Wet Granular Materials Research Articles

Nonmonotonic Constitutive Curves and Shear Banding in Dry and Wet Granular Flows

We use particle simulations to map comprehensively the shear rheology of dry and wet granular matter comprising particles of finite stiffness, in both fixed pressure and fixed volume protocols. At fixed pressure we find nonmonotonic constitutive curves that are shear thinning, whereas at fixed volume we find nonmonotonic constitutive curves that are shear thickening. We show that the presence of one nonmonotonicity does not imply the other. Instead, there exists a signature in the volume fraction measured under fixed pressure that, when present, ensures nonmonotonic constitutive curves at fixed volume. In the context of dry granular flow we show that gradient and vorticity bands arise under fixed pressure and volume, respectively, as implied by the constitutive curves. For wet systems our results are consistent with a recent experimental observation of shear thinning at fixed pressure. We furthermore predict discontinuous shear thickening in the absence of critical load friction. Published by the American Physical Society 2025

Resistance force scaling and the solution for penetration depth of impacting wet granular materials

Resistance force scaling and the solution for penetration depth of impacting wet granular materials

Pore-scale study on shear rheology of wet granular materials

We study pore-scale rheological phenomena in two-dimensional sheared wet granular materials. Simulations use a coupled cascaded lattice Boltzmann and discrete element method, to model the liquid–gas multiphase flows and multiple-solid-particle dynamics, respectively. The wet granular material is prepared by first filling a rectangular domain with solid particles and then partially filling the pores between the particles with the liquid phase. The material is then sheared based on standard Couette flow configuration, i.e., with lid-driven velocities U and -U on the top and bottom walls, respectively. The simulations show that the apparent viscosity of the system attains a minimum when the material is wet but not fully saturated, i.e., at a saturation of ∼0.10. Such an observation is coherent both for materials composed of monodisperse and polydisperse particles. Interestingly, this observation coincides with the experimental finding of the decrease in sliding friction on sand by adding a small amount of water. The underlying mechanism is elucidated based on the pore-scale study of liquid patch dynamics. It is shown that, with increasing liquid saturation, the rheology of the wet granular materials is affected by two competing effects: (i) a larger number of liquid patches appear leading to fluidization of the system and (ii) larger patches are formed, clogging the flow. The minimum apparent viscosity saturation of ∼0.10 coincides with the maximum of the product of the two factors: the number of liquid patches and ratio between the system height and largest patch height.

The effect of particle size distribution on the collapse of wet polydisperse granular materials

Low-saturation liquid-containing granular materials are commonly encountered in both natural and industrial settings, where interstitial liquids significantly affect the motion of particles, while particle size polydispersity plays a crucial role in determining the level of system cohesion. In this study, the collapse of wet polydisperse granular columns is numerically investigated based on the developed discrete element model, with corresponding dam-break experiments performed to validate our numerical model and methodology. The dependence of the dynamics and flow mobility on particle size distribution is primarily examined, and the underlying mechanisms are also explored by analyzing particle path lengths and average fidelity. Building upon the effective Bond number proposed using the mixing theory, a macroscopic cohesion parameter at the material scale is defined by considering the dependence of the collapse on the system size effect. The relevance of this cohesion parameter in describing different wet polydisperse granular collapses is further validated based on our designed experimental tests and DEM simulations. The approach of constructing the cohesion parameters at different scales can be extended to characterize cohesion effects in more complex wet polydisperse granular flows and describe their associated rheological behaviors.

Viscous effects in sheared unsaturated wet granular materials

We report on experiments and discrete element simulations of homogeneous, simple, normal stress-controlled, shear flows of model unsaturated granular materials: assemblies of frictional spherical particles bonded by a small quantity of a wetting liquid. The rheology of such unsaturated granular materials in the dense flow regime was characterized in recent publications of our group, in terms of internal friction coefficient μ∗ and solid fraction Φ, depending on the reduced pressure P∗ comparing capillary forces to controlled normal stress, and on inertial number I. The present study extends this description to the influence of the liquid viscosity on material rheology in the low saturation regime. The quantitative agreement of simulations with experiments is confirmed for the quasistatic limit, and our numerical results, despite some quantitative differences, capture the correct trends in the regime dominated by viscous forces. Rheological properties are then determined, to a large extent, by the same viscous numberIv as used to formulate constitutive laws in saturated, dense suspensions. More precisely, a visco-inertial numberJ, combining Iv with inertial number I as J=Iv+2I2, appears apt to describe the rheological laws, as expressed by the internal friction coefficient and the solid fraction, measured in the laboratory or in the simulations, as well as the numerically investigated internal state of the flowing material. Simulations provide insight into the role of viscous forces: predominantly tensile, they contribute to the increase with shear rate of the macroscopic friction coefficient μ∗ through a direct positive contribution to shear stress, a negative contribution to normal stresses (enhancing the strength of the contact network), and microstructural changes affecting the network of contacts and liquid bridges.

Failure of an effective stress approach in polydisperse wet granular materials

In this Letter, the effective stress principle (ESP)—originally developed for granular materials saturated with water and recently extended to unsaturated ones via simulations—is shown to fail once the material presents wide grain size distributions. We demonstrate that the current ESP approaches cannot capture the Mohr-Coulomb strength parameters as soon as the grain size span exceeds dmax/dmin∼4. This failure is attributed to significant differences in the fabric generated by solid interactions in the wet material, which are supposedly capable of matching the characteristics of the dry material. We show that a generalization of the ESP requires not only macroscopic considerations but also direct attention to the nature of contact and force networks. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Correction to “Dynamic densification of wet granular materials in continuous dense flows under gravity”

Correction to “Dynamic densification of wet granular materials in continuous dense flows under gravity”

Rheology of bolus as a wet granular matter – Influence of saliva on rheology of polysaccharide gel beads

In the present work, the rheological properties of model boli were analysed based on the granular matter physics. Polysaccharide microgels mixed with artificial saliva were prepared as model boli. The storage modulus G′ of alginate gel beads increased and then decreased with increasing content of artificial saliva. Surface of alginate gel beads prepared by dripping into calcium chloride solution were wiped to remove the moisture to mimic the oral condition of the Sjögren's syndrome. G′ decreased monotonically with increasing artificial saliva beyond a certain amount of the added saliva, which is similar to the widely observed characteristic of wet granular materials. Although the analysis is limited to a model bolus at a certain stage of oral processing mimicked by instrumentally prepared microgels of uniform size and shape, it revealed some fundamental aspects highlighting the implication of a wet granular matter as a useful concept for further understanding of the bolus rheology.

The force and dynamic response of low-velocity projectile impact into 3D dense wet granular media

The presence of liquid bridges between particles in a wet granular media gives rise to capillary forces at the microscopic scale that dramatically alters the material's microstructure and macroscopic responses. Previous experimental studies show significant differences in the penetration depth of the projectile into assemblies of dry or wet particles. Still, there is a lack of fundamental understanding of the difference induced by the presence of liquid bridges in dynamic regimes. In this study, the contact model parameters of wet glass beads are calibrated employing the angle of repose tests and cylinder lifting tests, and a series of three-dimensional discrete element method simulations of spheres impact into wet granular packings are conducted. The dynamic characteristics of the projectile are obtained numerically and found to be in good agreement with the experimental data. The analyses indicate that the final penetration depth in the wet granular media is linearly related to the initial velocity and has a power function relationship with the impact energy. The generalized Poncelet law is suitable for wet granular materials, but the presence of liquid significantly affects the values of the parameters. There is a velocity “stagnation zone” at the initial stage of the wet granular impact, and the final penetration depth and the duration interaction time are smaller than that of the dry case. The difference can be attributed to the resistance evolution of the projectile exerted by particles and gives the parameter scaling law of the peak impact force. Further, a macro-micro transition technique is employed to characterize the velocity field, pressure field, and stress field inside the wet granular media and the spatial distribution is quantified based on stress theory.

Viscoelastic response of confined powder under large strain oscillations, characterized by its noise temperature

We report a study on granular matter with and without small additions of silicon oil, under low-frequency and large amplitude oscillatory shear strain under constant normal pressure, by running experiments with a rotational rheometer with a cup-and-plate geometry. We analysed the expansion with the Chebyshev polynomials of the orthogonal decomposition of stress–strain Lissajous–Bowditch loops. We found the onset of the strain amplitude for the yielding regime indicated a regime change from filament-like structures of grains to grain rearrangements for the dry granulate and from oscillations to the breaking and regeneration of liquid bridges for wet granulates. We have shown that this viscoelastic dynamics can be characterized by a noise temperature following Sollich et al. (Phys Rev Lett https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.78.2020, 1997). The analysis of the first harmonics of the Chebyshev expansion showed that the state of disorder of dry and wet granular matter in pre-yielding and yielding regimes involved ensembles of different inherent states; thus, each of them was governed by a different noise temperature. The higher-order harmonics of the Chebyshev expansion revealed a proportionality between the viscous nonlinearity and the variation in the elastic nonlinearity induced by the deformation, which shows the coupling between the elastic deformation and the viscous flow of mesoscopic-scale structures.Graphic abstract

Rupture distances and capillary forces of liquid bridges: Closed-form expressions and ANNs-trained prediction models

Accurate prediction of rupture distances and capillary forces of liquid bridges is crucial for studying the behaviour of wet granular materials. However, the validity of existing analytical expressions is limited to small liquid volumes, whereas current closed-form expressions require numerous calibrated coefficients, making them cumbersome. To overcome these limitations, this study employs Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), a metaheuristic algorithm, to enhance closed-form expressions. This approach allows tuning the balance between accuracy and complexity, resulting in simplified yet accurate closed-form expressions for liquid bridges with varying volumes and contact angles between unequal-sized particles, under both volume and suction control conditions.Additionally, Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are used as an alternative approach. All network architectures up to three hidden layers are systematically explored, and prediction models for rupture distances and capillary forces of liquid bridges are trained using a database of numerical solutions of the Young–Laplace equation. The resulting models provide accurate predictions across a wide range of liquid volumes and contact angles.

Dynamic characteristics of sphere impact into wet granular materials considering suction

Dynamic characteristics of sphere impact into wet granular materials considering suction

Effects of the size polydispersity and friction coefficient on the compressive strength of wet granular materials

We numerically study the effects of the size polydispersity and the friction coefficient on the compressive strength of wet granules under a diametrical compression test by using discrete element simulations. The nu-merical method is coupled with the capillary cohesion law which is enhanced by the cohesive forces between grains in the pendular regime. The wet granules are composed of primary spherical particles whose size poly-dispersity is varied from1 to 10 and the friction coefficient between grains is varied from0.1 to 1.0. By applying a constant compression velocity on the top plate in quasi-static regime, the granule is deformed but does not abruptly rupture due to the cohesive effects between grains and the rearrangement of primary particles. This no abrupt rupture is characterized by the appearance of the peak compressive stress in a long vertical strain before the onset failure of the granule. The compressive strength of the granule increases with increasing the friction coefficient for all cases of the size polydispersity but seemly declines for low values of the size polydispersity and almost level-off for high-size polydispersity with the friction coefficient larger than 0.5.

Structure and rheology of oil-continuous capillary suspensions containing water-swellable cellulose beads and fibres

Cellulose particles are used in a range of materials and applications. Here, we investigated the role of cellulose sorptivity on the rheology and microstructure of oil-continuous capillary suspensions consisting of cellulose beads and fibres at volume fractions of 0.3–0.65 and water at volume fractions up to 0.2. We hypothesised that, in spite of their water-absorbent nature, cellulose particles in oil would be structured into a percolated network by water added as an immiscible secondary phase. The interplay between cellulose bead load and water content was used to generate suspensions ranging from flowable to highly elastic with moduli near 1 MPa. While capillary bridging induced a liquid to semi-solid transition, nearer particle volume fractions of 0.65, we found a transition to a solid, wet-granular material. Liquid-solid transitions occurred even if the water was absorbed by the particles, suggesting that the increase in elasticity was not solely due to the formation of capillary bridges, but also as a result of clustering and the associated increase in effective packing volume fraction. Swapping the beads with fibres increased stiffness by 4 orders whereas swapping half of the beads at the same water fraction increased material stiffness by 3 orders of magnitude. The two conclusions of this study were that, even for water-sorptive particles, capillary and hydrophilic interactions may be used to structure oil-continuous suspensions, and that the use of high aspect ratio particles can increase the rigidity of oil-continuous capillary suspensions to a greater extent than beads at an equivalent volume fraction.

Viscous dissipation in large amplitude oscillatory shear of unsaturated wet granular matter

The present work investigates nonlinear behavior in large amplitude oscillatory shear (LAOS) of unsaturated wet granular materials using pressure-imposed rheometric measurements that enable to explore how the material properties characterizing the flow response depend on both strain amplitude and frequency of deformation. Away from the quasistatic limit, we show that the energy dissipated per unit volume in a single LAOS cycle, which can be visualized by the area enclosed by the Lissajous curve of stress versus strain, is an increasing function of the viscosity of the wetting liquid and is also influenced by the reduced pressure (comparing the cohesive to confining forces) and the frequency. Introducing the inertial number I and the viscous number Iv as previously done, it is shown that the influence of surface tension, viscosity, and driving frequency can be captured by plotting the dissipated energy per unit volume versus the viscous number: a good collapse is obtained. It is shown that an increase in liquid content shifts the whole curve of the dissipated energy upwards, indicating that the overall dissipation mechanism does not change with liquid content, only the energy dissipation related to the internal structure and its breakdown changes.

Experimental study of mudrush mechanisms under different moisture contents in block caving

ABSTRACT Mud-rush mechanisms during ore extraction have not been fully studied. In this study, a new experimental setup was created to analyse mud-rush events under controlled conditions. A block caving drawbell was scaled and filled with wet granular material to be extracted. The material drawn was then classified based on its consistency index. The results showed that the yield stress and the material consistency are good predictors of mud events in the experimental results. Finally, mud-rush events occurred mainly when material consistency was classified as plastic, soft, or fluid – with soft and fluid being the most significant.

Shear rate dependent static friction between a wet granular layer and hard surface

Prediction of static friction at sliding surfaces is having both fundamental and practical importance. In this article, a friction model was used to predict the static friction of wet granular material on hard surface. The model is based on the fact that granular particulates form capillary bridges to adhere with substrate, and rupture of these bridges results in friction. The model also considers the frictional strength of bridges, which develop during the application of shear velocity on sliding mass. The friction model is, in turn, validated with the experimental data of static friction vs. shear velocity of wet granular layers on a smooth rock surface. Scaling laws of frictional properties are also developed using regression analysis to justify the friction model.

The combined effect of cohesion and finite size on the collapse of wet granular columns.

The collapse of low-saturation liquid-containing granular materials is prevalent in nature and industrial processes, and understanding the associated transient dynamics is extremely important for exploring such complex flow processes. In this paper, the collapse of a finite-size wet granular column is systematically studied and the determinants affecting its dynamics are analyzed based on the discrete element model for wet particles and the corresponding small-scale experiments. With the aid of parametric analysis, the dimensionless cohesion parameter containing the system size and grain-scale bond number is proposed, and its relevance in characterizing column stability and collapse dynamics of wet granular materials is further confirmed. For the collapse of wet granular columns with a fixed aspect ratio, the initial height contained in the cohesion parameter is verified to be a manifestation of the finite size effect, which is present in a wet granular collapse and is coupled with the cohesive effect. Such a coupling effect is taken into account in our proposed scaling laws that can be applied to uniformly describe the deposit morphology of wet granular columns after collapse.

Dynamic densification of wet granular materials in continuous dense flows under gravity

AbstractThe continuous granular flow under gravity extensively exists in chemical processes, and the dynamic behaviors of granular flow under different gas–liquid environments are investigated by synchronous slide‐type high‐speed photography. Results show that a hexagonal arrangement is observed after three‐stage densification in wet granular flow, while these structures are almost absent in the dry system. Further analysis shows that under the induction of liquid, the special cavity collapse in stage І is the pre‐condition of granular densification, and the subsequent densification in stage ІІ for the first time gives the experimental proof for the hypothesis that energy barriers exist and depend on the friction characteristics, and the cage effect in stage ІІІ provides a guarantee for the formation of a hexagonal contact network. Besides, three‐stage densification in the three‐phase system mainly occurs in the region with low gas and liquid velocities (G* < 0.716 and L* < 0.023 in this work).

Experimental Study on the Rupture Behavior of the Liquid Bridge between Three Rigid Spheres.

The powder process is dynamic at the microscale level. Due to the capillary effect, the viscous attraction of the liquid phase between particles alters the strength and stability of wet granular materials. In this paper, experiments on the rupture behavior of the funicular liquid bridge between three rigid spheres have been presented. The results show that the peak force and rupture distance of the funicular liquid bridges are affected by the size and relative position of the spheres, volume and viscosity of the liquid, and separation rate; the coalescence of the liquid bridges causes a decrease in peak force and an increase in rupture distance, and the rupture distance shows a nonmonotonic functional correlation with the separation rate. Finally, an empirical equation of the correlation between the rupture distance and liquid volume is proposed, whose rationality is verified by comparing it with the results of the existing models.