3D implementation and validation of VOF-coupled non-local granular rheology

• Published in: Granular matter Vol. 24; no. 2
• Main Authors: Faroux, Dorian, Washino, Kimiaki, Tsuji, Takuya, Tanaka, Toshitsugu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.05.2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Boundary conditions; Complex Fluids and Microfluidics; Computational fluid dynamics; Engineering Fluid Dynamics; Engineering Thermodynamics; Foundations; Geoengineering; Granular materials; Heat and Mass Transfer; Hydraulics; Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering; Materials Science; Original Paper; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Rheological properties; Rheology; Single-phase flow; Soft and Granular Matter; Granular flow; Granular fluidity; Continuum modeling; Eulerian
• ISSN: 1434-5021; 1434-7636
• DOI: 10.1007/s10035-022-01212-y

Dense granular materials are well known for their complex properties which evolve depending on the regime of the flow. Numerous models have been proposed to describe their behavior from the solid to liquid-like range such as the recent non-local granular fluidity (NGF) rheology which is able to accurately capture non-localities in the quasi-static state. Despite its encouraging results, NGF applications are limited to single-phase flows and has only been provided a FEM implementation which depreciates its practicality. In order to ease the access to simple, accurate and systematic granular simulations, we provide a new 3D implementation and validation of the NGF rheology based on the FVM discretization, generally used in computational fluid dynamics solvers, coupled with the volume-of-fluid (VOF) interface capturing method to allow for the modeling of two simultaneous phases. The proposed implementation has then been validated for complex 3D geometries such as the split-bottom cell famous for its challenging size-dependent flow field in the quasi-static regime or for two-phase granular heap flows with frictional walls. Moreover, the limitations brought by the coupling with VOF, especially the pressure sensitivity and its boundary condition, have been highlighted and discussed to provide a real-world applicable implementation.