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Experimental modelling of free-surface dry granular flows under a centrifugal acceleration field

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Abstract

We investigate the dynamics of granular flows under the action of a centrifugal acceleration field. The granular flows consist of a monodisperse set of glass beads flowing down an inclined plane. The experiments are performed at variable slope angles \(\zeta \) and equivalent centrifugal accelerations \(a_\text {cf}\equiv Ng\). We study the effect of this parameters on the superficial flow velocity u and flow height h. Two trends are observed, by increasing \(\zeta \) and \(a_\text {cf}\), u increases proportionally, and h decreases asymptotically until a constant height. This relation is analysed in terms of the system potential and kinetic energy, leading to the estimation of equivalent impact forces one order of magnitude larger than those observed in small scale 1g laboratory experiments, with the possibility to reach higher forces by increasing N. Finally, considering the trend of u and h, our results suggest a scaling principle of inertial velocity proportional to \(\sqrt{N}\).

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Acknowledgements

The research leading to these results is performed as part of the MUMOLADE project, receiving funding from the People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007-2013/ under REA grant agreement n\(^{\circ }\) 289911.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental engineering, Universidad de los Andes, Bogota, Colombia

    Miguel Angel Cabrera

  2. Institute of Geotechnical Engineering, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria

    Miguel Angel Cabrera & Wei Wu

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  1. Miguel Angel Cabrera
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  2. Wei Wu
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Correspondence to Miguel Angel Cabrera.

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All the authors acknowledge that this study contains original material, as a result of a purely academic study. Its publication has been approved by all coauthors and tacitly by the responsible authorities at the institutes where the work has been carried out.

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Cabrera, M.A., Wu, W. Experimental modelling of free-surface dry granular flows under a centrifugal acceleration field. Granular Matter 19, 78 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10035-017-0764-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10035-017-0764-z

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