Dynamics of quasi-static collapse process of a binary granular column

Abstract

The dynamical behavior of the column that made up binary granular beads is investigated systematically by tracking the displacement of particles in the collapse process. An experimental setup is first devised to control the quasi-static collapse of a granular column, and then observe the trajectories of tracer particles by using an industrial camera controlled by the image acquisition program. It is found that there exist two zones in column: a sliding region in which particles are moving in a layered structure; a static region within which particles are stationary. According to this analytical result, a dynamical model is developed to predict the trajectory evolution of particles in the space-time. The calculating result for the trajectories of particles on the selected layers is well consistent with the experimental observation.