Granular flow near shear jamming

Dense granular materials flow when driven above a critical shear stress. Near this limit, the system deforms at a near-quasistatic strain rate and the flow profile exhibits spatial inhomogeneities. Flow is characterized by intermittent bursts of particle rearrangement and finite-sized systems are prone to find a jammed state and arrest right above the critical shear stress. We use a discrete element model of frictional grains to explore this limit using a combination of stress and strain-rate controls. By tracking the spatial-temporal rearrangement of grains and the approach to arrest, we characterize how these behaviors depend on the size of the system.



Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-mission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC., a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International, Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA-0003525.