Euler-like modelling of dense granular flows: application to a rotating drum

Daniel Bonamy (1) , Pierre-Henri Chavanis (2) , Pierre-Philippe Cortet (1, 3) , François Daviaud (3) , Bérengère Dubrulle (3) , Mathieu Renouf (4)

1 SPCSI - Service de Physique et de Chimie des Surfaces et Interfaces
2 PhyStat - Physique Statistique des Systèmes Complexes (LPT)
3 SPEC - UMR3680 - Service de physique de l'état condensé
4 LaMCoS - Laboratoire de Mécanique des Contacts et des Structures [Villeurbanne]

General conservation equations are derived for 2D dense granular flows from the Euler equation within the Boussinesq approximation. In steady flows, the 2D fields of granular temperature, vorticity and stream function are shown to be encoded in two scalar functions only. We checked such prediction on steady surface flows in a rotating drum simulated through the Non-Smooth Contact Dynamics method. This result is non trivial because granular flows are dissipative and therefore not necessarily compatible with Euler equation. Finally, we briefly discuss some possible ways to predict theoretically these two functions using statistical mechanics.

Mots clés: Mechanics of discrete systems; Granular solids; Granular systems

Domaines: Mécanique statistique [cond-mat.stat-mech]; Matière Molle [cond-mat.soft]

Daniel Bonamy, Pierre-Henri Chavanis, Pierre-Philippe Cortet, François Daviaud, Bérengère Dubrulle, et al.. Euler-like modelling of dense granular flows: application to a rotating drum. The European Physical Journal B: Condensed Matter and Complex Systems, 2009, 68, pp.619. ⟨10.1140/epjb/2009-00123-6⟩. ⟨hal-00260015v2⟩