Self-diffusion scalings in dense granular flows

Abstract

We report on measurements of self-diffusion coefficients in discrete numerical simulations of steady, homogeneous, collisional shearing flows of nearly identical, frictional, inelastic spheres. We focus on a range of relatively high solid volume fractions that are important in those terrestrial gravitational shearing flows that are dominated by collisional interactions. Diffusion over this range of solid fraction has not been well characterized in previous studies. We first compare the measured values with an empirical scaling based on shear rate previously proposed in the literature, and highlight the presence of anisotropy and the solid fraction dependence. We then compare the numerical measurements with those predicted by the kinetic theory for shearing flows of inelastic spheres and offer an explanation for why the measured and predicted values differ.