Constitutive relations for granular flows

颗粒流存在于自然界和工业中的一系列情况中。制药、食品和化工行业的许多过程都依赖于微粒，因为它们比许多液体产品更容易运输和储存，也更便宜。由于这种广泛的使用，人们非常有兴趣了解如何使这些颗粒系统以受控的方式流动，从而保持产品质量并将移动它们所用的能量降至最低。这些系统的模型通常基于类似于液体和气体的想法，但人们发现，尽管这些理论做了合理的工作，但它们遗漏了颗粒流的一些关键特性。在这个项目中，我们将确定和验证颗粒流的关键本构特性，并使我们能够首次分离出控制颗粒流行为的参数。

Particulate flows are found in a range of situations, both in nature and industry. Many processes in the pharmaceutical, foodstuff and chemical industries rely on particulates, since they are easier and cheaper to transport and store than many liquid based products. Due to this widespread use, there is alot of interest in understanding how to make these particlulate systems flow in a controlled fashion, so as to maintain product quality and minimise the energy used to move them. Models of these systems are generally based on ideas similar to those employed for liquids and gases, but it has been discovered that although these theories do a reasonable job, they are missing some key properties of particulate flows. In this project we will determine and validate the key constitutive properties of a granular flow, and enabling us to isolate the parameters that control particulate flow behavioiur for the first time.