The behavior of iodine in stabilized granular activated carbon and silver mordenite in cementitious
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Yamagata, Alessandra Fujii↗
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Assessment of a tomography-informed polyhedral discrete element modelling approach for complex-shaped granular woody biomass in stress consolidation
The design of handling equipment for granular biomass primarily requires experiments. Discrete element models (DEM) can provide designers with detailed insight into the behaviour of granular materials. However, granular biomass comprising complex-shaped particles is difficult to model with DEM. A tomography-informed DEM approach and an exhaustive assessment of the ability of the approach to predict the bulk behaviour of milled pines using experimental data is presented. Nano-CT scan was conducted to obtain 3D particle surface geometries as the basis for particle shape approximation by a polyhedral model and a sphero-polyhedral model. These models were applied in the simulation of a compressibility test. Our parametric study showed that particle Young's modulus and restitution coefficient are the two main properties influencing the simulated bulk behaviour of the DEM particles and that the level of approximating DEM particle shape for real particles is critical for accurately replicating the bulk behaviour of milled pines. The polyhedral model demonstrated better suitability than its sphero-polyhedral counterpart for modelling pine particles. The polyhedral model calibrated in a compressibility test was then applied in the simulations of a friction test without additional parameter tuning. Interlocking was dominant in the shear of bulk pine particles. Remarkably, the polyhedral model predicted the frictional behaviour of the pine particles when compared to the experimental results. The limitations of the model, as well as possible ways for enhancement, are discussed. This work provided novel insights into the suitability of complex-shaped DEM models for granular woody biomass.
Biomass flow↗
Quantifying particle-scale 3D granular dynamics during rapid compaction from time-resolved in situ 2D x-ray images
Understanding the particle-scale dynamics of granular materials during rapid compaction and flow is of fundamental importance for manufacturing, planetary science, geology, and defense applications. Time-resolved 2D radiography and static 3D x-ray tomography are powerful in situ tools for studying particle-scale dynamics but provide detail only in 2D or with significant time-scale limitations, respectively. Here, we introduce a new method that uses 2D in situ x-ray imaging for determining time-resolved 3D particle-scale dynamics in rapidly compressed granular materials. The method employs initial particle packing structures obtained from x-ray tomography, a 2D x-ray image generation algorithm, and an optimization algorithm. We first describe and validate the method using finite element simulations. Furthermore, we then apply the technique to x-ray phase-contrast images obtained during rapid compaction of granular materials with varying particle morphology and sample thickness. The depth-resolved particle-scale dynamics reveal complex velocity and porosity fields evolving heterogeneously along and perpendicular to the compaction direction. We characterize these features, their fluctuations near the compaction front, and the compaction front thickness. Our technique can be applied to understanding granular dynamics during rapid compaction events, and rearrangements during slower, but non-quasi-static, flows.
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
MRI Measurements and Granular Dynamics Simulation of Segregation of Granular Mixture
A counter intuitive axial segregation phenomenon in a rotating horizontal cylinder has recently captured attention of many researchers in different disciplines. There is a growing consensus that the interplay between the particle dynamics and the evolution of the internal structure during the segregation process must be carefully investigated. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been used to non-invasively obtain much needed dynamic/static information such as velocity and concentration profiles, and it has proven to be capable of depicting the evolution of segregation processes. Segregation in a rotating cylinder involves two processes: the first is to transport small particles in the radial direction to form a radial core, and the second is to transform the radial core into axially segregated bands. Percolation and/or "stopping" have been proposed as mechanisms for the radial segregation. As to mechanisms for axial band formation, much less is known. The difference in the dynamic angle of repose has been proposed to segregate different components in the axial direction. Recently, Hill and Kakalios have reported that particles mix or demix depending upon the competition between diffusion and preferential drift whose order can be determined by the dynamic angle of repose through the adjustment of the rotation rate. We claim that the dynamic angle of repose could be one of the causes, however, it fails to offer reasonable explanations for certain aspects of the axial migration. For example, we always observe that the radial segregation precedes the axial segregation and small particles migrate in the radial direction to form an axially extended radial core. It then transforms into axially segregated bands. By definition, the effects of the dynamic angle of repose are restricted near the free surface where the flowing layer is present. However, during the process of transforming from the radially segregated core to axially segregated bands, small particles located in the deep core region, which is untouched by the flowing layer, also completely disappear. Usually, the dynamics angle of repose are uniquely defined for individual species to characterize particle properties, and the dynamic angle of repose thus defined provides little information for the dynamic angle of repose of the mixture since the concentration ratio and the internal packing structure do not remain the same during the segregation processes. Under microgravity environment, the dynamics angle of repose argument does not hold since there is simply no flowing layer to influence/determine the preferred directions of segregation. We have thus designed an experiment so that the effects of the dynamic angle of repose can be minimized by filling the cylinder almost completely full. Small particles still formed a radial core and also migrated to form axial bands. As ground based experiments we have designed and conducted both 2D and 3D segregation experiments. The 2D experiments are performed using a thin cylinder (the gap between two end caps is about 5 mm) filled with different combinations of particles. The 3D experiments are conducted with a long cylinder of its length and diameter of 27cm and 7cm, respectively. Results of 2D experiments indicate that different mechanisms govern particle motion in regions near and far from the axis of rotation. Results of 3D experiments indicate that a series of collapses of microstructures of particle packing (micro-collapses) may be responsible for the creation of voids for small particles to migrate through in the axial direction. We have successfully eliminated the dynamic angle of repose as a cause for segregation, however, by almost completely filling the cylinder with the particles, we have lost an opportunity to investigate a possibility of particle "mobility" being a cause for segregation which requires a flowing surface but not the difference in the angle of repose. This is currently being investigated.
Nakagawa, M.↗
Dam-Break Flow Measurements of Liquid–Granular Mixtures in a Channelized Reservoir
Dam-break flows of granular materials exhibit a complex non-Newtonian rheology, which is strongly influenced by various factors, such as the characteristics of the granular material, the degree of initial compaction, and saturation level of the granular matrix. Specially adapted nonintrusive techniques are required to investigate these flows in the laboratory. This paper investigated the nonintrusive technique of image analysis. The methodologies used in the measurement of bulk flow parameters, such as flow depth, front velocity, and flow rate, and the extraction of detailed flow characteristics such as velocity profiles, were discussed in the context of a series of granular dam-break flow experiments. These experiments were performed under three types of initial conditions: dry, saturated (water filling the pore space), and submerged (a layer of saturated granular material submerged under water) using four types of granular materials—PET pellets, crushed walnut shells, urea, and sand—with grain sizes ranging from 200 μm to 2.9 mm. High-speed cameras were used to capture the evolution and local properties of the flow, such as velocity fields using particle image velocimetry (PIV). Bulk properties of the flow were obtained by tracking the surface profile of the granular matrix and the water table. The extracted profiles were used to measure the evolution of the volume of the granular matrix and the fluid phase separately upstream and downstream of the gate, which allowed measuring the dilatancy (increase in pore space). The study showed that the image analysis techniques are versatile and can be adapted to measure different flow parameters in a variety of granular flows to better understand and analyze their complex behavior. Finally, the advantages and drawbacks of each image analysis technique were discussed and best-practice recommendations were provided.
42 ENGINEERING↗
On the Role of Friction and Particle Size Distribution in Granular Packings
Packing of particles in a disordered arrangement has tremendous significance in both condensed matter physics and engineering applications. The last three decades have seen remarkable progress in our understanding of the physics of granular packings that has been largely facilitated by a rapid growth in the power of modern computers. Although granular packings are ubiquitous in diverse natural settings, from clogging of powders in hoppers to the crowding of living cells, a significant motivation for modeling granular packings has emerged from a proposal that the transition from a fluid-like state to a solid-like state of a granular material upon increasing volume fraction, called jamming, is intimately related to the origins of glass transition in thermal systems. As such, a majority of modeling efforts have focused on the jamming behavior of an idealized granular material: frictionless, monodisperse sphere. While such studies have illuminated the rich physics of jamming, granular materials in nature and engineering practice are rarely frictionless or monodisperse. The analogous research on the packing of these ‘real-world’ granular materials is still not fully developed. Besides requiring the exploration of a huge parameter space, three key computational considerations have inhibited their modeling: (i) traditional computational methods are not adept at simulating mechanically-stable packings of frictional particles near the jamming transition; (ii) standard algorithms of contact detection in discrete element methods are impractical to simulate granular packings with a wide distribution of particle sizes; (iii) a lack of well-established contact mechanics models of friction that can accurately reproduce experimental data. This chapter will review the latest computational advances to simulate the jamming of size-dispersed frictional particles, and describe the rich microstructural diversity that emerges in their packings.
granular↗
Challenges in Predicting Planetary Granular Mechanics
Through the course of human history, our needs in agriculture, habitat construction, and resource extraction have driven us to gain more experience working with the granular materials of planet Earth than with any other type of substance in nature, with the possible exception being water. Furthermore, throughout the past two centuries we have seen a dramatic and ever growing interest among scientists and engineers to understand and predict both its static and rheological properties. Ironically, however, despite this wealth of experience we still do not have a fundamental understanding of the complex physical phenomena that emerge even as just ordinary sand is shaken, squeezed or poured. As humanity is now reaching outward through the solar system, not only robotic ally but also with our immediate human presence, the need to understand and predict granular mechanics has taken on a new dimension. We must learn to farm, build and mine the regoliths of other planets where the environmental conditions are different than on Earth, and we are rapidly discovering that the effects of these environmental conditions are not trivial. Some of the relevant environmental features include the regolith formation processes throughout a planet's geologic and hydrologic history, the unknown mixtures of volatiles residing within the soil, the relative strength of gravitation, ~d the atm9spheric pressure and its seasonal variations. The need to work with soils outside our terrestrial experience base provides us with both a challenge and an opportunity. The challenge is to learn how to extrapolate our experience into these new planetary conditions, enabling the engineering decisions that are needed right now as we take the next few steps in solar system exploration. The opportunity is to use these new planetary environments as laboratories that will help us to see granular mechanics in new ways, to challenge our assumptions, and to help us finally unravel the elusive physics that lie behind complex granular phenomena. Toward these goals, a workshop was held recently at NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center, attracting over a hundred scientists and engineers from around the world and from a broad crosssection of scientific and engineering disciplines. This talk will provide an out-briefing from that workshop, communicating some of its early findings in regard to lunar and Martian exploration: (1) the requirements for working with granular materials, (2) the challenges that granular materials will pose, (3) the environmental conditions that affect granular mechanics, (4) instruments and measurements that are needed on the Moon and Mars to support granular material research, and (5) some of the possible research avenues that should be pursued.
Metzger, Philip T.↗
Fracturing in Wet Granular Media Illuminated by Photoporomechanics
Here, we study fluid-induced deformation and fracture of granular media and apply photoporomechanics to uncover the underpinning grain-scale mechanics. We fabricate spherical photoelastic particles of 2-mm diameter to form a monolayer granular pack in a circular Hele-Shaw cell that is initially filled with a viscous fluid. The key distinct feature of our system is that, with spherical particles, the granular pack has a connected pore space, thus allowing for pore-pressure diffusion and the study of effective stress in coupled poromechanical processes. We inject air into the fluid-filled photoelastic granular pack, varying the initial packing density and confining weight. With our recently developed experimental technique, photoporomechanics, we find two different modes of fluid invasion: fracturing in fluid-filled elastic media (with strong photoelastic response) and viscous fingering in frictional fluids (with weak or negligible photoelastic response). We directly visualize the evolving effective stress field and discover an effective stress shadow behind the propagating fracture tips, where the granular pack exhibits undrained behavior. We conceptualize the behavior of the system by means of a mechanistic model for a wedge of the granular pack bounded by two growing fractures. The model captures the pore-pressure build-up inside the stress shadow region and the grain compaction in the annular region outside. Our model reveals that a jamming transition determines the distinct rheological behavior of the wet granular pack, from a friction-dominated to an elasticity-dominated response.
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
Granular Contact Forces: Proof of "Self-Ergodicity" by Generalizing Boltzmann's Stosszahlansatz and H Theorem
Ergodicity is proved for granular contact forces. To obtain this proof from first principles, this paper generalizes Boltzmann's stosszahlansatz (molecular chaos) so that it maintains the necessary correlations and symmetries of granular packing ensembles. Then it formally counts granular contact force states and thereby defines the proper analog of Boltzmann's H functional. This functional is used to prove that (essentially) all static granular packings must exist at maximum entropy with respect to their contact forces. Therefore, the propagation of granular contact forces through a packing is a truly ergodic process in the Boltzmannian sense, or better, it is self-ergodic. Self-ergodicity refers to the non-dynamic, internal relationships that exist between the layer-by-layer and column-by-column subspaces contained within the phase space locus of any particular granular packing microstate. The generalized H Theorem also produces a recursion equation that may be solved numerically to obtain the density of single particle states and hence the distribution of granular contact forces corresponding to the condition of self-ergodicity. The predictions of the theory are overwhelmingly validated by comparison to empirical data from discrete element modeling.
Metzger, Philip T.↗
Shear rate dependency on flowing granular biomass material
The commercialization of bioenergy has been significantly limited by various material handling issues due to the poor flowability of granular biomass materials. A good understanding of flow physics and robust constitutive models to predict flow behavior across multiple regimes are essential to address these issues. In this study, we investigated the multi-regime flow behavior of loblolly pine chips, a widely used bioenergy feedstock, through comprehensive inclined plane flow experiments and simulations. A quasi-static hypoplastic model and a cross-regime Drucker-Prager-µ(I) model were calibrated and validated against the physical experiments to investigate the quasi-static and dense flow behavior. The results show that for granular biomass, 1) plane flow (iso-thickness along the plane) exists within a smaller range of inclination while heap flow (varying thickness along the plane) exists within a broader range of inclination, as compared with conventional granular materials (e.g., glass beads); 2) the scaling law of granular biomass flowing on an inclined plane (Froude Number versus dimensionless thickness) forms a bi-linear trend with the turning point governed by the quasi-static and dense flow regimes; 3) the multi-regime DP-µ(I) model can capture the flow behavior in both regimes well at the cost of extra calibration. In conclusion, these findings advance the scientific understanding of the multi-regime flow behavior of granular biomass materials and shed light on formulating novel constitutive models to assist granular biomass handling in the bioenergy industry.
09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
Microgravity Experiments to Evaluate Electrostatic Forces in Controlling Cohesion and Adhesion of Granular Materials
The bulk behavior of dispersed, fluidized, or undispersed stationary granular systems cannot be fully understood in terms of adhesive/cohesive properties without understanding the role of electrostatic forces acting at the level of the grains themselves. When grains adhere to a surface, or come in contact with one another in a stationary bulk mass, it is difficult to measure the forces acting on the grains, and the forces themselves that induced the cohesion and adhesion are changed. Even if a single gain were to be scrutinized in the laboratory, it might be difficult, perhaps impossible, to define the distribution and character of surface charging and the three- dimensional relationship that charges (electrons, holes) have to one another. The hypothesis that we propose to test in microgravity (for dielectric materials) is that adhesion and cohesion of granular matter are mediated primarily by dipole forces that do not require the presence of a net charge; in fact, nominally electrically neutral materials should express adhesive and cohesive behavior when the neutrality results from a balance of positive and negative charge carriers. Moreover, the use of net charge alone as a measure of the electrical nature of grain-to-grain relationships within a granular mass may be misleading. We believe that the dipole forces arise from the presence of randomly-distributed positive and negative fixed charge carriers on grains that give rise to a resultant dipole moment. These dipole forces have long-range attraction. Random charges are created whenever there is triboelectrical activity of a granular mass, that is, whenever the grains experience contact/separation sequences or friction. Electrostatic forces are generally under-estimated for their role in causing agglomeration of dispersed grains in particulate clouds, or their role in affecting the internal frictional relationships in packed granular masses. We believe that electrostatic, in particular dipole-mediated processes, are pervasive and probably affect, at some level, everything from astrophysical-scale granular systems such as interstellar nebulae, protoplanetary dust and debris disks, planetary-scale systems such as debris palls from meteorite impact, volcanic eruptions, and aeolian dust storms, all the way to industrial-scale systems in mining, powder and grain processing, pharmaceuticals, and smoke-stack technologies. NASA must concern itself with the electrostatic behavior of dust and sand on Mars because of its potentially critical importance to human exploration. The motion and adhesion of martian surface materials will affect the design and performance of spacesuits, habitats, processing plants, solar panels, and any externally exposed equipment such as surface rovers or communication and weather stations. Additionally, the adhesion of dust and sand could greatly enhance contact with the potentially toxic components of the martian soil.
Marshall, J.↗
Dynamics of Sheared Granular Materials
This work focuses on the properties of sheared granular materials near the jamming transition. The project currently involves two aspects. The first of these is an experiment that is a prototype for a planned ISS (International Space Station) flight. The second is discrete element simulations (DES) that can give insight into the behavior one might expect in a reduced-g environment. The experimental arrangement consists of an annular channel that contains the granular material. One surface, say the upper surface, rotates so as to shear the material contained in the annulus. The lower surface controls the mean density/mean stress on the sample through an actuator or other control system. A novel feature under development is the ability to 'thermalize' the layer, i.e. create a larger amount of random motion in the material, by using the actuating system to provide vibrations as well control the mean volume of the annulus. The stress states of the system are determined by transducers on the non-rotating wall. These measure both shear and normal components of the stress on different size scales. Here, the idea is to characterize the system as the density varies through values spanning dense almost solid to relatively mobile granular states. This transition regime encompasses the regime usually thought of as the glass transition, and/or the jamming transition. Motivation for this experiment springs from ideas of a granular glass transition, a related jamming transition, and from recent experiments. In particular, we note recent experiments carried out by our group to characterize this type of transition and also to demonstrate/ characterize fluctuations in slowly sheared systems. These experiments give key insights into what one might expect in near-zero g. In particular, they show that the compressibility of granular systems diverges at a transition or critical point. It is this divergence, coupled to gravity, that makes it extremely difficult if not impossible to characterize the transition region in an earth-bound experiment. In the DE modeling, we analyze dynamics of a sheared granular system in Couette geometry in two (2D) and three (3D) space dimensions. Here, the idea is to both better understand what we might encounter in a reduced-g environment, and at a deeper level to deduce the physics of sheared systems in a density regime that has not been addressed by past experiments or simulations. One aspect of the simulations addresses sheared 2D system in zero-g environment. For low volume fractions, the expected dynamics of this type of system is relatively well understood. However, as the volume fraction is increased, the system undergoes a phase transition, as explained above. The DES concentrate on the evolution of the system as the solid volume fraction is slowly increased, and in particular on the behavior of very dense systems. For these configurations, the simulations show that polydispersity of the sheared particles is a crucial factor that determines the system response. Figures 1 and 2 below, that present the total force on each grain, show that even relatively small (10 %) nonuniformity of the size of the grains (expected in typical experiments) may lead to significant modifications of the system properties, such as velocity profiles, temperature, force propagation, and formation shear bands. The simulations are extended in a few other directions, in order to provide additional insight to the experimental system analyzed above. In one direction, both gravity, and driving due to vibrations are included. These simulations allow for predictions on the driving regime that is required in the experiments in order to analyze the jamming transition. Furthermore, direct comparison of experiments and DES will allow for verification of the modeling assumptions. We have also extended our modeling efforts to 3D. The (preliminary) results of these simulations of an annular system in zero-g environment will conclude the presentation.
Kondic, Lou↗
Constitutive Relation in Transitional Granular Flows
To study the constitutive behavior of granular materials, the presence of gravity is detrimental. Although empirical relations have been obtained for engineering designs to control granular flows on Earth, it is not known how well these Earthbound relations can be used in another gravity field. Fundamental understanding must be derived to reliably design for granular flows in space exploration. There are two extremes of granular flows of which significant amount of knowledge is available. One deals with a dense and quasi-static situation where the deformation rate nearly vanishes. The other deals with dilute and rapidly fluctuating grain velocities where particle inertia dominates. This project, funded by the NASA Microgravity Fluid Physics Program, aims to study this transitional regime via physical experiments and computer simulations. A conceptual model has been established as described below. There are two natural time scales in a granular flow. One is the travel time between two consecutive collisions and the other is the duration of a collision contact. At a very low shear-rate, the shear-induced particle velocity is low. Hence the travel time between collisions is longer than the contact time between colliding particles. Binary collisions prevail. As the shear-rate increases, the traveling time between collisions reduces and the probability of multiple collisions goes up. These particle groups disperse shortly after and new groups form. When shear-rate is further increased, clusters grow in size due to an increasing chance for free particles to join before groups have the time to disperse. The maximum cluster size may depend on the global concentration and material properties. As the solid concentration approaches zero, the cluster size goes to one particle diameter. The maximum possible cluster size under any condition is the container size, provided that the shear flow is inside a container. The critical shear-rates that dictate the initiation of the multiple contacts, and the size and lifetime of the collision clusters, are functions of the concentration also. A 'regime' theory has been proposed by Babic et al. This theory suggested that both the solid concentration, C, and the non-dimensional shear-rate, B, are important in determining the regimes of the granular constitutive law. Additional information is included in the original extended abstract.
Shen, Hayley H.↗
Mechanical and Structural Behavior of Granular Material Packed Beds for Space Life Support System Applications
Long-term human mission to space, such as living in International Space Station (ISS), Lunar, and Martian bases, and travel to Mars, must m ake use of Advanced Life Support Systems (ALSS) to generate and recycle critical life supporting elements like oxygen and water. Oxygen Gen eration Assembly (OGA) and Water Processor Assembly (WPA), critical c omponents of ALSS, make use of series of granular material packed beds for generation and recycling of oxygen and water. Several granular m aterials can be used for generation, recycling, processing and recovery of oxygen and water. For example, they may include soft bed media, e.g. ion exchange resins for oxygen generation assembly and hard bed media such as, activated alumina, magchem (Magnesium oxide) and activa ted carbon to remove organic species like ethanol, methanol, and urea from wastewater in Water recovery/processing assembly. These beds are generally packed using a plate-spring mechanism to provide sufficien t compaction to the bed media throughout the course of operation. This paper presents results from an experimental study of a full-scale, 3 8.1 cm (15 inches) long and 3.7 cm (1.44 inches) diameter. activated alumina bed enclosed in a cylinder determining its force-displacement behavior, friction mobilizing force, and axial normal stress distribu tion under various axially applied loads and at different levels of packing. It is observed that force-displacement behavior is non-linear for low compaction level and becomes linear with increase in compaction of the bed media. Axial normal stress distribution along the length of the bed media decreased non-linearly with increase in depth from the loading end of the granular media. This paper also presents experimental results on the amount of particulates generated corresponding to various compaction levels. Particulates generated from each of the tests were measured using standard US sieves. It was found that the p articulates and the overall displacement of the bed media increased with decrease in initial compaction of the bed media. This effect could be attributed to the greater tendency for inter-particle sliding/rub bing due to smaller internal friction angles, as seen from the shear tests, at lesser initial compacted levels. Upon unloading, it was obse rved that there was no change in displacement (especially rebounding) in the bed media. This effect could be attributed to the fact that th e porous activated alumina particles fracture/break upon increase in applied load (during loading phase) and occupy void spaces in between the material grains; thereby leading to settling of the media. The lo ad-displacement curve becomes more linear with increase in initial compaction of the bed media. It is concluded that compaction considerabl y affects the load-displacement behavior of the bed media. A series of tests were also conducted on the packed bed media to determine the f orce required to mobilize the friction between the bed media and the housing cylinder. The results from these tests showed the existence of significant friction between the bed media and the encasing stainles s steel cylinder. Further, it was found that friction effects were more pronounced for media with higher initial compaction. Internal frict ion of the granular media was measured using direct shear apparatus. It was observed that the internal friction increased with increase in initial compaction of the bed media. In this study, a computational m odel (CM) is also developed using finite element software ANSYS to verify experimental results obtained for the distribution of the axial n ormal stress and axial displacement along the length of the full-scal e activated alumina bed media. In the computational model, the granular material is considered to have appropriate failure and frictional c ontact exists between the wall and the granular media. It is observed that the model predicts results closely with the experimental method. The compational results show that the axial normal stress distribution along the length of the activated alumina media decreases non-linea rly from the loading end and is negligible beyond a certain depth. Th is can be attributed to the existence of friction between the walls and the media and that the friction takes up most of the applied load.
Malla, Ramesh B.↗
Acquisition and Retaining Granular Samples via a Rotating Coring Bit
This device takes advantage of the centrifugal forces that are generated when a coring bit is rotated, and a granular sample is entered into the bit while it is spinning, making it adhere to the internal wall of the bit, where it compacts itself into the wall of the bit. The bit can be specially designed to increase the effectiveness of regolith capturing while turning and penetrating the subsurface. The bit teeth can be oriented such that they direct the regolith toward the bit axis during the rotation of the bit. The bit can be designed with an internal flute that directs the regolith upward inside the bit. The use of both the teeth and flute can be implemented in the same bit. The bit can also be designed with an internal spiral into which the various particles wedge. In another implementation, the bit can be designed to collect regolith primarily from a specific depth. For that implementation, the bit can be designed such that when turning one way, the teeth guide the regolith outward of the bit and when turning in the opposite direction, the teeth will guide the regolith inward into the bit internal section. This mechanism can be implemented with or without an internal flute. The device is based on the use of a spinning coring bit (hollow interior) as a means of retaining granular sample, and the acquisition is done by inserting the bit into the subsurface of a regolith, soil, or powder. To demonstrate the concept, a commercial drill and a coring bit were used. The bit was turned and inserted into the soil that was contained in a bucket. While spinning the bit (at speeds of 600 to 700 RPM), the drill was lifted and the soil was retained inside the bit. To prove this point, the drill was turned horizontally, and the acquired soil was still inside the bit. The basic theory behind the process of retaining unconsolidated mass that can be acquired by the centrifugal forces of the bit is determined by noting that in order to stay inside the interior of the bit, the frictional force must be greater than the weight of the sample. The bit can be designed with an internal sleeve to serve as a container for granular samples. This tube-shaped component can be extracted upon completion of the sampling, and the bottom can be capped by placing the bit onto a corklike component. Then, upon removal of the internal tube, the top section can be sealed. The novel features of this device are: center dot A mechanism of acquiring and retaining granular samples using a coring bit without a closed door. center dot An acquisition bit that has internal structure such as a waffle pattern for compartmentalizing or helical internal flute to propel the sample inside the bit and help in acquiring and retaining granular samples. center dot A bit with an internal spiral into which the various particles wedge. center dot A design that provides a method of testing frictional properties of the granular samples and potentially segregating particles based on size and density. A controlled acceleration or deceleration may be used to drop the least-frictional particles or to eventually shear the unconsolidated material near the bit center.
Bar-Cohen, Yoseph↗
Gas-Granular Simulation Framework for Spacecraft Landing Plume-Surface Interaction and Debris Transport Analysis
The Gas-Granular Flow Solver (GGFS) multi-phase flow computational framework has been developed to enable simulations of particle flows complex extra-terrestrial regolith materials. Particle flows of interest include the damage of unprepared landing sites from rocket plume impingement on Moon, Mars, and asteroids. The flow solver implements an Eulerian-Eulerian two-fluid model with fluid representation of the gas phase and granular phase to avoid the need to model billions of particle interactions. The granular phase is modeled as an Eulerian fluid with constituent physics closure models derived from first-principle Discrete Element Model (DEM) particle interaction simulations that capture the complex, non-linear granular particle interaction effects. Granular phase constituent models have been developed and integrated that address the complex, non-linear granular material mechanics complexities resulting from both: the irregular, jagged particle shapes and poly-disperse mixture effects encountered in extra-terrestrial regolith, with lunar regolith as the extreme. The GGFS capabilities are being integrated into a proven NASA plume-surface interaction and debris transport simulation framework featuring the Loci/CHEM CFD program and Debris Transport Analysis (DTA) post-processing tools for applications in robotic and human Moon and Mars lander development. Integration of the three simulation tool components. Loci/CHEM, GGFS, and DTA, into a coordinated simulation framework will enable time-accurate spacecraft landing simulations that account for the alteration of the landing surface through plume-induced cratering and the resulting redirection of plume impingement flow and debris transport. Initial implementation of this simulation framework and application examples will be presented.
Liever, Peter A.↗
An adaptive, data-driven multiscale approach for dense granular flows
The accuracy of coarse-grained continuum models of dense granular flows is limited by the lack of high-fidelity closure models for granular rheology. One approach to addressing this issue, referred to as the hierarchical multiscale method, is to use a high-fidelity fine-grained model to compute the closure terms needed by the coarse-grained model. The difficulty with this approach is that the overall model can become computationally intractable due to the high computational cost of the high-fidelity model. In this work, we describe a multiscale modeling approach for dense granular flows that utilizes neural networks trained using high-fidelity discrete element method (DEM) simulations to approximate the constitutive granular rheology for a continuum incompressible flow model. Our approach leverages an ensemble of neural networks to estimate predictive uncertainty that allows us to determine whether the rheology at a given point is accurately represented by the neural network model. Additional DEM simulations are only performed when needed, minimizing the number of additional DEM simulations required when updating the rheology. This adaptive coupling significantly reduces the overall computational cost of the approach while controlling the error. In addition, the neural networks are customized to learn regularized rheological behavior to ensure well-posedness of the continuum solution. We first validate the approach using two-dimensional steady-state and decelerating inclined flows. We then demonstrate the efficiency of our approach by modeling three-dimensional sub-aerial granular column collapse for varying initial column aspect ratios, where our multiscale method compares well with the computationally expensive computational fluid dynamics (CFD)-DEM simulation.
Dense granular flows↗
SPH modeling of biomass granular flow: Theoretical implementation and experimental validation
The commercialization of biomass-derived energy is impeded by flowability challenges arising from the feeding and handling of granular biomass materials in full-scale biorefineries. To overcome these obstacles, a robust and accurate model to simulate the flow of granular biomass is indispensable. However, conventional mesh-based numerical codes are limited by inherent mesh distortion in simulating large deformation that commonly occurs in granular biomass handling. Here, in this study, we propose a graphics processing unit (GPU)-accelerated meshless Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) code to model the flow of granular biomass materials. A modified void ratio-based mass conversation, a hybrid particle-to-particle/surface frictional boundary treatment, and a hypoplastic constitutive model are implemented. Four numerical examples, an elastic block sliding on inclined planes, sand column collapse, Angle of Repose, and axial compression tests for pine chips, were simulated using the developed SPH code. The results demonstrate good agreement between numerical predictions and analytical and experimental data for all four examples, validating the SPH code and increasing confidence that it can be applied to simulate more complex granular biomass handling processes, such as hopper feeding or auger conveyance.
09 BIOMASS FUELS↗