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Laser stripe measurements of near-wall solid fraction in channel flows of liquid-granular mixtures

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Abstract

A simple, robust, and accurate imaging technique is proposed to measure granular concentration profiles in channel flows of liquid-granular mixtures. We focus on moderate to high granular concentrations (5–50%), for which optical access is restricted to regions close to a transparent wall. To measure concentrations in this range, we illuminate solid grains moving near the wall using a transverse laser light sheet. The evolving shape of the laser stripe, deformed by passing grains, is then monitored using an oblique camera. Statistics of the granular distance to wall can thus be acquired and converted to volumetric solid fraction measurements. The method is verified using fluidization cell tests and applied to open-channel sheet flow experiments. Free of any parameter adjustment, the laser stripe method is found to yield good results, and allows joint measurements of granular velocity and solid fraction profiles.

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Acknowledgments

At the Hydraulics Laboratory of the Università degli Studi di Trento (UDT), Lorenzo Forti, Andrea Bampi, and Fabio Sartori provided technical assistance, and Kristian Toigo helped to perform the experiments. A research stay by H. Capart at UDT received support from Aronne Armanini, Head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Marco Tubino, Dean of the College of Engineering. Constructive comments from two anonymous reviewers are gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Mechanics, Materials and Civil Engineering, Université catholique de Louvain, and Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique—FNRS, Bâtiment Vinci, Place du Levant, 1, 1348, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

    Benoit Spinewine

  2. Department of Civil Engineering and Hydrotech Research Institute, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Hervé Capart

  3. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and CUDAM, University of Trento, Trento, Italy

    Luigi Fraccarollo & Michele Larcher

Authors
  1. Benoit Spinewine
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  2. Hervé Capart
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  3. Luigi Fraccarollo
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  4. Michele Larcher
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Correspondence to Benoit Spinewine.

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Spinewine, B., Capart, H., Fraccarollo, L. et al. Laser stripe measurements of near-wall solid fraction in channel flows of liquid-granular mixtures. Exp Fluids 50, 1507–1525 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00348-010-1009-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00348-010-1009-7

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