
Unifying Lengthscale-Based Rheology of Dense Granular-Fluid Mixtures
Zhuan Ge,1, 2 Teng Man,2, ∗Herbert E. Huppert,3Kimberly Hill,4, †and Sergio Andres Galindo-Torres2, ‡
1College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University,
866 Yuhangtang Road, Hangzhou 310058, Zhejiang, China
2Key Laboratory of Coastal Environment and Resources of Zhejiang Province (KLaCER),
School of Engineering, Westlake University, 18 Shilongshan Street, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310024, China.
3Institute of Theoretical Geophysics, King’s College, University of Cambridge,
King’s Parade, Cambridge CB2 1ST, United Kingdom
4Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo-Engineering,
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
(Dated: February 10, 2023)
In this communication, we present a new lengthscale-based rheology for dense sheared particle
suspensions as they transition from inertial- to viscous-dominated. We derive a lengthscale ratio
using straightforward physics-based considerations for a particle subjected to pressure and drag
forces. In doing so, we demonstrate that an appropriately chosen length-scale ratio intrinsically
provides a consistent relationship between normal stress and system proximity to its ”jammed”
or solid-like state, even as a system transitions between inertial and viscous states, captured by a
variable Stokes number.
Particle flows and particle-fluid are ubiquitous in natu-
ral phenomena, such as landslides, debris flows, and rock
falls [1–3].Complex environmental conditions make it dif-
ficult to obtain a unified constitutive law for their flow
characteristics, particularly for dense flows, where short-
range interactions are enduring and often generate long-
range correlations[4].
In the last two decades, significant progress has been
made in modeling the flows of wet and dry granular flows
focused on dimensional analysis and time scales. For dry
granular flows, the local normal stress Pp(which is associ-
ated with interparticle interactions only), particle density
ρs, particle size d, and shear rate ˙γare combined into a
single dimensionless ratio of two timescales, microscopic
(pρsd2/Pp) and macroscopic (1/˙γ): I= ˙γd/pPp/ρs[5–
7]. Various authors have shown that dynamic parameters
such as the apparent friction coefficient µ=τ/Pp(here,
τis a local shear stress) and the solid fraction φcan be
represented using functions of Ionly including steady-
state [5] and transient (e.g., column collapse) systems
[8]. Cassar et al.[9] adapted this framework to saturated
particle systems by replacing the microscopic (inertial)
timescale with a viscous timescale (Pp/ηf, where ηfis
the fluid viscosity), and the appropriate dimensionless
control parameter is J= ˙γηf/Pp. Boyer et al.[10] fur-
ther validated the saturated framework and generalized
the form to include much sparser suspensions.
In the last decade, work on dense flows has broadened
to include systems in which both fluid viscous forces and
particle inertial effects contribute to the rheology. To-
ward this, Trulsson et al. (2012) [11] proposed using ef-
fective shear stress taking the form of superposed inertial
and viscous stresses (τeff =λ×ρsd2˙γ2+ηf˙γnormalized
∗manteng@westlake.edu.cn
†kmhill@umn.edu
‡s.torres@westlake.edu.cn
by Ppyielding a new dimensionless number: K=λI2+J
(λis a single-valued fit parameter). Tapia et al.[12] ar-
gued that λ= 1/Sttr, where Sttr is a transitional Stokes
number (St =I2/J) close to 1. Specifically, for satu-
rated 3-d experiments, they found Sttr = 10 provided a
reasonable collapse for their data.
These efforts have revolutionized the representation of
dense granular-fluid flows, remarkable in their form of
dimensional analysis and data fitting. Nevertheless, a
significant issue remains[13], associated partly with the
dimensional focus of the work. As noted by Bagnold
(1954)[14], fundamental physical considerations indicate
that an additional (dimensionless) variable is needed, for
example, to represent the relative importance of inertial
and viscous contributions as they vary from one system
to the next.
In this communication, we use theoretical considera-
tions to find a more consistent physics-based character-
ization of the details underlying the transition between
inertial and viscous flows. Through these efforts, we find
consideration of length scale ratios provides substantial
insights to the problem and, at the same time, a frame-
work consistent with that proposed originally by Truls-
son, Tapia, and colleagues. Specifically, in the expression
for Kabove, a function λSt that increases with St re-
places the constant λ. Beyond this, we note that the
lengthscale considerations that lead us to this frame-
work are physically more well-suited to represent the
dynamics close to maximum concentration for flow: φc
(e.g., near jamming). In particular, these results sug-
gest that lengthscales are intrinsically related to the lim-
ited particulate movements as they approach jamming
and thus can capture commonly reported the influence
of the proximity of φ/φcto 1 to the influence of par-
ticle displacements[15] and other system dynamics. As
evidence, we demonstrate that the new framework cap-
tures previously published data[10, 12, 16–18] and new
computational data presented herein.
arXiv:2210.08746v2 [cond-mat.soft] 9 Feb 2023