Gravity Governs Shear Localization in Confined Dense Granular Flows
Wolfgang Losert (IPST/Physics) et al. published an article, “Gravity Governs Shear Localization in Confined Dense Granular Flows”, in Physical Review Letters, December 30, 2021
The prediction of flow profiles of slowly sheared granular materials is a major geophysical and industrial challenge. Understanding the role of gravity is particularly important for future planetary exploration in varying gravitational environments. Using the principle of minimization of energy dissipation, and combining experiments and variational analysis, the researchers disentangled the contributions of the gravitational acceleration, confining pressure, and layer thickness on shear strain localization induced by moving fault boundaries at the bottom of a granular layer. The flow profile is independent of the gravity for geometries with a free top surface. However, under a confining pressure or if the sheared layer withstands the weight of the upper layers, increasing gravity promotes the transition from closed shear zones buried in the bulk to open ones that intersect the top surface.
The team showed that the center position and width of the shear zone and the axial angular velocity at the top surface follow universal scaling laws when properly scaled by the gravity, applied pressure, and layer thickness. They found that the flow profiles lie on a universal master curve opens the possibility to predict the quasistatic shear flow of granular materials in varying gravitational environments.
