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Discrete element method modeling of granular flow characteristics transition in mixed flow

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Abstract

The silos have a complex flow behavior: The lower part presents a “funnel flow” and the upper part presents a “mass flow”. It is necessary to study the flow characteristics of the silos in mixed flow on mesoscale. In this paper, the change in flow characteristics was analyzed in terms of the velocity and angular velocity, to clarify the special effect of the flow pattern transition and time variation during discharge. The results show that the flow characteristics change significantly during the flow pattern transition, the flow characteristics would not variety uniformly with height, and the flow pattern and shear zone have a great influence on them: the flow characteristics change more dramatically in funnel flow; the particles in the shear zone move slowly and rotate sharply with friction couples. The flow transformation can be characterized by more flow characteristics, not only the vertical velocity. Moreover, the profiles of velocity and angular velocity almost would not evolve with time, but only with the particles’ position. The study on the distribution and dynamic evolution of flow characteristics in silos provides theoretical basis for structural optimization design of self-weight discharge silos.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the Chinese Natural Science Foundation (51708182), the young-backbone teacher project of Henan University of Technology in 2019, and the young-backbone teacher project of Henan Province in 2019.

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  1. College of Civil Engineering, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou, 450001, Henan, China

    Yong Feng & Ziran Yuan

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Feng, Y., Yuan, Z. Discrete element method modeling of granular flow characteristics transition in mixed flow. Comp. Part. Mech. 8, 21–34 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40571-019-00309-1

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