# Intermittent and continuos flows in granular piles: effects of controlling the feeding height

## TL;DR

This study investigates how controlling the deposition height affects the transition between continuous and intermittent flows in granular sand piles within a Hele-Shaw cell, providing new insights into flow behavior and transition conditions.

## Contribution

It introduces a controlled experimental setup to systematically analyze the influence of deposition height and input flow on flow transitions in granular piles, explaining previous observations.

## Key findings

- Transition size depends on deposition height and input flow
- Results explain previous uncontrolled experiments
- Semi-quantitative agreement with literature observations

## Abstract

Using a specially designed experimental set up, we have studied the so-called continuous to intermittent flow transition in sand piles confined in a Hele-Shaw cell where the deposition height of the sand can be controlled. Through systematic measurements varying the height and the input flow, we have established, for the first time, how the size of the pile at which the transition takes place depends on the two parameters studied. The results obtained allows to explain, at least semi-quantitatively, the observations commonly reported in the literature, carried out in experiments where the deposition height is not controlled.