Numerical Investigation of Statistical Properties of Microslips in Silos
Publication: Journal of Engineering Mechanics
Volume 129, Issue 6
Abstract
A planar problem of filling a silo with random in diameter disks is simulated numerically. The disks are placed statically one at a time, and each added disk results in a redistribution of normal and shear forces between the disks. It is well known that in this system microinstabilities involving local slips take place. The number of disks participating in a microslide is the result of the process of self organization, i.e., finding the stable state. As opposed to the previous research when the distribution of slide sizes (called microavalanches) was measured in a variable volume of particles, as reported by Bak et al. in 1988 and Claudin and Bouchaud in 1997, in this study the number of slips is measured and it is related to a constant volume (number of particles in the system). The statistic is collected by performing 600 fillings of the silo with the total number of particles 400, and recording the needed data after the 400th particle is dropped into the silo. The simulations are performed for the fixed coefficients of friction, distribution of particle sizes, and geometry of the boundary. The results of this study show the convergence of statistical properties for the number of slips and the energy lost to stable distributions.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Bak, P., Tang, C., and Wiesenfeld, K.(1988). “Self-organized criticality.” Phys. Rev. A, 38(1), 364–374.
Claudin, P., and Bouchaud, J.-P.(1997). “Static avalanches and giant stress fluctuations in silos.” Phys. Rev. Lett., 78(2), 231–234.
Coppersmith, S. N., Liu, C.-h., Majumdar, S., Narayan, O., and Witten, T. A.(1996). “Model for force fluctuations in bead packs.” Phys. Rev. E, 53(5), 4673–4685.
Dendy, R. O., and Helander, P.(1998). “Appearance and nonappearance of self-organized criticality in sandpiles.” Phys. Rev. E, 57(3), 3641–3644.
Frette, V., Christensen, K., Malthe-Sorenssen, A., Feder, J., Jossang, T., and Meakin, P.(1996). “Avalanche dynamics in a pile of rice.” Nature (London), 379, 49–52.
Gavrilov, D., and Vinogradov, O.(1997). “Recursive inverse matrix algorithm in granular mechanics applications.” Comp. Mech., 20, 407–411.
Gavrilov, D., and Vinogradov, O. G.(1999). “Micro instabilities in a system of particles in silos during the filling process.” Comp. Mech., 24, 166–174.
Held, G. A., Solina, D. H., Keane, D. T., Haag, W. J., Horn, P. M., and Grinstein, G.(1990). “Experimental study of critical-mass fluctuations in an evolving sandpile.” Phys. Rev. Lett., 65(9), 1120–1123.
Mehta, A. (1994). “Relaxational dynamics, avalanches, and disorder in real sandpiles.” Granular matter: An interdisciplinary approach, A. Mehta, ed., Springer, Berlin, 1–33.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
Copyright © 2003 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 27, 2001
Accepted: Nov 15, 2002
Published online: May 15, 2003
Published in print: Jun 2003
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.