The simultaneous discharge of liquid and grains from a silo

TL;DR

This study investigates the complex flow dynamics during the simultaneous discharge of liquid and grains from a silo, revealing different regimes, flow rate behaviors, and a transition phase, supported by a combined theoretical model and experiments.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive model integrating Kozeny-Carman, Bernoulli, and mass conservation equations to describe mixed discharge phenomena.

Findings

Flow regimes vary from viscosity-dominated to hydrostatic-like discharge.

Mixed material discharges faster than dry grains but slower than liquid.

Flow rate transition involves a sudden increase during phase change.

Abstract

The flow rate of water through an orifice at the bottom of a container depends on the hydrostatic pressure whereas for a dry granular material is nearly constant. But what happens during the simultaneous discharge of grains and liquid from a silo? By measuring the flow rate as a function of time, we found that: (i) different regimes appear, going from constant flow rate dominated by the effective fluid viscosity to a hydrostatic-like discharge depending on the aperture and grain size, (ii) the mixed material is always discharged faster than dry grains but slower than liquid, (iii) for the mixture, the liquid level drops faster than the grains level but they are always linearly proportional to one another, and (iv) a sudden growth in the flow rate happens during the transition from a biphasic to a single phase discharge. These results are associated to the competition between the decrease of hydrostatic pressure above the granular bed and the hydrodynamic resistance. A model combining the Kozeny-Carman, Bernoulli and mass conservation equations is proposed and the numerical results are in good agreement with experiments.