Microdynamic analysis of effect of gravity on granular rheology in a shear cell

Particle flows in an annular shear cell are investigated under stress-controlled conditions with and without the influence of gravity. The well-acknowledged discrete element method (DEM) is applied to perform the numerical study in order to achieve data for microdynamic analysis. This study focuses on understanding the influence of gravity on some key properties of the flows such as particle velocity, angular velocity, inter-particle force and moment. The results indicate that there is a clear difference in flow characteristics between consideration of presence of gravity and absence of gravity at low externally applied load by shear cell platen on particle assembly. This difference is overcome when the applied load on particle assembly is increased to a sufficient magnitude. This study is expected to produce valuable results contributing to the research field for the future.