The column collapse experiment is a simplified version of natural and industrial granular flows. In this set-up, a column built with grains collapses and spreads over a horizontal plane. Granular flows are often studied with a monodisperse distribution; however, this is not the case in natural granular flows where a variety of grain sizes, known as polydispersity, is a common feature. In this work, we study the effect of polydispersity, and of the inherent changes that polydispersity causes in the initial packing fraction, in dry and immersed columns. We show that dry columns are not significantly affected by polydispersity, reaching similar distances at similar times. In contrast, immersed columns are strongly affected by the polydispersity and packing fraction, and the collapse sequence is linked to changes of the basal pore fluid pressure P. At the collapse initiation, negative changes of P beneath the column produce a temporary increase of the column strength. The negative change of P lasts longer in polydisperse columns than in monodisperse columns, delaying the collapse sequence. Conversely, during the column spreading, positive changes of P lead to a decrease of the shear strength. For polydisperse collapses, the excess of P lasts longer, allowing the material to reach farther distances, compared with the collapses of monodisperse materials. Finally, we show that a mobility model that scales the final runout with the collapse kinetic energy remains true for different polydispersity levels in a three-dimensional configuration, capturing the scaling between the micro to macro controlling features.@en

Geophysical mass flows involve particles of different sizes, a property termed polydispersity. The granular column collapse is a simplified experiment for studying transitional granular flows. Our research focuses on the role that polydispersity has on the velocity and runout distance of dry and immersed granular columns, undergoing a numerical and experimental study. Our results highlight that polydispersity does not have a strong effect on the collapse of dry columns. On the contrary, the collapse sequence of immerse granular columns strongly depend on the polydispersity level.

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The collapse dynamics and runout of columns of elongated grains in two dimensions are numerically investigated in dry and immersed conditions, by means of an unresolved finite elements/discrete elements model. The elongated grains are modeled as rigid aggregates of disks. The column aspect ratio is systematically varied from 0.125 to 16 in order to span short and tall columns. To analyze the effect of the initial grain orientation, columns with an initial grain orientation that is either random or aligned with a given direction are both considered. Collapse dynamics, both in dry and immersed cases, are found analogous to that previously observed for circular grain columns, particularly with respect to the power law dependency for the runout as a function of the column aspect ratio. The effect of the fluid mainly results in a decrease of the runout distance. Interestingly, the collapse dynamics and runout are not significantly affected by the initial orientation of the grains, except maybe in the extreme case where the grains are all horizontally oriented, which geometrically prevents the collapse. Finally, a scaling based on the front propagation energy is proposed allowing one to unify the runout of short to tall and dry to immersed columns in a single description, regardless of the initial grain orientation.@en

Granular materials are used in several fields and in a wide variety of processes. An important feature of these materials is the diversity of grain sizes, commonly referred to as polydispersity. When granular materials are sheared, they exhibit a predominant small elastic range. Then, the material yields, with or without a peak shear strength depending on the initial density. Finally, the material reaches a stationary state, in which it deforms at a constant shear stress, which can be linked to the residual friction angle φr. However, the role of polydispersity on the shear strength of granular materials is still a matter of debate. In particular, a series of investigations have proved, using numerical simulations, that φr is independent of polydispersity. This counterintuitive observation remains elusive to experimentalists, and especially for some technical communities that use φr as a design parameter (e.g., the soil mechanics community). In this Letter, we studied experimentally the effects of polydispersity on φr. In order to do so, we built samples of ceramic beads and then sheared these samples in a triaxial apparatus. We varied polydispersity, building monodisperse, bidisperse, and polydisperse granular samples; this allowed us to study the effects of grain size, size span, and grain size distribution on φr. We find that φr is indeed independent of polydispersity, confirming the previous findings achieved through numerical simulations. Our work fairly closes the gap of knowledge between experiments and simulations.

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The granular column collapse is a simplified version of granular flows such as landslides, avalanches, and other industrial processes mobilized in air or within a fluid. In this configuration, the particles collapse in an accelerating phase, reaching a state of constant spreading velocity until they decelerate and stop. Granular flows commonly involve particles of different sizes, a property termed polydispersity. Understanding the role of polydispersity remains a challenging task that is often analyzed with nearly monodisperse systems and demanding a series of simplifications when coupled with a fluid in a numerical model. Here, we study the effect of particle-size polydispersity in dry and immersed granular columns, using a finite element method-discrete element method model for fluid-particle interactions. We show that the velocity of the column collapse and runout distance decrease with an increase in the level of polydispersity in immersed conditions, and remain nearly independent of the level of polydispersity in dry conditions. Moreover, we find that the runout scales with the spreading front kinetic energy, weighted by the ratio between the particles' density and the density difference between particles and fluid. This scaling helps in identifying the governing processes in polydisperse granular columns, unifying the runout description of both dry and immersed collapses, and indicating that the column initial packing fraction is the governing parameter.@en