Computer simulation of hopper flow
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089-1453 (United States)
This paper describes two-dimensional computer simulations of granular flow in plane hoppers. The simulations can reproduce an experimentally observed asymmetric unsteadiness for monodispersed particle sizes, but also could eliminate it by adding a small amount of polydispersity. This appears to be a result of the strong packings that may be formed by monodispersed particles and is thus a noncontinuum effect. The internal stress state was also sampled, which among other things, allows an evaluation of common assumptions made in granular material models. These showed that the internal friction coefficient is far from a constant, which is in contradiction to common models based on plasticity theory which assume that the material is always at the point of imminent yield. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that rapid granular flow theory, another common modeling technique, is inapplicable to this problem even near the exit where the flow is moving its fastest. {copyright} {ital 1996 American Institute of Physics.}
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG03-91ER14223
- OSTI ID:
- 385666
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Fluids (1994), Journal Name: Physics of Fluids (1994) Journal Issue: 11 Vol. 8; ISSN PHFLE6; ISSN 1070-6631
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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