Deformation of a rotated granular pile governed by body-force-dependent friction

TL;DR

This study investigates how granular friction varies with different body forces by measuring the deformation of a rotated granular pile under centrifugal conditions, revealing the influence of grain shape on this dependence.

Contribution

It introduces a method to characterize granular friction under variable gravity conditions using centrifugal force and develops an analytic model that matches experimental results.

Findings

Granular friction depends on the net body force including gravity and centrifugal force.

The deformation of the granular pile is governed by the friction angle and net body force.

Grain shape influences the degree of body-force dependence of granular friction.

Abstract

Although the gravity dependence of granular friction is crucial to understand various natural phenomena, its precise characterization is difficult. We propose a method to characterize granular friction under various gravity (body force) conditions controlled by centrifugal force; specifically, the deformation of a rotated granular pile was measured. To understand the mechanics governing the observed nontrivial deformation of this pile, we introduced an analytic model considering local force balance. The excellent agreement between the experimental data and theoretical model suggests that the deformation is simply governed by the net body force (sum of gravity and centrifugal force) and friction angle. The body-force dependence of granular friction was precisely measured from the experimental results. The results reveal that the grain shape affects the degree of body-force dependence of the granular friction.