Abstract
The flow of granular materials on inclined planes is of interest within the contexts of both industrial processing of powders and geophysical instabilities such as landslides and avalanches1,2. These flows have been found to be complex, exhibiting several different flow regimes3–7 as well as particle segregation effects8,9 and instabilities10. Here we describe an instability that occurs when a front of granular material propagates down a rough inclined plane. The front, which is initially uniform in cross-section, rapidly breaks up into fingers. Although this is similar in appearance to the instability seen in viscous fluids flowing down a plane11–17, in these latter cases the instability is driven by surface tension, whereas granular materials have no surface tension. We show that the fingering instability in this case is instead induced by the size segregation that develops during the flow.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Savage, S. B. & Hutter, K. The motion of a finite mass of granular materials down a rough incline. J. Fluid Mech. 199, 177–215 (1989).
Savage, S. B. & Hutter, K. Dynamics of avalanches of granular materials from initiation to runout. Part I: Analysis. Acta Mech. 86, 201–223 (1991).
Augenstein, D. A. & Hogg, R. An experimental study of the flow of dry powders over inclined surfaces. Powder Technol. 19, 205–215 (1978).
Savage, S. B. Gravity flow of cohesionless granular materials in chutes and channels. J Fluid Mech. 92, 53–96 (1979).
Drake, T. J. Structural features in granular flows. J. Geophys. Res. 95, 8681–8696 (1990).
Anderson, K. G. & Jackson, R. A comparison of the solutions of some proposed equations of motion of granular materials for fully developed flow down inclined planes. J. Fluid Mech. 92, 145–168 (1992).
Vallance, J. W. Experimental and field studies related to the behavior of granular mass flows and the characteristics of their deposits. Thesis, Michigan Technol. Univ. (1994).
Drahun, J. A. & Bridgwater, J. The mechanisms of free surface segregation. Powder Technol. 36, 39–53 (1983).
Savage, S. B. & Lun, C. K. K. Particle size segregation in inclined chute flow of dry cohesionless granular solids. J. Fluid Mech. 189, 311–335 (1988).
Davies, R. H. Debris-flow surges—Experimental simulation. J. Hydrol. (NZ) 29, 18–46 (1990).
Huppert, H. E. Flow and instability of a viscous current down a slope. Nature 300, 427–429 (1982).
Troian, S. M., Herbolzheimer, E., Safran, S. A. & Joanny, J. F. Fingering instabilities of driven spreading films. Europhys. Lett. 10, 25–30 (1989).
de Bruyn, J. R. Growth of fingers at a driven three-phase contact line. Phys. Rev. A 46, 4500–4503 (1992).
Brenner, M. P. Instability mechanism at driven contact lines. Phys. Rev. E 47, 4597–4599 (1993).
Spaid, M. A. & Homsy, G. M. Stability of Newtonian and viscoelastic dynamic contact lines. Phys. Fluids 8, 460–478 (1996).
Melo, F., Joanny, J. F. & Fauve, S. Fingering instability of spinning drops. Phys. Rev. Lett. 63, 1958–1961 (1989).
Fraysse, N. & Homsy, G. M. An experimental study of rivulet instabilities in centrifugal spin coating of viscous newtonian and non-newtonian fluids. Phys. Fluids 6, 1491–1504 (1994).
Savage, S. B. in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (eds Germain, P., Piau, M. & Callerie, D.) 241–266 (Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1989).
Zik, O., Levine, D., Lipson, S. G., Shtrikman, S. & Stavans, J. Rotationally induced segregation of granular materials. Phys. Rev. Lett. 73, 644–647 (1994).
Caponeri, M., Douady, S., Fauve, S. & Laroche, C. in Mobile Particulate Systems (eds Guazzelli, E. & Oger, L.) 619 (NATO ASI Sen E Vol. 11, Kluwer Academic, The Netherlands, 1995).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pouliquen, O., Delour, J. & Savage, S. Fingering in granular flows. Nature 386, 816–817 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/386816a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/386816a0
This article is cited by
-
Lateral edifice collapse and volcanic debris avalanches: a post-1980 Mount St. Helens perspective
Bulletin of Volcanology (2023)
-
Advances in our understanding of pyroclastic current behavior from the 1980 eruption sequence of Mount St. Helens volcano (Washington), USA
Bulletin of Volcanology (2023)
-
Characteristics of sand avalanche motion and deposition influenced by proportion of fine particles
Acta Geotechnica (2023)
-
Dynamic processes of the Dora Kamiyama rockslide in the Tibetan Plateau, China: geomorphic implication
Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment (2021)
-
Water-sand mixture inrush through weakly cemented overburden at a shallow depth in the Yili coal mining area
Arabian Journal of Geosciences (2021)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
