Eur. Phys. J. B 9, 105-115 (1999)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s100510050746

Surface flows of granular mixtures

III. Canonical model

¹ Laboratoire de Physique de la Matière Condensée (CNRS -URA 792) , Collège de France, 11 place Marcelin Berthelot, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France
² Center for Polymer Studies and Physics Department, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA

Received: 9 September 1998
Revised: 4 November 1998
Published online: 15 May 1999

Abstract

We present the generalization of the minimal model for surface flows of granular mixtures, proposed by Boutreux and de Gennes [J. Phys. I France 6, 1295 (1996)]. The minimal model was valid for grains differing only in their surface properties. The present model also takes into account differences in the size of the grains. We apply the model to study segregation in two-dimensional silos of mixtures of grains differing in size and/or surface properties. When the difference in size is small, the model predicts that a continuous segregation appears in the static phase during the filling of a silo. When the difference in size is wide, we take into account the segregation of the grains in the rolling phase, and the model predicts complete segregation and stratification in agreement with experimental observations.