A continuum method for granular collapse with μ(I)-rheology-based dynamic earth pressure coefficient

In this paper, a continuum model with dynamic earth pressure coefficient is established to describe the granular slump process by introducing mu(I) rheology. This rheology is adopted to quantify the normal stresses in our proposed model rather than shear stresses in classical models. The constitutive laws of different depth-averaged continuum approaches including the hydrodynamic, Savage-Hutter and proposed models are comparatively investigated in terms of the rheological effects on the spread of a granular column. The simulation results indicate that the proposed dynamic model captures some significant features during granular slump on inclined planes with different inclination angles (for example, the runout distance, runout time, and final profile). The proposed model can also reproduce the inner static sided axisymmetric region observed in tests when the granular column's initial aspect ratio (ratio of height to radii) is small. (c) 2021 Chinese Society of Particuology and Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study establishes a continuum model with dynamic earth pressure coefficient to describe granular slump process and quantify normal stresses. The simulation results show that the proposed dynamic model captures important features of granular slump process and can reproduce the inner static sided axisymmetric region observed in tests.