Confined granular flows on a heap: From simulations to experiments

Abstract

Surface granular flows are studied by means of discrete element simulations. The investigation of their kinematic properties suggests the existence of two regimes: one close to the jamming, for which the shear rate increases with the angle of the flow, and another one, far from jamming, for which the shear remains constant while the flow rate increases. Although the simulations reproduce experimental results for a given gap between sidewalls, they fail to capture the effect of confinement on the flows' properties (shear rate, flow height⋯).