Stability of Granular Tunnel

TL;DR

This paper investigates the factors affecting the stability of granular tunnels, revealing how grain size, tunnel diameter, and water content influence stability, and introduces a model and phase diagram to predict stability conditions.

Contribution

It presents the first comprehensive study and model of granular tunnel stability, highlighting the role of granular bond order and providing stability criteria.

Findings

Larger tunnel radius and grain size destabilize tunnels.

Water content beyond an optimal level reduces stability.

A phase diagram of stability based on granular bond order.

Abstract

We demonstrated the stability of tunnels made of granular matters is strongly dependent on the grain size, tunnel diameter, and water content in the granules. Larger tunnel radius, larger grain size, and too much water content tend to destabilize the tunnel. We also develop a model to describe such findings. We identified a phase diagram of stability which greatly controlled by granular bond order. For granular bond order of larger than unity, we can always made a stable tunnel. However, for granular bond order of less than unity, we obtain a general expression for maximum tunnel thickness that can be made. To best of our knowledge, this is the first exploration regarding the granular tunnel stability.