(265d) The Effect of Particle Shape on Simple Shear Flows

Simple shear flows, (without gravity force and implemented using periodic boundary conditions or in Couette flow configurations with gravity) have been the subject of study using DEM simulation for more than two decades. Earlier studies explored the effect of attributes such as shear rate, particle size and domain scale on the distribution of the particles in the flow, velocity profiles and the stress distributions. These studies were conducted using simple shapes for the particles such as spheres. In recent years, the importance of particle shape on flow has been recognized in a range of industrial application including mixing, comminution, hopper discharge and chute flows. In this paper, we return to the simple shear flows and quantitatively explore the effect of particle shape on velocity and stress distributions. Shape is found to be particularly important in transitional flows (such as Couette flows with gravity) where some of the particle mass is flowing freely in a fluid like state and some of the material behaves as a solid and the critical prediction is that of the transition interface between ?phases?. Particle shape increases the yield strength of the solid making it stronger and harder to shear and the rotation of the non-spherical particles leads to higher dilation and lower solid fractions in the flowing fluid like regions.