boundaries of Hydrodynamics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goldhirsch, I.

    1999-01-01

    The dissipative nature of the particle interactions in granular systems renders granular gases mesoscopic and bearing some similarities to regular gases in the ''continuum transition regime'' where shear rates and/or thermal gradients are very large). The following properties of granular gases support the above claim: (i). Mean free times are of the same order as macroscopic time scales (inverse shear rates); (ii). Mean free paths can be macroscopic and comparable to the system's dimensions; (iii). Typical flows are supersonic; (iv). Shear rates are typically ''large''; (v). Stress fields are scale (resolution) dependent; (vi). Burnett and super-Burnett corrections to both the constitutive relations and the boundary conditions are of importance; (vii). Single particle distribution functions can be far from Gaussian. It is concluded that while hydrodynamic descriptions of granular gases are relevant, they are probing the boundaries of applicability of hydrodynamics and perhaps slightly beyond

  18. Granular metamaterials for vibration mitigation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gantzounis, G.; Serra-Garcia, M.; Homma, K.; Mendoza, J. M.; Daraio, C.

    2013-09-01

    Acoustic metamaterials that allow low-frequency band gaps are interesting for many practical engineering applications, where vibration control and sound insulation are necessary. In most prior studies, the mechanical response of these structures has been described using linear continuum approximations. In this work, we experimentally and theoretically address the formation of low-frequency band gaps in locally resonant granular crystals, where the dynamics of the system is governed by discrete equations. We investigate the quasi-linear behavior of such structures. The analysis shows that a stopband can be introduced at about one octave lower frequency than in materials without local resonances. Broadband and multi-frequency stopband characteristics can also be achieved by strategically tailoring the non-uniform local resonance parameters.

  19. Granular Silo collapse: an experimental study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clement, Eric; Gutierriez, Gustavo; Boltenhagen, Philippe; Lanuza, Jose

    2008-03-01

    We present an experimental work that develop some basic insight into the pre-buckling behavior and the buckling transition toward plastic collapse of a granular silo. We study different patterns of deformation generated on thin paper cylindrical shells during granular discharge. We study the collapse threshold for different bed height, flow rates and grain sizes. We compare the patterns that appear during the discharge of spherical beads, with those obtained in the axially compressed cylindrical shells. When the height of the granular column is close to the collapse threshold, we describe a ladder like pattern that rises around the cylinder surface in a spiral path of diamond shaped localizations, and develops into a plastic collapsing fold that grows around the collapsing silo.

  20. Radio Frequencies Emitted by Mobile Granular Materials: A Basis for Remote Sensing of Sand and Dust Activity on Mars and Earth

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marshall, J.; Farrell, W.; Houser, G.; Bratton, C.

    1999-01-01

    In recent laboratory experiments, measurements were made of microsecond radio-wave (RF) bursts emitted by grains of sand as they energetically circulated in a closed, electrically ungrounded chamber. The bursts appeared to result from nanoscale electrical discharging from grain surfaces. Both the magnitude and wave form of the RF pulses varied with the type of material undergoing motion. The release of RF from electrical discharging is a well-known phenomenon, but it is generally measured on much larger energy scales (e.g., in association with lightning or electrical motors). This phenomenon might be used to detect, on planetary surfaces, the motion and composition of sand moving over dunes, the turbulent motion of fine particles in dust storms, highly-energetic grain and rock collisions in volcanic eruptions, and frictional grinding of granular materials in dry debris flows, landslides, and avalanches. The occurrence of these discharges has been predicted from theoretical considerations Additional information is contained in the original.

  1. Simulations and Experiments of Dynamic Granular Compaction in Non-ideal Geometries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Homel, Michael; Herbold, Eric; Lind, John; Crum, Ryan; Hurley, Ryan; Akin, Minta; Pagan, Darren; LLNL Team

    2017-06-01

    Accurately describing the dynamic compaction of granular materials is a persistent challenge in computational mechanics. Using a synchrotron x-ray source we have obtained detailed imaging of the evolving compaction front in synthetic olivine powder impacted at 300 - 600 m / s . To facilitate imaging, a non-traditional sample geometry is used, producing multiple load paths within the sample. We demonstrate that (i) commonly used models for porous compaction may produce inaccurate results for complex loading, even if the 1 - D , uniaxial-strain compaction response is reasonable, and (ii) the experimental results can be used along with simulations to determine parameters for sophisticated constitutive models that more accurately describe the strength, softening, bulking, and poroelastic response. Effects of experimental geometry and alternative configurations are discussed. Our understanding of the material response is further enhanced using mesoscale simulations that allow us to relate the mechanisms of grain fracture, contact, and comminution to the macroscale continuum response. Numerical considerations in both continuum and mesoscale simulations are described. This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. LDRD#16-ERD-010. LLNL-ABS-725113.

  2. Sub-optimal control of fuzzy linear dynamical systems under granular differentiability concept.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mazandarani, Mehran; Pariz, Naser

    2018-05-01

    This paper deals with sub-optimal control of a fuzzy linear dynamical system. The aim is to keep the state variables of the fuzzy linear dynamical system close to zero in an optimal manner. In the fuzzy dynamical system, the fuzzy derivative is considered as the granular derivative; and all the coefficients and initial conditions can be uncertain. The criterion for assessing the optimality is regarded as a granular integral whose integrand is a quadratic function of the state variables and control inputs. Using the relative-distance-measure (RDM) fuzzy interval arithmetic and calculus of variations, the optimal control law is presented as the fuzzy state variables feedback. Since the optimal feedback gains are obtained as fuzzy functions, they need to be defuzzified. This will result in the sub-optimal control law. This paper also sheds light on the restrictions imposed by the approaches which are based on fuzzy standard interval arithmetic (FSIA), and use strongly generalized Hukuhara and generalized Hukuhara differentiability concepts for obtaining the optimal control law. The granular eigenvalues notion is also defined. Using an RLC circuit mathematical model, it is shown that, due to their unnatural behavior in the modeling phenomenon, the FSIA-based approaches may obtain some eigenvalues sets that might be different from the inherent eigenvalues set of the fuzzy dynamical system. This is, however, not the case with the approach proposed in this study. The notions of granular controllability and granular stabilizability of the fuzzy linear dynamical system are also presented in this paper. Moreover, a sub-optimal control for regulating a Boeing 747 in longitudinal direction with uncertain initial conditions and parameters is gained. In addition, an uncertain suspension system of one of the four wheels of a bus is regulated using the sub-optimal control introduced in this paper. Copyright © 2018 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Acoustics of multiscale sorptive porous materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Venegas, R.; Boutin, C.; Umnova, O.

    2017-08-01

    This paper investigates sound propagation in multiscale rigid-frame porous materials that support mass transfer processes, such as sorption and different types of diffusion, in addition to the usual visco-thermo-inertial interactions. The two-scale asymptotic method of homogenization for periodic media is successively used to derive the macroscopic equations describing sound propagation through the material. This allowed us to conclude that the macroscopic mass balance is significantly modified by sorption, inter-scale (micro- to/from nanopore scales) mass diffusion, and inter-scale (pore to/from micro- and nanopore scales) pressure diffusion. This modification is accounted for by the dynamic compressibility of the effective saturating fluid that presents atypical properties that lead to slower speed of sound and higher sound attenuation, particularly at low frequencies. In contrast, it is shown that the physical processes occurring at the micro-nano-scale do not affect the macroscopic fluid flow through the material. The developed theory is exemplified by introducing an analytical model for multiscale sorptive granular materials, which is experimentally validated by comparing its predictions with acoustic measurements on granular activated carbons. Furthermore, we provide empirical evidence supporting an alternative method for measuring sorption and mass diffusion properties of multiscale sorptive materials using sound waves.

  4. Sensors for the CMS High Granularity Calorimeter

    CERN Document Server

    Maier, Andreas Alexander

    2017-01-01

    The CMS experiment is currently developing high granularity calorimeter endcapsfor its HL-LHC upgrade. The design foresees silicon sensors as the active material for the high radiation region close to the beampipe. Regions of lower radiation are additionally equipped with plastic scintillator tiles. This technology is similar to the calorimeter prototypes developed in the framework of the Linear Collider by the CALICE collaboration. The current status of the silicon sensor development is presented. Results of single diode measurements are shown as well as tests of full 6-inch hexagonal sensor wafers. A short summary of test beam results concludes the article.

  5. Numerical investigation of particle-blast interaction during explosive dispersal of liquids and granular materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pontalier, Q.; Lhoumeau, M.; Milne, A. M.; Longbottom, A. W.; Frost, D. L.

    2018-04-01

    Experiments show that when a high-explosive charge with embedded particles or a charge surrounded by a layer of liquid or granular material is detonated, the flow generated is perturbed by the motion of the particles and the blast wave profile differs from that of an ideal Friedlander form. Initially, the blast wave overpressure is reduced due to the energy dissipation resulting from compaction, fragmentation, and heating of the particle bed, and acceleration of the material. However, as the blast wave propagates, particle-flow interactions collectively serve to reduce the rate of decay of the peak blast wave overpressure. Computations carried out with a multiphase hydrocode reproduce the general trends observed experimentally and highlight the transition between the particle acceleration/deceleration phases, which is not accessible experimentally, since the particles are obscured by the detonation products. The dependence of the particle-blast interaction and the blast mitigation effectiveness on the mitigant to explosive mass ratio, the particle size, and the initial solid volume fraction is investigated systematically. The reduction in peak blast overpressure is, as in experiments, primarily dependent on the mass ratio of material to explosive, with the particle size, density, and initial porosity of the particle bed playing secondary roles. In the near field, the blast overpressure decreases sharply with distance as the particles are accelerated by the flow. When the particles decelerate due to drag, energy is returned to the flow and the peak blast overpressure recovers and reaches values similar to that of a bare explosive charge for low mass ratios. Time-distance trajectory plots of the particle and blast wave motion with the pressure field superimposed, illustrate the weak pressure waves generated by the motion of the particle layer which travel upstream and perturb the blast wave motion. Computation of the particle and gas momentum flux in the multiphase

  6. Numerical investigation of particle-blast interaction during explosive dispersal of liquids and granular materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pontalier, Q.; Lhoumeau, M.; Milne, A. M.; Longbottom, A. W.; Frost, D. L.

    2018-05-01

    Experiments show that when a high-explosive charge with embedded particles or a charge surrounded by a layer of liquid or granular material is detonated, the flow generated is perturbed by the motion of the particles and the blast wave profile differs from that of an ideal Friedlander form. Initially, the blast wave overpressure is reduced due to the energy dissipation resulting from compaction, fragmentation, and heating of the particle bed, and acceleration of the material. However, as the blast wave propagates, particle-flow interactions collectively serve to reduce the rate of decay of the peak blast wave overpressure. Computations carried out with a multiphase hydrocode reproduce the general trends observed experimentally and highlight the transition between the particle acceleration/deceleration phases, which is not accessible experimentally, since the particles are obscured by the detonation products. The dependence of the particle-blast interaction and the blast mitigation effectiveness on the mitigant to explosive mass ratio, the particle size, and the initial solid volume fraction is investigated systematically. The reduction in peak blast overpressure is, as in experiments, primarily dependent on the mass ratio of material to explosive, with the particle size, density, and initial porosity of the particle bed playing secondary roles. In the near field, the blast overpressure decreases sharply with distance as the particles are accelerated by the flow. When the particles decelerate due to drag, energy is returned to the flow and the peak blast overpressure recovers and reaches values similar to that of a bare explosive charge for low mass ratios. Time-distance trajectory plots of the particle and blast wave motion with the pressure field superimposed, illustrate the weak pressure waves generated by the motion of the particle layer which travel upstream and perturb the blast wave motion. Computation of the particle and gas momentum flux in the multiphase

  7. Revisiting Johnson and Jackson boundary conditions for granular flows

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Li, Tingwen; Benyahia, Sofiane

    2012-07-01

    In this article, we revisit Johnson and Jackson boundary conditions for granular flows. The oblique collision between a particle and a flat wall is analyzed by adopting the classic rigid-body theory and a more realistic semianalytical model. Based on the kinetic granular theory, the input parameter for the partial-slip boundary conditions, specularity coefficient, which is not measurable in experiments, is then interpreted as a function of the particle-wall restitution coefficient, the frictional coefficient, and the normalized slip velocity at the wall. An analytical expression for the specularity coefficient is suggested for a flat, frictional surface with a low frictional coefficient. The procedure for determining the specularity coefficient for a more general problem is outlined, and a working approximation is provided.

  8. Kinetics and mass-transfer phenomena in anaerobic granular sludge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gonzalez-Gil, G; Seghezzo, L; Lettinga, G; Kleerebezem, R

    2001-04-20

    The kinetic properties of acetate-degrading methanogenic granular sludge of different mean diameters were assessed at different up-flow velocities (V(up)). Using this approach, the influence of internal and external mass transfer could be estimated. First, the apparent Monod constant (K(S)) for each data set was calculated by means of a curve-fitting procedure. The experimental results revealed that variations in the V(up) did not affect the apparent K(S)-value, indicating that external mass-transport resistance normally can be neglected. With regard to the granule size, a clear increase in K(S) was found at increasing granule diameters. The experimental data were further used to validate a dynamic mathematical biofilm model. The biofilm model was able to describe reaction-diffusion kinetics in anaerobic granules, using a single value for the effective diffusion coefficient in the granules. This suggests that biogas formation did not influence the diffusion-rates in the granular biomass. Copyright 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

  9. Comparative Laboratory and Numerical Simulations of Shearing Granular Fault Gouge: Micromechanical Processes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morgan, J. K.; Marone, C. J.; Guo, Y.; Anthony, J. L.; Knuth, M. W.

    2004-12-01

    Laboratory studies of granular shear zones have provided significant insight into fault zone processes and the mechanics of earthquakes. The micromechanisms of granular deformation are more difficult to ascertain, but have been hypothesized based on known variations in boundary conditions, particle properties and geometries, and mechanical behavior. Numerical simulations using particle dynamics methods (PDM) can offer unique views into deforming granular shear zones, revealing the precise details of granular microstructures, particle interactions, and packings, which can be correlated with macroscopic mechanical behavior. Here, we describe a collaborative program of comparative laboratory and numerical experiments of granular shear using idealized materials, i.e., glass beads, glass rods or pasta, and angular sand. Both sets of experiments are carried out under similar initial and boundary conditions in a non-fracturing stress regime. Phenomenologically, the results of the two sets of experiments are very similar. Peak friction values vary as a function of particle dimensionality (1-D vs. 2-D vs. 3-D), particle angularity, particle size and size distributions, boundary roughness, and shear zone thickness. Fluctuations in shear strength during an experiment, i.e., stick-slip events, can be correlated with distinct changes in the nature, geometries, and durability of grain bridges that support the shear zone walls. Inclined grain bridges are observed to form, and to support increasing loads, during gradual increases in assemblage strength. Collapse of an individual grain bridge leads to distinct localization of strain, generating a rapidly propagating shear surface that cuts across multiple grain bridges, accounting for the sudden drop in strength. The distribution of particle sizes within an assemblage, along with boundary roughness and its periodicity, influence the rate of formation and dissipation of grain bridges, thereby controlling friction variations during

  10. Nonlocal rheological properties of granular flows near a jamming limit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aranson, Igor S; Tsimring, Lev S; Malloggi, Florent; Clément, Eric

    2008-09-01

    We study the rheology of sheared granular flows close to a jamming transition. We use the approach of partially fluidized theory (PFT) with a full set of equations extending the thin layer approximation derived previously for the description of the granular avalanches phenomenology. This theory provides a picture compatible with a local rheology at large shear rates [G. D. R. Midi, Eur. Phys. J. E 14, 341 (2004)] and it works in the vicinity of the jamming transition, where a description in terms of a simple local rheology comes short. We investigate two situations displaying important deviations from local rheology. The first one is based on a set of numerical simulations of sheared soft two-dimensional circular grains. The next case describes previous experimental results obtained on avalanches of sandy material flowing down an incline. Both cases display, close to jamming, significant deviations from the now standard Pouliquen's flow rule [O. Pouliquen, Phys. Fluids 11, 542 (1999); 11, 1956 (1999)]. This discrepancy is the hallmark of a strongly nonlocal rheology and in both cases, we relate the empirical results and the outcomes of PFT. The numerical simulations show a characteristic constitutive structure for the fluid part of the stress involving the confining pressure and the material stiffness that appear in the form of an additional dimensionless parameter. This constitutive relation is then used to describe the case of sandy flows. We show a quantitative agreement as far as the effective flow rules are concerned. A fundamental feature is identified in PFT as the existence of a jammed layer developing in the vicinity of the flow arrest that corroborates the experimental findings. Finally, we study the case of solitary erosive granular avalanches and relate the outcome with the PFT analysis.

  11. Long-range interactions in dilute granular systems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Müller, M.K

    2008-01-01

    In this thesis, on purpose, we focussed on the most challenging, longest ranging potentials. We analyzed granular media of low densities obeying 1/r long-range interaction potentials between the granules. Such systems are termed granular gases and differ in their behavior from ordinary gases by

  12. Harmonic generation and flux quantization in granular superconductors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lam, Q.H.; Jeffries, C.D.

    1989-01-01

    Simple dynamical models of granular superconductors are used to compute the generation of harmonic power in ac and dc magnetic fields. In zero order, the model is a single superconducting loop, with or without a weak link. The sample-average power is predicted by averaging over suitable distribution functions for loop areas and orientations in a dc magnetic field. In a first-order model, inductance and resistance are also included. In all models the power at high harmonics shows strikingly sharp dips periodic in the dc field, revealing flux quantization in the prototype loops

  13. Continuum viscoplastic simulation of a granular column collapse on large slopes : μ(I) rheology and lateral wall effects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, Nathan; Mangeney, Anne; Ionescu, Ioan; Bouchut, Francois

    2016-04-01

    The description of the mechanical behaviour of granular flows and in particular of the static/flowing transition is still an open and challenging issue with strong implication for hazard assessment [{Delannay et al.}, 2016]. In particular, {detailed quantitative} comparison between numerical models and observations is necessary to go further in this direction. We simulate here dry granular flows resulting from the collapse of granular columns on an inclined channel (from horizontal to 22^o) and compare precisely the results with laboratory experiments performed by {Mangeney et al.} [2010] and {Farin et al.} [2014]. Incompressibility is assumed despite the dilatancy observed in the experiments (up to 10%). The 2-D model is based on the so-called μ(I) rheology that induces a Drucker-Prager yield stress and a variable viscosity. A nonlinear Coulomb friction term, representing the friction on the lateral walls of the channel is added to the model. We demonstrate that this term is crucial to accurately reproduce granular collapses on slopes higher than 10o whereas it remains of little effect on horizontal slope [{Martin et al.}, 2016]. We show that the use of a variable or a constant viscosity does not change significantly the results provided that these viscosities are of the same order [{Ionescu et al.}, 2015]. However, only a fine tuning of the constant viscosity (η = 1 Pa.s) makes it possible to predict the slow propagation phase observed experimentally on large slopes. This was not possible when using, without tuning, the variable viscosity calculated from the μ(I) rheology with the parameters estimated from experiments. Finally, we discuss the well-posedness of the model with variable and constant viscosity based in particular on the development of shear bands observed in the numerical simulations. References Delannay, R., Valance, A., Mangeney, A., Roche, O., and Richard, P., 2016. Granular and particle-laden flows: from laboratory experiments to field

  14. Effective-medium theory for nonlinear magneto-optics in magnetic granular alloys: cubic nonlinearity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Granovsky, Alexander B.; Kuzmichov, Michail V.; Clerc, J.-P.; Inoue, Mitsuteru

    2003-01-01

    We propose a simple effective-medium approach for calculating the effective dielectric function of a magnetic metal-insulator granular alloy in which there is a weakly nonlinear relation between electric displacement D and electric field E for both constituent materials of the form D i =ε i (0) E i +χ i (3) |E i | 2 E i . We assume that linear ε i (0) and cubic nonlinear χ i (3) dielectric functions are diagonal and linear with magnetization non-diagonal components. For such metal-insulator composite magneto-optical effects depend on a light intensity and the effective cubic dielectric function χ eff (3) can be significantly greater (up to 10 3 times) than that for constituent materials. The calculation scheme is based on the Bergman and Stroud-Hui theory of nonlinear optical properties of granular matter. The giant cubic magneto-optical nonlinearity is found for composites with metallic volume fraction close to the percolation threshold and at a resonance of optical conductivity. It is shown that a composite may exhibit nonlinear magneto-optics even when both constituent materials have no cubic magneto-optical nonlinearity

  15. Performance Evaluation of Components Using a Granularity-based Interface Between Real-Time Calculus and Timed Automata

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karine Altisen

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available To analyze complex and heterogeneous real-time embedded systems, recent works have proposed interface techniques between real-time calculus (RTC and timed automata (TA, in order to take advantage of the strengths of each technique for analyzing various components. But the time to analyze a state-based component modeled by TA may be prohibitively high, due to the state space explosion problem. In this paper, we propose a framework of granularity-based interfacing to speed up the analysis of a TA modeled component. First, we abstract fine models to work with event streams at coarse granularity. We perform analysis of the component at multiple coarse granularities and then based on RTC theory, we derive lower and upper bounds on arrival patterns of the fine output streams using the causality closure algorithm. Our framework can help to achieve tradeoffs between precision and analysis time.

  16. Storage and discharge of a granular fluid

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Pacheco-Martinez, Hector; van Gerner, H.J.; Ruiz-Suarez, J.C.

    2008-01-01

    Experiments and computational simulations are carried out to study the behavior of a granular column in a silo whose walls are able to vibrate horizontally. The column is brought to a steady fluidized state and it behaves similar to a hydrostatic system. We study the dynamics of the granular

  17. Effects of acoustic waves on stick-slip in granular media and implications for earthquakes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, P.A.; Savage, H.; Knuth, M.; Gomberg, J.; Marone, Chris

    2008-01-01

    It remains unknown how the small strains induced by seismic waves can trigger earthquakes at large distances, in some cases thousands of kilometres from the triggering earthquake, with failure often occurring long after the waves have passed. Earthquake nucleation is usually observed to take place at depths of 10-20 km, and so static overburden should be large enough to inhibit triggering by seismic-wave stress perturbations. To understand the physics of dynamic triggering better, as well as the influence of dynamic stressing on earthquake recurrence, we have conducted laboratory studies of stick-slip in granular media with and without applied acoustic vibration. Glass beads were used to simulate granular fault zone material, sheared under constant normal stress, and subject to transient or continuous perturbation by acoustic waves. Here we show that small-magnitude failure events, corresponding to triggered aftershocks, occur when applied sound-wave amplitudes exceed several microstrain. These events are frequently delayed or occur as part of a cascade of small events. Vibrations also cause large slip events to be disrupted in time relative to those without wave perturbation. The effects are observed for many large-event cycles after vibrations cease, indicating a strain memory in the granular material. Dynamic stressing of tectonic faults may play a similar role in determining the complexity of earthquake recurrence. ??2007 Nature Publishing Group.

  18. The role of fluid viscosity in an immersed granular collapse

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Geng Chao; Kwok, Chung Yee; Sobral, Yuri Dumaresq

    2017-06-01

    Instabilities of immersed slopes and cliffs can lead to catastrophic events that involve a sudden release of huge soil mass. The scaled deposit height and runout distance are found to follow simple power laws when a granular column collapses on a horizontal plane. However, if the granular column is submerged in a fluid, the mobility of the granular collapse due to high inertia effects will be reduced by fluid-particle interactions. In this study, the effects of fluid viscosity on granular collapse is investigated qualitatively by adopting a numerical approach based on the coupled lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) and discrete element method (DEM). It is found that the granular collapse can be dramatically slowed down due to the presence of viscous fluids. For the considered granular configuration, when the fluid viscosity increases. the runout distance decreases and the final deposition shows a larger deposit angle.

  19. The role of fluid viscosity in an immersed granular collapse

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yang Geng Chao

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Instabilities of immersed slopes and cliffs can lead to catastrophic events that involve a sudden release of huge soil mass. The scaled deposit height and runout distance are found to follow simple power laws when a granular column collapses on a horizontal plane. However, if the granular column is submerged in a fluid, the mobility of the granular collapse due to high inertia effects will be reduced by fluid-particle interactions. In this study, the effects of fluid viscosity on granular collapse is investigated qualitatively by adopting a numerical approach based on the coupled lattice Boltzmann method (LBM and discrete element method (DEM. It is found that the granular collapse can be dramatically slowed down due to the presence of viscous fluids. For the considered granular configuration, when the fluid viscosity increases. the runout distance decreases and the final deposition shows a larger deposit angle.

  20. Physical test of a particle simulation model in a sheared granular system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rycroft, Chris H; Orpe, Ashish V; Kudrolli, Arshad

    2009-09-01

    We report a detailed comparison of a slow gravity-driven sheared granular flow with a discrete-element simulation performed in the same geometry. In the experiments, grains flow inside a silo with a rectangular cross section and are sheared by a rough boundary on one side and smooth boundaries on the other sides. Individual grain position and motion are measured using a particle index-matching imaging technique where a fluorescent dye is added to the interstitial liquid which has the same refractive index as the glass beads. The simulations use a Cundall-Strack contact model between the grains using contact parameters that have been used in many other previous studies and ignore the hydrodynamic effects of the interstitial liquid. Computations are performed to understand the effect of particle coefficient of friction, elasticity, contact model, and polydispersity on mean flow properties. We then perform a detailed comparison of the particle fluctuation properties as measured by the displacement probability distribution function and the mean square displacement. All in all, our study suggests a high level of quantitative agreement between the simulations and experiments.

  1. Comparative potential of black tea leaves waste to granular activated carbon in adsorption of endocrine disrupting compounds from aqueous solution

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A.O. Ifelebuegu

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available The adsorption properties and mechanics of selected endocrine disrupting compounds; 17 β-estradiol, 17 α – ethinylestradiol and bisphenol A on locally available black tea leaves waste and granular activated carbon were investigated. The results obtained indicated that the kinetics of adsorption were pH, adsorbent dose, contact time and temperature dependent with equilibrium being reached at 20 to 40 minutes for tea leaves waste and 40 to 60 minutes for granular activated compound. Maximum adsorption capacities of 3.46, 2.44 and 18.35 mg/g were achieved for tea leaves waste compared to granular activated compound capacities of 4.01, 2.97 and 16.26 mg/g for 17 β- estradiol, 17 α-ethinylestradiol and bisphenol A respectively. Tea leaves waste adsorption followed pseudo-first order kinetics while granular activated compound fitted better to the pseudo-second order kinetic model. The experimental isotherm data for both tea leaves waste and granular activated compound showed a good fit to the Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin isotherm models with the Langmuir model showing the best fit. The thermodynamic and kinetic data for the adsorption indicated that the adsorption process for tea leaves waste was predominantly by physical adsorption while the granular activated compound adsorption was more chemical in nature. The results have demonstrated the potential of waste tea leaves for the adsorptive removal of endocrine disrupting compounds from water.

  2. Interactive granular computations in networks and systems engineering a practical perspective

    CERN Document Server

    Jankowski, Andrzej

    2017-01-01

    The book outlines selected projects conducted under the supervision of the author. Moreover, it discusses significant relations between Interactive Granular Computing (IGrC) and numerous dynamically developing scientific domains worldwide, along with features characteristic of the author’s approach to IGrC. The results presented are a continuation and elaboration of various aspects of Wisdom Technology, initiated and developed in cooperation with Professor Andrzej Skowron. Based on the empirical findings from these projects, the author explores the following areas: (a) understanding the causes of the theory and practice gap problem (TPGP) in complex systems engineering (CSE);(b) generalizing computing models of complex adaptive systems (CAS) (in particular, natural computing models) by constructing an interactive granular computing (IGrC) model of networks of interrelated interacting complex granules (c-granules), belonging to a single agent and/or to a group of agents; (c) developing methodologies based ...

  3. Protocol dependence of mechanical properties in granular systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Inagaki, S; Otsuki, M; Sasa, S

    2011-11-01

    We study the protocol dependence of the mechanical properties of granular media by means of computer simulations. We control a protocol of realizing disk packings in a systematic manner. In 2D, by keeping material properties of the constituents identical, we carry out compaction with various strain rates. The disk packings exhibit the strain rate dependence of the critical packing fraction above which the pressure becomes non-zero. The observed behavior contrasts with the well-studied jamming transitions for frictionless disk packings. We also observe that the elastic moduli of the disk packings depend on the strain rate logarithmically. Our results suggest that there exists a time-dependent state variable to describe macroscopic material properties of disk packings, which depend on its protocol.

  4. Periurethral granular cell tumor: a case report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Jeong Kon; Choi, Hyo Gyeong; Cho, Kyoung Sik

    1998-01-01

    Granular cell tumors are uncommon soft tissue tumors which arise as solitary or multiple masses. Lesions commonly arise in the head, neck, and chest wall, but can occur in any part of the body. To our knowledge, periurethral granular cell tumor has not been previously reported. We report one such case

  5. Direct measurement of superdiffusive energy transport in disordered granular chains.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Eunho; Martínez, Alejandro J; Phenisee, Sean E; Kevrekidis, P G; Porter, Mason A; Yang, Jinkyu

    2018-02-13

    Energy transport properties in heterogeneous materials have attracted scientific interest for more than half of a century, and they continue to offer fundamental and rich questions. One of the outstanding challenges is to extend Anderson theory for uncorrelated and fully disordered lattices in condensed-matter systems to physical settings in which additional effects compete with disorder. Here we present the first systematic experimental study of energy transport and localization properties in simultaneously disordered and nonlinear granular crystals. In line with prior theoretical studies, we observe in our experiments that disorder and nonlinearity-which individually favor energy localization-can effectively cancel each other out, resulting in the destruction of wave localization. We also show that the combined effect of disorder and nonlinearity can enable manipulation of energy transport speed in granular crystals. Specifically, we experimentally demonstrate superdiffusive transport. Furthermore, our numerical computations suggest that subdiffusive transport should be attainable by controlling the strength of the system's external precompression force.

  6. Thermal energy storage in granular deposits

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ratuszny, Paweł

    2017-10-01

    Energy storage technology is crucial for the development of the use of renewable energy sources. This is a substantial constraint, however it can, to some extent, be solved by storing energy in its various forms: electrical, mechanical, chemical and thermal. This article presents the results of research in thermal properties of granular deposits. Correlation between temperature changes in the stores over a period of time and their physical properties has been studied. The results of the research have practical application in designing thermal stores based on bulk materials and ground deposits. Furthermore, the research results are significant for regeneration of the lower ground sources for heat pumps and provide data for designing ground heat exchangers for ventilation systems.

  7. Granular fingering as a mechanism for ridge formation in debris avalanche deposits: Laboratory experiments and implications for Tutupaca volcano, Peru

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valderrama, P.; Roche, O.; Samaniego, P.; van Wyk des Vries, B.; Araujo, G.

    2018-01-01

    The origin of subparallel, regularly-spaced longitudinal ridges often observed at the surface of volcanic and other rock avalanche deposits remains unclear. We addressed this issue through analogue laboratory experiments on flows of bi-disperse granular mixtures, because this type of flow is known to exhibit granular fingering that causes elongated structures resembling the ridges observed in nature. We considered four different mixtures of fine (300-400 μm) glass beads and coarse (600-710 μm to 900-1000 μm) angular crushed fruit stones, with particle size ratios of 1.9-2.7 and mass fractions of the coarse component of 5-50 wt%. The coarse particles segregated at the flow surface and accumulated at the front where flow instabilities with a well-defined wavelength grew. These formed granular fingers made of coarse-rich static margins delimiting fines-rich central channels. Coalescence of adjacent finger margins created regular spaced longitudinal ridges, which became topographic highs as finger channels drained at final emplacement stages. Three distinct deposit morphologies were observed: 1) Joined fingers with ridges were formed at low (≤ 1.9) size ratio and moderate (10-20 wt%) coarse fraction whereas 2) separate fingers or 3) poorly developed fingers, forming series of frontal lobes, were created at larger size ratios and/or higher coarse contents. Similar ridges and lobes are observed at the debris avalanche deposits of Tutupaca volcano, Peru, suggesting that the processes operating in the experiments can also occur in nature. This implies that volcanic (and non-volcanic) debris avalanches can behave as granular flows, which has important implications for interpretation of deposits and for modeling. Such behaviour may be acquired as the collapsing material disaggregates and forms a granular mixture composed by a right grain size distribution in which particle segregation can occur. Limited fragmentation and block sliding, or grain size distributions

  8. An algorithm for simulating fracture of cohesive–frictional materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nukala, Phani K V V; Barai, Pallab; Sampath, Rahul

    2010-01-01

    Fracture of disordered frictional granular materials is dominated by interfacial failure response that is characterized by de-cohesion followed by frictional sliding response. To capture such an interfacial failure response, we introduce a cohesive–friction random fuse model (CFRFM), wherein the cohesive response of the interface is represented by a linear stress–strain response until a failure threshold, which is then followed by a constant response at a threshold lower than the initial failure threshold to represent the interfacial frictional sliding mechanism. This paper presents an efficient algorithm for simulating fracture of such disordered frictional granular materials using the CFRFM. We note that, when applied to perfectly plastic disordered materials, our algorithm is both theoretically and numerically equivalent to the traditional tangent algorithm (Roux and Hansen 1992 J. Physique II 2 1007) used for such simulations. However, the algorithm is general and is capable of modeling discontinuous interfacial response. Our numerical simulations using the algorithm indicate that the local and global roughness exponents (ζ loc and ζ, respectively) of the fracture surface are equal to each other, and the two-dimensional crack roughness exponent is estimated to be ζ loc = ζ = 0.69 ± 0.03

  9. Concentration profiles in the wake of a sphere buried in a granular bed through which fluid flows

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guedes de Carvalho, J.R.F.; Delgado, J.M.P.Q.; Alves, M.A.

    2005-01-01

    The concentration distribution in the wake of a soluble sphere immersed in a granular bed of inerts has been obtained numerically, for transport by both advection and diffusion/dispersion. Fluid flow in the granular bed around the sphere was assumed to follow Darcy's law and, at each point, dispersion of solute was considered in both the cross-stream and stream-wise directions. The elliptic PDE equation, resulting from a differential material balance on the solute, has been solved numerically over a wide range of values of the relevant parameters. (authors)

  10. Concentration profiles in the wake of a sphere buried in a granular bed through which fluid flows

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Guedes de Carvalho, J.R.F.; Delgado, J.M.P.Q.; Alves, M.A. [Porto Univ., Dpet. de Engenharia Quimica, Faculdade de Engenharia (Portugal)

    2005-07-01

    The concentration distribution in the wake of a soluble sphere immersed in a granular bed of inerts has been obtained numerically, for transport by both advection and diffusion/dispersion. Fluid flow in the granular bed around the sphere was assumed to follow Darcy's law and, at each point, dispersion of solute was considered in both the cross-stream and stream-wise directions. The elliptic PDE equation, resulting from a differential material balance on the solute, has been solved numerically over a wide range of values of the relevant parameters. (authors)

  11. Locating the origin of stick slip instabilities in sheared granular layers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Korkolis, Evangelos; Niemeijer, André

    2017-04-01

    Acoustic emission (AE) monitoring is a non-invasive technique widely used to evaluate the state of materials and structures. We have developed a system that can locate the source of AE events associated with unstable sliding (stick-slip) of sheared granular layers during laboratory friction experiments. Our aim is to map the spatial distribution of energy release due to permanent microstructural changes, using AE source locations as proxies. This will allow us to determine the distribution of applied work in a granular medium, which will be useful in developing constitutive laws that describe the frictional behavior of such materials. The AE monitoring system is installed on a rotary shear apparatus. This type of apparatus is used to investigate the micromechanical processes responsible for the macroscopic frictional behavior of granular materials at large shear displacements. Two arrays of 8 piezoelectric sensors each are installed into the ring-shaped steel pistons that confine our samples. The sensors are connected to a high-speed, multichannel oscilloscope that can record full waveforms. The apparatus is also equipped with a system that continuously records normal and lateral (shear) loads and displacements, as well as pore fluid pressure. Thus, we can calculate the frictional and volumetric response of our granular aggregates, as well as the location of AE sources. Here, we report on the results of room temperature experiments on granular aggregates consisting of glass beads or segregated mixtures of glass beads and calcite, at up to 5 MPa normal stress and sliding velocities between 1 and 100 μm/s. Under these conditions, glass beads exhibit unstable sliding behavior accompanied by significant AE activity, whereas calcite exhibits stable sliding and produces no AEs. We recorded a range of unstable sliding behaviors, from fast, regular stick slip at high normal stress (> 4 MPa) and sliding velocities below 20 μm/s, to irregular stick slip at low normal

  12. Temperature dependence of the extraordinary Hall effect in magnetic granular alloys

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Granovsky, A.; Kalitsov, A.; Khanikaev, A.; Sato, H.; Aoki, Y.

    2003-01-01

    We present the results of theoretical investigation of the temperature dependence of the extraordinary Hall effect (EHE) in granular metal-metal and metal-insulator alloys in the case of electron-phonon scattering at high temperatures. Skew scattering is assumed to be the dominant mechanism of the EHE. The calculations were carried out using Zhang-Levy model and the effective-medium approximation. The single-site electron-phonon interaction model was considered by analogy to that one in the theory of disordered alloys. In the case of strong spin-dependent scattering there is an additional term in the temperature dependence of the EHE coefficient of magnetic granular alloys in comparison with that for bulk ferromagnets. This term is linear with T 3 . The similar temperature dependence for the EHE conductivity in granular metal-metal and metal-insulator alloys takes place in spite of the different origin of giant magnetoresistance in these systems. The strong temperature dependence of the EHE coefficient can be viewed as an evidence of enhanced spin-orbit interaction at interfaces between granules and the matrix. We show a linear correlation between the interface contribution to the EHE coefficient and the interface contribution to alloy resistivity. The obtained results are in a qualitative agreement with the recent experimental data for nanocomposites

  13. Temperature dependence of the extraordinary Hall effect in magnetic granular alloys

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Granovsky, A. E-mail: granov@magn.ru; Kalitsov, A.; Khanikaev, A.; Sato, H.; Aoki, Y

    2003-02-01

    We present the results of theoretical investigation of the temperature dependence of the extraordinary Hall effect (EHE) in granular metal-metal and metal-insulator alloys in the case of electron-phonon scattering at high temperatures. Skew scattering is assumed to be the dominant mechanism of the EHE. The calculations were carried out using Zhang-Levy model and the effective-medium approximation. The single-site electron-phonon interaction model was considered by analogy to that one in the theory of disordered alloys. In the case of strong spin-dependent scattering there is an additional term in the temperature dependence of the EHE coefficient of magnetic granular alloys in comparison with that for bulk ferromagnets. This term is linear with T{sup 3}. The similar temperature dependence for the EHE conductivity in granular metal-metal and metal-insulator alloys takes place in spite of the different origin of giant magnetoresistance in these systems. The strong temperature dependence of the EHE coefficient can be viewed as an evidence of enhanced spin-orbit interaction at interfaces between granules and the matrix. We show a linear correlation between the interface contribution to the EHE coefficient and the interface contribution to alloy resistivity. The obtained results are in a qualitative agreement with the recent experimental data for nanocomposites.

  14. Calibration and validation of a model describing complete autotrophic nitrogen removal in a granular SBR system

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vangsgaard, Anna Katrine; Mutlu, Ayten Gizem; Gernaey, Krist

    2013-01-01

    BACKGROUND: A validated model describing the nitritation-anammox process in a granular sequencing batch reactor (SBR) system is an important tool for: a) design of future experiments and b) prediction of process performance during optimization, while applying process control, or during system scale......-up. RESULTS: A model was calibrated using a step-wise procedure customized for the specific needs of the system. The important steps in the procedure were initialization, steady-state and dynamic calibration, and validation. A fast and effective initialization approach was developed to approximate pseudo...... screening of the parameter space proposed by Sin et al. (2008) - to find the best fit of the model to dynamic data. Finally, the calibrated model was validated with an independent data set. CONCLUSION: The presented calibration procedure is the first customized procedure for this type of system...

  15. Quality of poultry litter-derived granular activated carbon.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qiu, Guannan; Guo, Mingxin

    2010-01-01

    Utilization of poultry litter as a source material for generating activated carbon is a value-added and environmentally beneficial approach to recycling organic waste. In this study, the overall quality of poultry litter-derived granular activated carbon was systematically evaluated based on its various physical and chemical properties. Granular activated carbon generated from pelletized poultry litter following a typical steam-activation procedure possessed numerous micropores in the matrix. The product exhibited a mean particle diameter of 2.59 mm, an apparent density of 0.45 g cm(-3), a ball-pan hardness of 91.0, an iodine number of 454 mg g(-1), and a BET surface area of 403 m(2) g(-1). It contained high ash, nitrogen, phosphorus contents and the trace elements Cu, Zn, and As. Most of the nutrients and toxic elements were solidified and solution-unextractable. In general, poultry litter-based activated carbon demonstrated overall quality comparable to that of low-grade commercial activated carbon derived from coconut shell and bituminous coal. It is promising to use poultry litter as a feedstock to manufacture activated carbon for wastewater treatment.

  16. Long runout landslides: a solution from granular mechanics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stanislav eParez

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Large landslides exhibit surprisingly long runout distances compared to a rigid body sliding from the same slope, and the mechanism of this phenomena has been studied for decades. This paper shows that the observed long runouts can be explained quite simply via a granular pile flowing downhill, while collapsing and spreading, without the need for frictional weakening that has traditionally been suggested to cause long runouts. Kinematics of the granular flow is divided into center of mass motion and spreading due to flattening of the flowing mass. We solve the center of mass motion analytically based on a frictional law valid for granular flow, and find that center of mass runout is similar to that of a rigid body. Based on the shape of deposits observed in experiments with collapsing granular columns and numerical simulations of landslides, we derive a spreading length Rf~V^1/3. Spreading of a granular pile, leading to a deposit angle much lower than the angle of repose or the dynamic friction angle, is shown to be an important, often dominating, contribution to the total runout distance, accounting for the long runouts observed for natural landslides.

  17. Capturing gas in soft granular media

    Science.gov (United States)

    MacMinn, Chris; Lee, Jeremy; Xu, Feng; Lee, Sungyon

    2017-11-01

    Bubble migration through soft granular materials involves a strong coupling between the bubble dynamics and the deformation of the material. This process is relevant to a variety of natural and industrial systems, from fluidized-bed reactors to the migration and venting of biogenic gas in sediments. Here, we study this process experimentally by injecting air into a quasi-2D, liquid-saturated packing of soft particles and measuring the morphology of the bubbles as they invade and then rise due to buoyancy. By systematically varying the confining stress, we show that the competition between buoyancy, capillarity, and elasticity leads to complex bubble-migration dynamics that transition from fluidization to pathway opening to pore invasion, with a strong and surprising impact on the amount of air trapped in the system. The authors are grateful for support from the Royal Society (IE150885), the John Fell Oxford University Press Research Fund, and the Maurice Lubbock Memorial Fund.

  18. Applicability and trends of anaerobic granular sludge treatment processes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lim, Seung Joo; Kim, Tak-Hyun

    2014-01-01

    Anaerobic granular sludge treatment processes have been continuously developed, although the anaerobic sludge granulation process was not clearly understood. In this review, an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB), an expanded granule sludge blanket (EGSB), and a static granular bed reactor (SGBR) were introduced as components of a representative anaerobic granular sludge treatment processes. The characteristics and application trends of each reactor were presented. The UASB reactor was developed in the late 1970s and its use has been rapidly widespread due to the excellent performance. With the active granules, this reactor is able to treat various high-strength wastewaters as well as municipal wastewater. Most soluble industrial wastewaters can be efficiently applied using a UASB. The EGSB reactor was developed owing to give more chance to contact between wastewater and the granules. Dispersed sludge is separated from mature granules using the rapid upward velocity in this reactor. The EGSB reactor shows the excellent performance in treating low-strength and/or high-strength wastewater, especially under low temperatures. The SGBR, developed at Iowa State University, is one of anaerobic granular sludge treatment processes. Although the configuration of the SGBR is very simple, the performance of this system is similar to that of the UASB or EGSB reactor. The anaerobic sludge granulation processes showed excellent performance for various wastewaters at a broad range of organic loading rate in lab-, pilot-scale tests. This leads to erect thousands of full-scale granular processes, which has been widely operated around the world. -- Highlights: • Anaerobic sludge granulation is a key parameter for maintaining granular processes. • Anaerobic granular digestion processes are applicable for various wastewaters. • The UASB is an economic high-rate anaerobic granular process. • The EGSB can treat high-strength wastewater using expanding granules. • The SGBR is

  19. Friction dependence of shallow granular flows from discrete particle simulations

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Thornton, Anthony Richard; Weinhart, Thomas; Luding, Stefan; Bokhove, Onno

    2011-01-01

    A shallow-layer model for granular flows is completed with a closure relation for the macroscopic bed friction or basal roughness obtained from micro-scale discrete particle simulations of steady flows. We systematically vary the bed friction by changing the contact friction coefficient between

  20. Impact cratering on granular beds: From the impact of raindrops to the strike of hailstones

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gordillo, Leonardo; Wang, Junping; Japardi, Fred; Teddy, Warren; Gao, Ming; Cheng, Xiang

    Impact craters generated by the impact of a spherical object onto a granular bed strongly depend on the material properties of impactors. As an example, impact cratering by liquid drops and by solid spheres exhibits qualitatively different power-law scalings for the size of resulting impact craters. While the basic energy conservation and dimensional analysis provide simple guiding rules, the detailed dynamics governing the relation between these power-law scalings is still far from clear. To analyze the transition between liquid-drop and solid-sphere impact cratering, we investigate impact cratering by liquid drops for a wide range of viscosities over 7 decades. Using high-speed photography and laser profilometry, we delineate the liquid-to-solid transition and show the emergence of the two asymptotic behaviors and their respective power laws. We find that granular avalanches triggered by impacts are crucial in understanding the energy partition between impacted surfaces and impactors, which directly determines the observed scaling relations. A simple model is constructed for the initial stage of the impact that explains the energy partition during crater formation. We ackowledge the support of NSF CAREER DMR-1452180. LG acknowledges fundings from CONICYT/BECAS CHILE 74160007.

  1. Track segments in hadronic showers in a highly granular scintillator-steel hadron calorimeter

    CERN Document Server

    Adloff, C.; Chefdeville, M.; Drancourt, C.; Gaglione, R.; Geffroy, N.; Karyotakis, Y.; Koletsou, I.; Prast, J.; Vouters, G.; Francis, K.; Repond, J.; Schlereth, J.; Smith, J.; Xia, L.; Baldolemar, E.; Li, J.; Park, S.T.; Sosebee, M.; White, A.P.; Yu, J.; Eigen, G.; Mikami, Y.; Watson, N.K.; Mavromanolakis, G.; Thomson, M.A.; Ward, D.R.; Yan, W.; Benchekroun, D.; Hoummada, A.; Khoulaki, Y.; Apostolakis, J.; Dannheim, D.; Dotti, A.; Folger, G.; Ivantchenko, V.; Klempt, W.; Kraaij, E.van der; Lucaci-Timoce, A.-I; Ribon, A.; Schlatter, D.; Uzhinskiy, V.; Cârloganu, C.; Gay, P.; Manen, S.; Royer, L.; Tytgat, M.; Zaganidis, N.; Blazey, G.C.; Dyshkant, A.; Lima, J.G.R.; Zutshi, V.; Hostachy, J.-Y; Morin, L.; Cornett, U.; David, D.; Falley, G.; Gadow, K.; Göttlicher, P.; Günter, C.; Hartbrich, O.; Hermberg, B.; Karstensen, S.; Krivan, F.; Krüger, K.; Lu, S.; Morozov, S.; Morgunov, V.; Reinecke, M.; Sefkow, F.; Smirnov, P.; Terwort, M.; Feege, N.; Garutti, E.; Laurien, S.; Marchesini, I.; Matysek, M.; Ramilli, M.; Briggl, K.; Eckert, P.; Harion, T.; Schultz-Coulon, H.-Ch; Shen, W.; Stamen, R.; Bilki, B.; Norbeck, E.; Onel, Y.; Wilson, G.W.; Kawagoe, K.; Sudo, Y.; Yoshioka, T.; Dauncey, P.D.; Magnan, A.-M; Bartsch, V.; Wing, M.; Salvatore, F.; Gil, E.Cortina; Mannai, S.; Baulieu, G.; Calabria, P.; Caponetto, L.; Combaret, C.; Negra, R.Della; Grenier, G.; Han, R.; Ianigro, J-C; Kieffer, R.; Laktineh, I.; Lumb, N.; Mathez, H.; Mirabito, L.; Petrukhin, A.; Steen, A.; Tromeur, W.; Donckt, M.Vander; Zoccarato, Y.; Alamillo, E.Calvo; Fouz, M.-C; Puerta-Pelayo, J.; Corriveau, F.; Bobchenko, B.; Chadeeva, M.; Danilov, M.; Epifantsev, A.; Markin, O.; Mizuk, R.; Novikov, E.; Popov, V.; Rusinov, V.; Tarkovsky, E.; Kirikova, N.; Kozlov, V.; Smirnov, P.; Soloviev, Y.; Buzhan, P.; Ilyin, A.; Kantserov, V.; Kaplin, V.; Karakash, A.; Popova, E.; Tikhomirov, V.; Kiesling, C.; Seidel, K.; Simon, F.; Soldner, C.; Szalay, M.; Tesar, M.; Weuste, L.; Amjad, M.S.; Bonis, J.; Callier, S.; Lorenzo, S.Conforti di; Cornebise, P.; Doublet, Ph; Dulucq, F.; Fleury, J.; Frisson, T.; der Kolk, N.van; Li, H.; Martin-Chassard, G.; Richard, F.; Taille, Ch de la; Pöschl, R.; Raux, L.; Rouëné, J.; Seguin-Moreau, N.; Anduze, M.; Balagura, V.; Boudry, V.; Brient, J-C; Cornat, R.; Frotin, M.; Gastaldi, F.; Guliyev, E.; Haddad, Y.; Magniette, F.; Musat, G.; Ruan, M.; Tran, T.H.; Videau, H.; Bulanek, B.; Zacek, J.; Cvach, J.; Gallus, P.; Havranek, M.; Janata, M.; Kvasnicka, J.; Lednicky, D.; Marcisovsky, M.; Polak, I.; Popule, J.; Tomasek, L.; Tomasek, M.; Ruzicka, P.; Sicho, P.; Smolik, J.; Vrba, V.; Zalesak, J.; Belhorma, B.; Ghazlane, H.; Kotera, K.; Takeshita, T.; Uozumi, S.; Jeans, D.; Götze, M.; Sauer, J.; Weber, S.; Zeitnitz, C.

    2013-01-01

    We investigate the three dimensional substructure of hadronic showers in the CALICE scintillator-steel hadronic calorimeter. The high granularity of the detector is used to find track segments of minimum ionising particles within hadronic showers, providing sensitivity to the spatial structure and the details of secondary particle production in hadronic cascades. The multiplicity, length and angular distribution of identified track segments are compared to GEANT4 simulations with several different shower models. Track segments also provide the possibility for in-situ calibration of highly granular calorimeters.

  2. A comprehensive study of MPI parallelism in three-dimensional discrete element method (DEM) simulation of complex-shaped granular particles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yan, Beichuan; Regueiro, Richard A.

    2018-02-01

    A three-dimensional (3D) DEM code for simulating complex-shaped granular particles is parallelized using message-passing interface (MPI). The concepts of link-block, ghost/border layer, and migration layer are put forward for design of the parallel algorithm, and theoretical scalability function of 3-D DEM scalability and memory usage is derived. Many performance-critical implementation details are managed optimally to achieve high performance and scalability, such as: minimizing communication overhead, maintaining dynamic load balance, handling particle migrations across block borders, transmitting C++ dynamic objects of particles between MPI processes efficiently, eliminating redundant contact information between adjacent MPI processes. The code executes on multiple US Department of Defense (DoD) supercomputers and tests up to 2048 compute nodes for simulating 10 million three-axis ellipsoidal particles. Performance analyses of the code including speedup, efficiency, scalability, and granularity across five orders of magnitude of simulation scale (number of particles) are provided, and they demonstrate high speedup and excellent scalability. It is also discovered that communication time is a decreasing function of the number of compute nodes in strong scaling measurements. The code's capability of simulating a large number of complex-shaped particles on modern supercomputers will be of value in both laboratory studies on micromechanical properties of granular materials and many realistic engineering applications involving granular materials.

  3. Effect of horizontal vibration on pile of cylinder avalanches as a pseudo-two dimensional granular system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mardiansyah, Y; Yulia; Khotimah, S N; Viridi, S; Suprijadi

    2016-01-01

    Dynamics of pseudo-two dimensional granular material consisted of two layers cylinder piles positioned on top of a horizontally vibrated plate is reported in this work. It is aimed to observe structural change of the cylinder pile vibrated in certain frequency and amplitude. Dimensionless acceleration Γ= 4π 2 f 2 A/g (with g is gravitational acceleration), which is generally used in granular materials to observe transition between states, e.g. stable, rotating without slipping, rolling and slipping in Γ-f plane, does not work well for this system. For this system additional states for the piles can also be observed, e.g. stable and flowing states. Observations parameters are frequency f (measured in Hz) and amplitude A (measured in cm). These parameters are used to construct the A-f plane instead of Γ-f one. (paper)

  4. Compaction of Ceramic Microspheres, Spherical Molybdenum Powder and Other Materials to 3 GPa

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carlson, S R; Bonner, B P; Ryerson, F J; Hart, M M

    2006-01-01

    Pressure-volume relationships were measured at room temperature for eight granular materials and one specimen of epoxy foam. The granular materials included hollow ceramic microspheres, spherical molybdenum powder, Ottawa sand, aluminum, copper, titanium and silicon carbide powders and glassy carbon spheres. Measurements were made to 0.9 GPa in a liquid medium press for all of the granular materials and to 3 GPa in a solid medium press for the ceramic microspheres and molybdenum powder. A single specimen of epoxy foam was compressed to 30 MPa in the liquid medium press. Bulk moduli were calculated as a function of pressure for the ceramic microspheres, the molybdenum powder and three other granular materials. The energy expended in compacting the granular materials was determined by numerically integrating pressure-volume curves. More energy was expended per unit volume in compacting the molybdenum powder to 1 GPa than for the other materials, but compaction of the ceramic microspheres required more energy per gram due to their very low initial density. The merge pressure, the pressure at which all porosity is removed, was estimated for each material by plotting porosity against pressure on a semi-log plot. The pressure-volume curves were then extrapolated to the predicted merge pressures and numerically integrated to estimate the energy required to reach full density for each material. The results suggest that the glassy carbon spheres and the ceramic microspheres would require more energy than the other materials to attain full density

  5. 76 FR 8774 - Granular Polytetrafluoroethylene Resin From Japan

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-02-15

    ... INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION [Investigation No. 731-TA-386 (Third Review)] Granular Polytetrafluoroethylene Resin From Japan AGENCY: United States International Trade Commission. ACTION: Termination of five... revocation of the antidumping duty order on granular polytetrafluoroethylene resin from Japan would be likely...

  6. A review of analogue modelling of geodynamic processes: Approaches, scaling, materials and quantification, with an application to subduction experiments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schellart, Wouter P.; Strak, Vincent

    2016-10-01

    We present a review of the analogue modelling method, which has been used for 200 years, and continues to be used, to investigate geological phenomena and geodynamic processes. We particularly focus on the following four components: (1) the different fundamental modelling approaches that exist in analogue modelling; (2) the scaling theory and scaling of topography; (3) the different materials and rheologies that are used to simulate the complex behaviour of rocks; and (4) a range of recording techniques that are used for qualitative and quantitative analyses and interpretations of analogue models. Furthermore, we apply these four components to laboratory-based subduction models and describe some of the issues at hand with modelling such systems. Over the last 200 years, a wide variety of analogue materials have been used with different rheologies, including viscous materials (e.g. syrups, silicones, water), brittle materials (e.g. granular materials such as sand, microspheres and sugar), plastic materials (e.g. plasticine), visco-plastic materials (e.g. paraffin, waxes, petrolatum) and visco-elasto-plastic materials (e.g. hydrocarbon compounds and gelatins). These materials have been used in many different set-ups to study processes from the microscale, such as porphyroclast rotation, to the mantle scale, such as subduction and mantle convection. Despite the wide variety of modelling materials and great diversity in model set-ups and processes investigated, all laboratory experiments can be classified into one of three different categories based on three fundamental modelling approaches that have been used in analogue modelling: (1) The external approach, (2) the combined (external + internal) approach, and (3) the internal approach. In the external approach and combined approach, energy is added to the experimental system through the external application of a velocity, temperature gradient or a material influx (or a combination thereof), and so the system is open

  7. Porous structure and morphology of granular chars from flash and conventional pyrolysis of grape seeds

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jimenez-Cordero, Diana; Heras, Francisco; Alonso-Morales, Noelia; Gilarranz, Miguel A.; Rodriguez, Juan J.

    2013-01-01

    This work studies the influence of the operating conditions used in the pyrolysis of grape seeds on the morphology and textural properties of the chars resulting. Flash and conventional (283 K min −1 heating rate) pyrolysis have been used within a wide range of temperature (300–1000 °C). The effect of a pretreatment for oil extraction has also been studied. The porous structure of the chars was characterized by adsorption of N 2 at 77 K, Ar at 77 K and 87 K, and CO 2 at 273 K and mercury intrusion porosimetry. The morphology was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy. All the materials prepared revealed an essentially microporous structure, with a poor or even negligible contribution of mesopores. Increasing pyrolysis temperature led to higher specific surface areas and lower pore size. The highest specific surface area values occurred within 700–800 °C, reaching up to 500 m 2 g −1 with pore sizes in the 0.4–1.1 nm range. No significant morphological changes were observed upon carbonization so that the resulting chars were granular materials of similar size than the starting grape seeds. The hollow core structure of the chars, with most of the material allocated at the periphery of the granules can help to overcome the mass transfer limitations of most common (solid or massive) granular activated carbons. The chars showed a good mechanical strength during attrition tests. These chars can be potential candidates for the preparation of granular carbons molecular sieve or activated carbons raw materials. -- Highlights: •We use a raw material that has a very low price and a high availability. •Not very much attention has been paid to this waste for carbonaceous materials preparation. •The chars obtained have high specific surface area that is an interesting starting point for later activation processes. •The chars show a micro-macro porous bimodal distribution. •Pyrolysis does not affect to morphology or initial seed, leading a carbonized

  8. Lizard locomotion in heterogeneous granular media

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schiebel, Perrin; Goldman, Daniel

    2014-03-01

    Locomotion strategies in heterogeneous granular environments (common substrates in deserts), are relatively unexplored. The zebra-tailed lizard (C. draconoides) is a useful model organism for such studies owing to its exceptional ability to navigate a variety of desert habitats at impressive speed (up to 50 body-lengths per second) using both quadrapedal and bidepal gaits. In laboratory experiments, we challenge the lizards to run across a field of boulders (2.54 cm diameter glass spheres or 3.8 cm 3D printed spheres) placed in a lattice pattern and embedded in a loosely packed granular medium of 0.3 mm diameter glass particles. Locomotion kinematics of the lizard are recorded using high speed cameras, with and without the scatterers. The data reveals that unlike the lizard's typical quadrupedal locomotion using a diagonal gait, when scatterers are present the lizard is most successful when using a bipedal gait, with a raised center of mass (CoM). We propose that the kinematics of bipedal running in conjunction with the lizard's long toes and compliant hind foot are the keys to this lizard's successful locomotion in the presence of such obstacles. NSF PoLS

  9. Fundamental changes of granular flows dynamics, deposition and erosion processes at high slope angles: insights from laboratory experiments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farin, Maxime; Mangeney, Anne; Roche, Olivier

    2014-05-01

    Geophysical granular flows commonly interact with their substrate in various ways depending on the mechanical properties of the underlying material. Granular substrates, resulting from deposition of earlier flows or various geological events, are often eroded by avalanches [see Hungr and Evans, 2004 for review]. The entrainment of underlying debris by the flow is suspected to affect flow dynamics because qualitative and quantitative field observations suggest that it can increase the flow velocity and deposit extent, depending on the geological setting and flow type [Sovilla et al., 2006; Iverson et al., 2011]. Direct measurement of material entrainment in nature, however, is very difficult. We conducted laboratory experiments on granular column collapse over an inclined channel with and without an erodible bed of granular material. The controlling parameters were the channel slope angle, the granular column volume and its aspect ratio (i.e. height over length), the inclination of the column with respect to the channel base, the channel width, and the thickness and compaction of the erodible bed. For slope angles below a critical value θc, between 10° and 16°, the runout distance rf is proportional to the initial column height h0 and is unaffected by the presence of an erodible bed. On steeper slopes, the flow dynamics change fundamentally since a last phase of slow propagation develops at the end of the flow front deceleration, and prolongates significantly the flow duration. This phase has similar characteristics that steady, uniform flows. The slow propagation phase lasts longer for increasing slope angle, column volume, column inclination with respect to the slope, and channel width, and for decreasing column aspect ratio. It is however independent of the maximum front velocity and, on an erodible bed, of the maximum depth of excavation within the bed. Both on rigid and erodible beds, the increase of the slow propagation phase duration has a crucial effect

  10. Impurity in a granular gas under nonlinear Couette flow

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vega Reyes, Francisco; Garzó, Vicente; Santos, Andrés

    2008-01-01

    We study in this work the transport properties of an impurity immersed in a granular gas under stationary nonlinear Couette flow. The starting point is a kinetic model for low-density granular mixtures recently proposed by the authors (Vega Reyes et al 2007 Phys. Rev. E 75 061306). Two routes have been considered. First, a hydrodynamic or normal solution is found by exploiting a formal mapping between the kinetic equations for the gas particles and for the impurity. We show that the transport properties of the impurity are characterized by the ratio between the temperatures of the impurity and gas particles and by five generalized transport coefficients: three related to the momentum flux (a nonlinear shear viscosity and two normal stress differences) and two related to the heat flux (a nonlinear thermal conductivity and a cross-coefficient measuring a component of the heat flux orthogonal to the thermal gradient). Second, by means of a Monte Carlo simulation method we numerically solve the kinetic equations and show that our hydrodynamic solution is valid in the bulk of the fluid when realistic boundary conditions are used. Furthermore, the hydrodynamic solution applies to arbitrarily (inside the continuum regime) large values of the shear rate, of the inelasticity, and of the rest of the parameters of the system. Preliminary simulation results of the true Boltzmann description show the reliability of the nonlinear hydrodynamic solution of the kinetic model. This shows again the validity of a hydrodynamic description for granular flows, even under extreme conditions, beyond the Navier–Stokes domain

  11. Competetive clustering in a bidisperse granular gas : experiment, molecular dynamics, and flux model

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mikkelsen, René; van der Meer, Devaraj; van der Weele, Ko; Lohse, Detlef

    2004-01-01

    A compartmentalized bidisperse granular gas clusters competitively [R. Mikkelsen, D. van der Meer, K. van der Weele, and D. Lohse, Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 214301 (2002)]: By tuning the shaking strength, the clustering can be directed either towards the compartment initially containing mainly small

  12. Materials 2014: a great success for materials sector

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Isnard, Olivier; Crepin, Jerome

    2014-01-01

    In this work are presented the summaries of the 19 symposiums presented at the conference: 'Materials 2014' and whose topics were: eco-materials, materials for energy storage and conversion, strategic materials, rare elements and recycling, surfaces functionalization and physico-chemical characterization, interfaces and coatings, corrosion, aging, durability, damage mechanical behaviours, disordered materials, glasses and their functionalization, materials and health, functional materials, porous, granular and with a high surface area materials, nano-materials, nano-structured systems, assembling processes, carbonaceous materials, great instruments and studies of materials, materials in severe conditions, powder forming processes, metallic materials and structures lightening. (O.M.)

  13. Aqueous synthesis of LiFePO4 with Fractal Granularity

    OpenAIRE

    Cab?n-Huertas, Zahilia; Ayyad, Omar; Dubal, Deepak P.; G?mez-Romero, Pedro

    2016-01-01

    Lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) electrodes with fractal granularity are reported. They were made from a starting material prepared in water by a low cost, easy and environmentally friendly hydrothermal method, thus avoiding the use of organic solvents. Our method leads to pure olivine phase, free of the impurities commonly found after other water-based syntheses. The fractal structures consisted of nanoparticles grown into larger micro-sized formations which in turn agglomerate leading to hi...

  14. Neurohypophysis granular cell tumours. Upon neurohypophysis rare tumours

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barrande, G.; Kujas, M.; Gancel, A.; Turpin, G.; Bruckert, E.; Kuhn, J.M.; Luton, J.P.

    1995-01-01

    Granular cell tumours of neurohypophysis are rare. These tumours are more often encountered as incidental autopsy findings seen in up to 17 % of unselected adult autopsy cases. There are few reports of para-sellar granular cell tumours large enough to cause symptoms. We present three cases of neurohypophysis granular cell tumour and a review of the literature. In one patient, the asymptomatic granular cell tumour was incidentally discovered at surgical removal of a corticotrophic micro-adenoma. The remaining 2 patients had a symptomatic tumour which caused neurological symptoms such as visual disturbance and headaches and endocrine disorders such as hypopituitarism or hyper-prolactinaemia. In these 2 cases, computerized tomography showed a well-circumscribed, contrast-enhanced, intra-sellar and supra-sellar mass. Magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated an isointense gadolinium-enhanced mass in T1-weighted-images. Trans-sphenoidal partial resection was performed and histology was interpreted as a granular cell tumour. The immunohistochemical study was positive for glial fibrillary acidic protein (GEAP) and neuron specific enolase (NSE) in 1 of the 2 tumours and positive for S100 protein and vimentin in both tumours but negative for CD68. The histogenesis of neurohypophysis granular cell tumours is still controversial but ultrastructural and immunohistochemical studies support the theory that may arise from pituicytes, the glial cells of neurohypophysis. Management of these benign, slow growing, tumours is based mainly on neurosurgical resection. Data from the literature do not support a beneficial effect of post operative radiation therapy on postoperative recurrences. (authors). 23 refs., 4 figs., 1 tab

  15. Granular Cell Tumor

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    1). Her packed cell volume was 40%, she was system, gastro-intestinal tract, brain, heart, and negative to human immunodeficiency virus. 2 female reproductive . ... histocytes and neurons at various times. They granules. The granules are probably of lysosmal were consequently termed granular cell origin and contain ...

  16. Development of granular powder manufacturing technology by spray pyrolysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Katoh, Yoshiyuki; Kawase, Keiichi; Takahashi, Yoshiharu; Todokoro, Akio

    1996-01-01

    For shortening of mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel manufacturing process and improvement in treatment of MOX-powder, we have been developing the granular powder production technology. Since the granular powders have excellent fluidity owing to the spherical shape, there is the possibility of modifying scattering and adcering of the powder in the process equipment. In this paper, spray pyrolysis process in adopted as the process of manufacturing the granular powders and the basic feasibility study has been carried out. The experimental results show that the manufactured granular powders have excellent fluidity and the diameter of the powders is controllable. Furthermore, high density pellets are formed by sintering the powders. Thus, it is clarified that this process is promising for the actual MOX fuel fabrication. (author)

  17. Enhanced selection of micro-aerobic pentachlorophenol degrading granular sludge

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lv, Yuancai, E-mail: donkey1204@hotmail.com [State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering, College of Light Industry and Food Science, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640 (China); Chen, Yuancai, E-mail: chenyc@scut.edu.cn [State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering, College of Light Industry and Food Science, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640 (China); Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Ecological Remediation for Industrial Agglomeration Area, College of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006 (China); Song, Wenzhe, E-mail: songwenzhe007@126.com [Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Ecological Remediation for Industrial Agglomeration Area, College of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006 (China); Hu, Yongyou, E-mail: ppyyhu@scut.edu.cn [State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering, College of Light Industry and Food Science, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640 (China); Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Ecological Remediation for Industrial Agglomeration Area, College of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006 (China)

    2014-09-15

    Graphical abstract: In this work, an aerobic column reactor was placed before the USB to maintain micro-oxygen condition in the reactor and the micro-aerobic pentachlorophenol (PCP) degrading granular sludge under oxygen-limited conditions (0.1–0.2 mg L{sup −1}) was successfully obtained. PCP degradation by the micro-aerobic system was studied and the variance of microbial community was also discussed by using PCR-DGGE analysis. - Highlights: • Micro-aerobic granular sludge was cultivated in column-type combined reactors. • PCP biodegradation, VFA accumulation and biogas production were studied. • The function of Methanogenic archaeon in the system was investigated. • Fluctuation and diversity of microbial community were discussed by DGGE analysis. • The dominated microorganisms were identified by 16S rDNA sequences. - Abstract: Column-type combined reactors were designed to cultivate micro-aerobic pentachlorophenol (PCP) degrading granular sludge under oxygen-limited conditions (0.1–0.2 mg L{sup −1}) over 39-day experimental period. Micro-aerobic granular had both anaerobic activity (SMA: 2.34 mMCH{sub 4}/h g VSS) and aerobic activity (SOUR: 2.21 mMO{sub 2}/h g VSS). Metabolite analysis results revealed that PCP was sequentially dechlorinated to TCP, DCP, and eventually to MCP. Methanogens were not directly involved in the dechlorination of PCP, but might played a vital role in stabilizing the overall structure of the granule sludge. For Eubacteria, the Shannon Index (2.09 in inoculated granular sludge) increased both in micro-aerobic granular sludge (2.61) and PCP-degradation granular sludge (2.55). However, for Archaea, it decreased from 2.53 to 1.85 and 1.84, respectively. Although the Shannon Index demonstrated slight difference between micro-aerobic granular sludge and PCP-degradation granular sludge, the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) indicated obvious variance of the microbial composition, revealing significant effect of micro

  18. Enhanced selection of micro-aerobic pentachlorophenol degrading granular sludge

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lv, Yuancai; Chen, Yuancai; Song, Wenzhe; Hu, Yongyou

    2014-01-01

    Graphical abstract: In this work, an aerobic column reactor was placed before the USB to maintain micro-oxygen condition in the reactor and the micro-aerobic pentachlorophenol (PCP) degrading granular sludge under oxygen-limited conditions (0.1–0.2 mg L −1 ) was successfully obtained. PCP degradation by the micro-aerobic system was studied and the variance of microbial community was also discussed by using PCR-DGGE analysis. - Highlights: • Micro-aerobic granular sludge was cultivated in column-type combined reactors. • PCP biodegradation, VFA accumulation and biogas production were studied. • The function of Methanogenic archaeon in the system was investigated. • Fluctuation and diversity of microbial community were discussed by DGGE analysis. • The dominated microorganisms were identified by 16S rDNA sequences. - Abstract: Column-type combined reactors were designed to cultivate micro-aerobic pentachlorophenol (PCP) degrading granular sludge under oxygen-limited conditions (0.1–0.2 mg L −1 ) over 39-day experimental period. Micro-aerobic granular had both anaerobic activity (SMA: 2.34 mMCH 4 /h g VSS) and aerobic activity (SOUR: 2.21 mMO 2 /h g VSS). Metabolite analysis results revealed that PCP was sequentially dechlorinated to TCP, DCP, and eventually to MCP. Methanogens were not directly involved in the dechlorination of PCP, but might played a vital role in stabilizing the overall structure of the granule sludge. For Eubacteria, the Shannon Index (2.09 in inoculated granular sludge) increased both in micro-aerobic granular sludge (2.61) and PCP-degradation granular sludge (2.55). However, for Archaea, it decreased from 2.53 to 1.85 and 1.84, respectively. Although the Shannon Index demonstrated slight difference between micro-aerobic granular sludge and PCP-degradation granular sludge, the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) indicated obvious variance of the microbial composition, revealing significant effect of micro-aerobic condition and

  19. Effective-medium theory for nonlinear magneto-optics in magnetic granular alloys: cubic nonlinearity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Granovsky, Alexander B. E-mail: granov@magn.ru; Kuzmichov, Michail V.; Clerc, J.-P.; Inoue, Mitsuteru

    2003-03-01

    We propose a simple effective-medium approach for calculating the effective dielectric function of a magnetic metal-insulator granular alloy in which there is a weakly nonlinear relation between electric displacement D and electric field E for both constituent materials of the form D{sub i}={epsilon}{sub i}{sup (0)}E{sub i} +{chi}{sub i}{sup (3)}|E{sub i}|{sup 2}E{sub i}. We assume that linear {epsilon}{sub i}{sup (0)} and cubic nonlinear {chi}{sub i}{sup (3)} dielectric functions are diagonal and linear with magnetization non-diagonal components. For such metal-insulator composite magneto-optical effects depend on a light intensity and the effective cubic dielectric function {chi}{sub eff}{sup (3)} can be significantly greater (up to 10{sup 3} times) than that for constituent materials. The calculation scheme is based on the Bergman and Stroud-Hui theory of nonlinear optical properties of granular matter. The giant cubic magneto-optical nonlinearity is found for composites with metallic volume fraction close to the percolation threshold and at a resonance of optical conductivity. It is shown that a composite may exhibit nonlinear magneto-optics even when both constituent materials have no cubic magneto-optical nonlinearity.

  20. Mesoscale Benchmark Demonstration Problem 1: Mesoscale Simulations of Intra-granular Fission Gas Bubbles in UO2 under Post-irradiation Thermal Annealing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Li, Yulan; Hu, Shenyang Y.; Montgomery, Robert; Gao, Fei; Sun, Xin; Tonks, Michael; Biner, Bullent; Millet, Paul; Tikare, Veena; Radhakrishnan, Balasubramaniam; Andersson , David

    2012-04-11

    A study was conducted to evaluate the capabilities of different numerical methods used to represent microstructure behavior at the mesoscale for irradiated material using an idealized benchmark problem. The purpose of the mesoscale benchmark problem was to provide a common basis to assess several mesoscale methods with the objective of identifying the strengths and areas of improvement in the predictive modeling of microstructure evolution. In this work, mesoscale models (phase-field, Potts, and kinetic Monte Carlo) developed by PNNL, INL, SNL, and ORNL were used to calculate the evolution kinetics of intra-granular fission gas bubbles in UO2 fuel under post-irradiation thermal annealing conditions. The benchmark problem was constructed to include important microstructural evolution mechanisms on the kinetics of intra-granular fission gas bubble behavior such as the atomic diffusion of Xe atoms, U vacancies, and O vacancies, the effect of vacancy capture and emission from defects, and the elastic interaction of non-equilibrium gas bubbles. An idealized set of assumptions was imposed on the benchmark problem to simplify the mechanisms considered. The capability and numerical efficiency of different models are compared against selected experimental and simulation results. These comparisons find that the phase-field methods, by the nature of the free energy formulation, are able to represent a larger subset of the mechanisms influencing the intra-granular bubble growth and coarsening mechanisms in the idealized benchmark problem as compared to the Potts and kinetic Monte Carlo methods. It is recognized that the mesoscale benchmark problem as formulated does not specifically highlight the strengths of the discrete particle modeling used in the Potts and kinetic Monte Carlo methods. Future efforts are recommended to construct increasingly more complex mesoscale benchmark problems to further verify and validate the predictive capabilities of the mesoscale modeling

  1. Freely cooling granular gases with short-ranged attractive potentials

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Murphy, Eric; Subramaniam, Shankar, E-mail: shankar@iastate.edu [Department of Mechanical Engineering, Center for Multiphase Flow Research, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011 (United States)

    2015-04-15

    We treat the case of an undriven gas of inelastic hard-spheres with short-ranged attractive potentials via an extension of the pseudo-Liouville operator formalism. New evolution equations for the granular temperature and coordination number are obtained. The granular temperature exhibits deviation from both Haff’s law and the case of long-ranged potentials. We verify this departure using soft-sphere discrete element method simulations. Excellent agreement is found for the duration of the simulation even beyond where exclusively binary collisions are expected. Simulations show the emergence of strong spatial-velocity correlations on the length scale of the last peak in the pair-correlation function but do not show strong correlations beyond this length scale. We argue that molecular chaos may remain an adequate approximation if the system is modelled as a Smoluchowski type equation with aggregation and break-up processes.

  2. Jamming by compressing a system of granular crosses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Hu; Wang, Dong; Barés, Jonathan; Behringer, Robert

    2017-06-01

    A disordered stress-free granular packing can be jammed, transformed into a mechanically rigid structure, by increasing the density of particles or by applying shear deformation. The jamming behavior of systems made of 2D circular discs has been investigated in detail, but very little is known about jamming for non-spherical particles, and particularly, non-convex particles. Here, we perform an experimental study on jamming by compression of a system of quasi-2D granular crosses made of photo-elastic crosses. We measure the pressure evolution during cyclic compression and decompression. The Jamming packing fraction of these quasi-2D granular crosses is ϕJ ≃ 0.475, which is much smaller than the value ϕJ ≃ 0.84 for-2D granular disks. The packing fraction shifts systematically to higher values under compressive cycling, corresponding to systematic shifts in the stress-strain response curves. Associated with these shifts are rotations of the crosses, with minimal changes in their centers of mass.

  3. Low-velocity impact cratering experiments in granular slopes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hayashi, Kosuke; Sumita, Ikuro

    2017-07-01

    Low-velocity impact cratering experiments are conducted in sloped granular targets to study the effect of the slope angle θ on the crater shape and its scales. We use two types of granular matter, sand and glass beads, former of which has a larger friction coefficient μs = tanθr , where θr is the angle of repose. Experiments show that as θ increases, the crater becomes shallower and elongated in the direction of the slope. Furthermore the crater floor steepens in the upslope side and a thick rim forms in the downslope side, thus forming an asymmetric profile. High-speed images show that these features are results of ejecta being dispersed farther towards the downslope side and the subsequent avalanche which buries much of the crater floor. Such asymmetric ejecta dispersal can be explained by combining the Z-model and a ballistic model. Using the topographic maps of the craters, we classify crater shape regimes I-III, which transition with increasing θ : a full-rim crater (I), a broken-rim crater (II), and a depression (III). The critical θ for the regime transitions are larger for sand compared to glass beads, but collapse to close values when we use a normalized slope θ^ = tanθ / tanθr . Similarly we derive θ^-dependences of the scaled crater depth, length, width and their ratios which collapse the results for different targets and impact energies. We compare the crater profiles formed in our experiments with deep craters on asteroid Vesta and find that some of the scaled profiles nearly overlap and many have similar depth / length ratios. This suggests that these Vestan craters may also have formed in the gravity regime and that the formation process can be approximated by a granular flow with a similar effective friction coefficient.

  4. Immobilization patterns and dynamics of acetate-utilizing methanogens in sterile granular sludge from upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schmidt, Jens Ejbye; Ahring, Birgitte Kiær

    1999-01-01

    Sterile granular sludge was inoculated with either Methanosarcina mazeii S-6, Methanosaeta concilii GP-6, or both species in acetate-fea upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors to investigate the immobilization patterns and dynamics of aceticlastic methanogens in granular sludge. After......, but where the acetate concentration was low this strain was immobilized on support material as single cells or small clumps, The data clearly show that the two aceticlastic methanogens immobilize differently in UASB systems, depending on the conditions found throughout the UASB reactor....

  5. Immobilization patterns and dynamics of acetate-utilizing methanogens immobilized in sterile granular sludge in upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactors

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schmidt, Jens Ejbye; Ahring, Birgitte Kiær

    1999-01-01

    Sterile granular sludge was inoculated with either Methanosarcina mazeii S-6, Methanosaeta concilii GP-6, or both species in acetate-fea upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors to investigate the immobilization patterns and dynamics of aceticlastic methanogens in granular sludge. After......, but where the acetate concentration was low this strain was immobilized on support material as single cells or small clumps, The data clearly show that the two aceticlastic methanogens immobilize differently in UASB systems, depending on the conditions found throughout the UASB reactor....

  6. Different approaches to analyze the dipolar interaction effects on diluted and concentrated granular superparamagnetic systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Moscoso-Londoño, O., E-mail: omoscoso@ifi.unicamp.br [Instituto de Física ‘Gleb Wataghin’, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), CEP13083-859 Campinas, São Paulo (Brazil); Tancredi, P. [Laboratorio de Sólidos Amorfos, INTECIN, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), CONICET, C1063ACV Buenos Aires (Argentina); Muraca, D. [Instituto de Física ‘Gleb Wataghin’, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), CEP13083-859 Campinas, São Paulo (Brazil); Centro de Ciencias Naturais e Humanas, Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC), Av. Dos Estados, 5001, Santo André, SP (Brazil); Mendoza Zélis, P.; Coral, D.; Fernández van Raap, M.B. [Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP), CONICET, CC.67, 1900 La Plata, Buenos Aires (Argentina); Wolff, U.; Neu, V.; Damm, C. [IFW Dresden, Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research, Dresden, Helmholtzstrasse 20, 01069 Dresden (Germany); Oliveira, C.L.P. de [Instituto de Física, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo 05314970 (Brazil); Pirota, K.R. [Instituto de Física ‘Gleb Wataghin’, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), CEP13083-859 Campinas, São Paulo (Brazil); and others

    2017-04-15

    Controlled magnetic granular materials with different concentrations of magnetite nanoparticles immersed in a non-conducting polymer matrix were synthesized and, their macroscopic magnetic observables analyzed in order to advance towards a better understanding of the magnetic dipolar interactions and its effects on the obtained magnetic parameters. First, by means of X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, small angle X-ray scattering and X-ray absorption fine structure an accurate study of the structural properties was carried out. Then, the magnetic properties were analyzed by means of different models, including those that consider the magnetic interactions through long-range dipolar forces as: the Interacting Superparamagnetic Model (ISP) and the Vogel-Fulcher law (V-F). In systems with larger nanoparticle concentrations, magnetic results clearly indicate that the role played by the dipolar interactions affects the magnetic properties, giving rise to obtaining magnetic and structural parameters without physical meaning. Magnetic parameters as the effective anisotropic constant, magnetic moment relaxation time and mean blocking temperature, extracted from the application of the ISP model and V-F Law, were used to simulate the zero-field-cooling (ZFC) and field-cooling curves (FC). A comparative analysis of the simulated, fitted and experimental ZFC/FC curves suggests that the current models depict indeed our dilute granular systems. Notwithstanding, for concentrated samples, the ISP model infers that clustered nanoparticles are being interpreted as single entities of larger magnetic moment and volume, effect that is apparently related to a collective and complex magnetic moment dynamics within the cluster. - Highlights: • Nanoparticle architecture into matrices determines the composite magnetic response. • Magnetically diluted or compacted systems are useful to study magnetism at nanoscale. • Particle aggregation into the matrices was examined

  7. Investigation of granular impact using positron emission particle tracking

    KAUST Repository

    Marston, Jeremy O.

    2015-04-01

    We present results from an experimental study of granular impact using a combination of high-speed video and positron emission particle tracking (PEPT). The PEPT technique exploits the annihilation of photons from positron decay to determine the position of tracer particles either inside a small granular bed or attached to the object which impacts the bed. We use dense spheres as impactors and the granular beds are comprised of glass beads which are fluidised to achieve a range of different initial packing states. For the first time, we have simultaneously investigated both the trajectory of the sphere, the motion of particles in a 3-D granular bed and particles which jump into the resultant jet, which arises from the collapse of the cavity formed by the impacting sphere.

  8. Transport and abatement of fluorescent silica nanoparticle (SiO_2 NP) in granular filtration: effect of porous media and ionic strength

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zeng, Chao; Shadman, Farhang; Sierra-Alvarez, Reyes

    2017-01-01

    The extensive production and application of engineered silica nanoparticles (SiO_2 NPs) will inevitably lead to their release into the environment. Granular media filtration, a widely used process in water and wastewater treatment plants, has the potential for NP abatement. In this work, laboratory-scale column experiments were performed to study the transport and retention of SiO_2 NPs on three widely used porous materials, i.e., sand, anthracite, and granular activated carbon (GAC). Synthetic fluorescent core-shell SiO_2 NPs (83 nm) were used to facilitate NP detection. Sand showed very low capacity for SiO_2 filtration as this material had a surface with limited surface area and a high concentration of negative charge. Also, we found that the stability and transport of SiO_2 NP were strongly dependent on the ionic strength of the solution. Increasing ionic strength led to NP agglomeration and facilitated SiO_2 NP retention, while low ionic strength resulted in release of captured NPs from the sand bed. Compared to sand, anthracite and GAC showed higher affinity for SiO_2 NP capture. The superior capacity of GAC was primarily due to its porous structure and high surface area. A process model was developed to simulate NP capture in the packed bed columns and determine fundamental filtration parameters. This model provided an excellent fit to the experimental data. Taken together, the results obtained indicate that GAC is an interesting material for SiO_2 NP filtration.

  9. Transport and abatement of fluorescent silica nanoparticle (SiO2 NP) in granular filtration: effect of porous media and ionic strength

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeng, Chao; Shadman, Farhang; Sierra-Alvarez, Reyes

    2017-03-01

    The extensive production and application of engineered silica nanoparticles (SiO2 NPs) will inevitably lead to their release into the environment. Granular media filtration, a widely used process in water and wastewater treatment plants, has the potential for NP abatement. In this work, laboratory-scale column experiments were performed to study the transport and retention of SiO2 NPs on three widely used porous materials, i.e., sand, anthracite, and granular activated carbon (GAC). Synthetic fluorescent core-shell SiO2 NPs (83 nm) were used to facilitate NP detection. Sand showed very low capacity for SiO2 filtration as this material had a surface with limited surface area and a high concentration of negative charge. Also, we found that the stability and transport of SiO2 NP were strongly dependent on the ionic strength of the solution. Increasing ionic strength led to NP agglomeration and facilitated SiO2 NP retention, while low ionic strength resulted in release of captured NPs from the sand bed. Compared to sand, anthracite and GAC showed higher affinity for SiO2 NP capture. The superior capacity of GAC was primarily due to its porous structure and high surface area. A process model was developed to simulate NP capture in the packed bed columns and determine fundamental filtration parameters. This model provided an excellent fit to the experimental data. Taken together, the results obtained indicate that GAC is an interesting material for SiO2 NP filtration.

  10. Paraqueratose granular: relato de seis casos em crianças Granular parakeratosis: a report of six cases in children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Susana Giraldi

    2006-02-01

    Full Text Available A paraqueratose granular é alteração da queratinização, primeiramente descrita em adultos, caracterizada por pápulas e placas hiperqueratósicas nas áreas intertriginosas. Os autores descrevem seis casos de paraqueratose granular em crianças. Um paciente apresentava lesões nas regiões glúteas, dois em ambas as axilas e região cervical (apresentações inéditas na literatura. Três pacientes apresentavam lesões em pregas inguinais. Realizam também revisão da literatura e discutem a possível etiologia dessa rara dermatose.Granular parakeratosis is an alteration of keratinization that was first described in adults. It is characterized by hiperkeratotic plaques and papules in intertriginous areas. The authors describe six cases of granular parakeratosis in children. One patient had lesions on the buttocks; two children presented papules in both axillae and cervical region (presentations never described before in the literature. The remaining three patients presented with lesions in the inguinal folds. Review of the literature and discussion on the pathogenesis of this rare dermatosis are presented.

  11. Coherent structures in granular crystals from experiment and modelling to computation and mathematical analysis

    CERN Document Server

    Chong, Christopher

    2018-01-01

    This book summarizes a number of fundamental developments at the interface of granular crystals and the mathematical and computational analysis of some of their key localized nonlinear wave solutions. The subject presents a blend of the appeal of granular crystals as a prototypical engineering tested for a variety of diverse applications, the novelty in the nonlinear physics of its coherent structures, and the tractability of a series of mathematical and computational techniques to analyse them. While the focus is on principal one-dimensional solutions such as shock waves, traveling waves, and discrete breathers, numerous extensions of the discussed patterns, e.g., in two dimensions, chains with defects, heterogeneous settings, and other recent developments are discussed. The book appeals to researchers in the field, as well as for graduate and advanced undergraduate students. It will be of interest to mathematicians, physicists and engineers alike.

  12. Shock compression of geological materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kirk, S; Braithwaite, C; Williamson, D; Jardine, A

    2014-01-01

    Understanding the shock compression of geological materials is important for many applications, and is particularly important to the mining industry. During blast mining the response to shock loading determines the wave propagation speed and resulting fragmentation of the rock. The present work has studied the Hugoniot of two geological materials; Lake Quarry Granite and Gosford Sandstone. For samples of these materials, the composition was characterised in detail. The Hugoniot of Lake Quarry Granite was predicted from this information as the material is fully dense and was found to be in good agreement with the measured Hugoniot. Gosford Sandstone is porous and undergoes compaction during shock loading. Such behaviour is similar to other granular material and we show how it can be described using a P-a compaction model.

  13. Dynamic aerofracture or hydrofracture of dense granular packing: pressure and viscosity control of the fracture patterns

    Science.gov (United States)

    Niebling, Michael J.; Toussaint, Renaud; Flekkøy, Eirik G.; Jørgen Måløy, Knut

    2013-04-01

    Stress induced by fluid or gases can cause diverse materials to break and fracture. Such hydraulic fractures are a natural and common phenomenon in the field of volcanism and are artificially initiated to enhance the recovery of natural gas and mineral oil by fracturing the reservoir rock with pressurized fluids. A procedure also known as fracking. Recently a new perspective on hydrofractures was added with the storage of supercritical CO2. In this respect two scenarios are considered. First it is one option to inject CO2 into existing hydrofractures, and second the injection of the CO2 can create additional fractures. The typical components for such fractures are a porous material and a compressible gas. The dynamics of such fractures and displacement patterns are simulated and studied in a rectangular Hele-Shaw cell filled with a dense but permeable two-dimensional granular layer. The model used, mixing highly deformable solid and fluid components, can simulate sedimentation problems [1,2], as well as hydrofracture or aerofracture ones. The emerging displacement patterns and fractures variate according to the properties of the injected fluid or gas and the characteristics of the granular phase [3]. The physics behind these variations is discussed and explained. The role of the fluid viscosity and system size shows to lead to a transition from fracturing to compaction, depending on the dynamics of convection versus diffusion of overpressure. The dependence of the obtained patterns on the injection pressure is also explored [4]. References: [1] Niebling, M.J., E.G. Flekkøy, K.J. Måløy, R. Toussaint, Sedimentation instabilities: impact of the fluid compressibility and viscosity, Phys. Rev. E 82, 051302, 2010. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.82.051302 [2] Niebling, M.J., E.G. Flekkøy, K.J. Måløy, R. Toussaint, Mixing of a granular layer falling through a fluid, Phys. Rev. E 82, 011301 (2010) doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.82.011301 [3] Niebling, M., R. Toussaint, E.G. Flekk

  14. Granular shear flows of flexible rod-like particles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Y.; Curtis, J.; Wassgren, C.; Ketterhagen, W.; Hancock, B.

    2013-06-01

    Flexible particles are widely encountered in nature, e.g., stalks of plants, fiberglass particles, and ceramic nanofibers. Early studies indicated that the deformability of particles has a significant impact on the properties of granular materials and fiber suspensions. In this study, shear flows of flexible particles are simulated using the Discrete Element Method (DEM) to explore the effect of particle flexibility on the flow behavior and constitutive laws. A flexible particle is formed by connecting a number of constituent spheres in a straight line using elastic bonds. The forces/moments due to the normal, tangential, bending, and torsional deformation of a bond resist the relative movement between two bonded constituent spheres. The bond stiffness determines how difficult it is to make a particle deform, and the bond damping accounts for the energy dissipation in the particle vibration process. The simulation results show that elastically bonded particles have smaller coefficients of restitution compared to rigidly connected particles, due to the fact that kinetic energy is partially converted to potential energy in a contact between flexible particles. The coefficient of restitution decreases as the bond stiffness decreases and the bond damping coefficient increases. As a result, smaller stresses are obtained for granular flows of the flexible particles with smaller bond stiffness and larger bond damping coefficient.

  15. Microgravity experiments on a granular gas of elongated grains

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harth, K.; Trittel, T.; Kornek, U.; Höme, S.; Will, K.; Strachauer, U.; Stannarius, R.

    2013-06-01

    Granular gases represent well-suited systems to investigate statistical granular dynamics. The literature comprises numerous investigations of ensembles of spherical or irregularly shaped grains. Mainly computer models, analytical theories and experiments restricted to two dimensions were reported. In three-dimensions, the gaseous state can only be maintained by strong external excitation, e. g. vibrations or electro-magnetic fields, or in microgravity. A steady state, where the dynamics of a weakly disturbed granular gas are governed by particle-particle collisions, is hard to realize with spherical grains due to clustering. We present the first study of a granular gas of elongated cylinders in three dimensions. The mean free path is considerably reduced with respect to spheres at comparable filling fractions. The particles can be tracked in 3D over a sequence of frames. In a homogeneous steady state, we find non-Gaussian velocity distributions and a lack of equipartition of kinetic energy. We discuss the relations between energy input and vibrating plate accelerations. At the request of the authors and the Proceedings Editors, the PDF file of this article has been updated to amend some references present in the PDF file submitted to AIP Publishing. The references affected are listed here:[1] (c) K. Nichol and K. E. Daniels, Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 018001 (2012); [11] (e) P. G. de Gennes and J. Prost, The Physics of Liquid Crystals, Clarendon Press, Oxford (1993); [17] (b) K. Harth, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 144102 (2013).A LaTeX processing error resulted in changes to the authors reference formatting, which was not detected prior to publication. Due apologies are given to the authors for this oversight. The updated article PDF was published on 12 August 2013.

  16. Experimental and Modeling Study on Detachment of Silver Nanoparticles in Saturated Granular Media

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, I.; Jeon, C. H.; Lawler, D. F.

    2017-12-01

    The detachment of citrate-capped silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) previously captured in a column packed with 350-μm glass beads was investigated either by increasing the hydrodynamic force (filtration velocity) or by reducing electrosteric attraction. Overall, the physical enforcement showed negligible (0.4 0.7%) release of attached AgNPs while the chemically-driven force resulted in the noticeable release up to 25.5% of attached AgNPs. Among the chemical parameters tested in this study, Na ionic strength reduction clearly demonstrated the reversible deposition in the secondary energy minimum of classical DLVO theory, yielding the most significant release of the attached AgNPs. The immediate and transient AgNP release after the ionic strength reduction further corroborated the weak deposition. However, an insignificant release was observed with Ca ionic strength reduction due to the strong Ca-citrate complexation and the subsequent deposition in the primary energy minimum; calculations indicated that the depth of the secondary energy minimum was only 1/10 that of the Na ion case. The natural organic matter (NOM) coating on both AgNPs and granular media resulted in approximately 6.1% greater AgNP release compared to the case without NOM coating, indicating additional weak deposition due to the reduced steric attraction between AgNPs and granular media. A modified filtration model in agreement with the experimental data provided the estimated detachment coefficient as a transient AgNP releasing capacity independent of the amount of attached AgNPs. The marginal difference between the detachment coefficients from Na ionic strength reduction and NOM coating indicates the release potential by NOM coating was possibly underestimated in the experimental study due to a lesser amount of the initially attached AgNPs. The findings provide insights into chemical factors on possible reentrainment behavior of the engineered nanoparticles in soil and groundwater contamination.

  17. An Investigation of Parallel Post-Laminar Flow through Coarse Granular Porous Media with the Wilkins Equation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ashes Banerjee

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Behaviour of flow resistance with velocity is still undefined for post-laminar flow through coarse granular media. This can cause considerable errors during flow measurements in situations like rock fill dams, water filters, pumping wells, oil and gas exploration, and so on. Keeping the non-deviating nature of Wilkins coefficients with the hydraulic radius of media in mind, the present study further explores their behaviour to independently varying media size and porosity, subjected to parallel post-laminar flow through granular media. Furthermore, an attempt is made to simulate the post-laminar flow conditions with the help of a Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD Model in ANSYS FLUENT, since conducting large-scale experiments are often costly and time-consuming. The model output and the experimental results are found to be in good agreement. Percentage deviations between the experimental and numerical results are found to be in the considerable range. Furthermore, the simulation results are statistically validated with the experimental results using the standard ‘Z-test’. The output from the model advocates the importance and applicability of CFD modelling in understanding post-laminar flow through granular media.

  18. Granular activated carbon with grafted nanoporous polymer enhances nanoscale zero-valent iron impregnation and water contaminant removal

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mines, Paul D.; Uthuppu, Basil; Thirion, Damien

    2018-01-01

    Granular activated carbon was customized with a chemical grafting procedure of a nanoporous polymeric network for the purpose of nanoscale zero-valent iron impregnation and subsequent water contaminant remediation. Characterization of the prepared composite material revealed that not only was the...

  19. Capturing 2D transient surface data of granular flows against obstacles with an RGB-D sensor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caviedes-Voullieme, Daniel; Juez, Carmelo; Murillo, Javier; Garcia-Navarro, Pilar

    2014-05-01

    Landslides are an ubiquitous natural hazard, and therefore human infrastructure and settlements are often at risk in mountainous regions. In order to better understand and predict landslides, systematic studies of the phenomena need to be undertaken. In particular, computational tools which allow for analysis of field problems require to be thoroughly tested, calibrated and validated under controlled conditions. And to do so, it is necessary for such controlled experiments to be fully characterized in the same terms as the numerical model requires. This work presents an experimental study of dry granular flow over a rough bed with topography which resembles a mountain valley. It has an upper region with a very high slope. The geometry of the bed describes a fourth order polynomial curve, with a low point with zero slope, and afterwards a short region with adverse slope. Obstacles are present in the lower regions which are used as model geometries of human structures. The experiments consisted of a sudden release a mass of sand on the upper region, and allowing it to flow downslope. Furthermore, it has been frequent in previous studies to measure final states of the granular mass at rest, but seldom has transient data being provided, and never for the entire field. In this work we present transient measurements of the moving granular surfaces, obtained with a consumer-grade RGB-D sensor. The sensor, developed for the videogame industry, allows to measure the moving surface of the sand, thus obtaining elevation fields. The experimental results are very consistent and repeatable. The measured surfaces clearly show the distinctive features of the granular flow around the obstacles and allow to qualitatively describe the different flow patterns. More importantly, the quantitative description of the granular surface allows for benchmarking and calibration of predictive numerical models, key in scaling the small-scale experimental knowledge into the field.

  20. Experimental study of shear rate dependence in perpetually sheared granular matter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Sophie Yang; Guillard, François; Marks, Benjy; Rognon, Pierre; Einav, Itai

    2017-06-01

    We study the shear behaviour of various granular materials by conducting novel perpetual simple shear experiments over four orders of magnitude of relatively low shear rates. The newly developed experimental apparatus employed is called "3D Stadium Shear Device" which is an extended version of the 2D Stadium Shear Device [1]. This device is able to provide a non-radial dependent perpetual shear flow and a nearly linear velocity profile between two oppositely moving shear walls. Using this device, we are able to test a large variety of granular materials. Here, we demonstrate the applicability of the device on glass beads (diameter 1 mm, 3 mm, and 14 mm) and rice. We particularly focus on studying these materials at very low inertial number I ranging from 10-6 to 10-2. We find that, within this range of I, the friction coefficient μ of glass beads has no shear rate dependence. A particularly appealing observation comes from testing rice, where the attainment of critical state develops under much longer duration than in other materials. Initially during shear we find a value of μ similar to that found for glass beads, but with time this value decreases gradually towards the asymptotic critical state value. The reason, we believe, lies in the fact that rice grains are strongly elongated; hence the time to achieve the stable μ is primarily controlled by the time for particles to align themselves with respect to the shear walls. Furthermore, the initial packing conditions of samples also plays a role in the evolution of μ when the shear strain is small, but that impact will eventually be erased after sufficient shear strain.