On the complexity/criticality of Jamming during the discharge of granular matter from a silo

TL;DR

This paper investigates the jamming process during granular matter discharge from silos, comparing models like self-organized criticality and percolation to understand the criticality and complexity of the phenomenon.

Contribution

It provides a comparative analysis of different theoretical models to explain the jamming and blocking statistics in silo discharge.

Findings

Jamming exhibits features of self-organized criticality.

Percolation models can describe the blocking probability.

Criticality influences discharge dynamics.

Abstract

This paper is aimed at pursuing a recent discussion about the comparison between Self-Organised Criticality, the jamming process and the percolation theory in the problem of a silo discharge [I. Zuriguel, A. Garcimartin, D. Maza, L.A.Pugnaloni, J.M.Pastor, "Jamming during the discharge of granular matter from a silo", Phys.Rev.E 71, 051303 (2005)]. Statistics of blocking a silo is investigated from different models: percolation, self organised criticality..