Axisymmetric column collapses of bi-frictional granular mixtures

TL;DR

This study investigates the collapse behavior of bi-frictional granular columns using DEM simulations, introducing a new effective aspect ratio and analyzing how initial conditions influence run-out distances and dynamics.

Contribution

It proposes a novel effective initial aspect ratio for bi-frictional mixtures and analyzes the impact of initial states on collapse dynamics, extending understanding of granular flow behavior.

Findings

Deviations from classical power-law scaling are linked to initial solid fraction and structure.

A new effective initial aspect ratio unifies run-out distance descriptions.

Initial solid fraction significantly influences collapse kinematics.

Abstract

The behavior of granular column collapses is associated with the dynamics of geohazards, such as debris flows, landslides, and pyroclastic flows, yet its underlying physics is still not well understood. In this paper, we explore granular column collapses using the spheropolyhedral discrete element method (DEM), where the system contains two types of particles with different frictional properties. We impose three different mixing ratios and multiple different particle frictional coefficients, which lead to different run-out distances and deposition heights. Based on our previous work and a simple mixture theory, we propose a new effective initial aspect ratio for the bi-frictional granular mixture, which helps unify the description of the relative run-out distances. We analyze the kinematics of bi-frictional granular column collapses and find that deviations from classical power-law scaling in both the dimensionless terminal time and the dimensionless time when the system reaches the maximum kinetic energy may result from differences in the initial solid fraction and initial structures. To clarify the influence of initial states, we further decrease the initial solid fraction of granular column collapses, and propose a trial function to quantitatively describe its influence. Due to the utilization of a simple mixture theory of contact occurrence probability, this study can be associated with the friction-dependent rheology of granular systems and friction-induced granular segregations, and further generalized into applications with multiple species of particles in various natural and engineering mixtures.