Chapter 6 – Granular Materials

Publisher Summary Granular systems consist of a large number of solid particles usually dispersed in a fluid. Granular materials are two-phase systems; however, in many cases, the interstitial fluid does not play a major role, and most existing theories apply to “dry” granular systems. This chapter analyzes compressible flow of granular materials only for dry systems. One of the approaches to the analysis of the flow of granular systems is based on continuum modeling—the assembly of particles is regarded as an equivalent continuum phase. Such a model is of necessity based on an evaluation of local average values in the equivalent continuum. The chapter focuses on the analysis of the flow of granular systems under conditions where the compressibility of the granular phase is of relevance. The analysis of large-scale statistical thermodynamics and compressible flow is also presented.