Velocity and Volume Fraction Measurements of Granular Flows in a Steep Flume

Laboratory experiments on granular flows remain essential tools for gaining insight into several aspects of granular dynamics that are inaccessible from field-scale investigations. Here, we report an experimental campaign on steady dry granular flows in a flume with inclination of 35°. Different flow rates are investigated by adjusting an inflow gate, while various kinematic boundary conditions are observed by varying the basal roughness. The flume is instrumented with high-speed cameras and a no-flicker LED lamp to get reliable particle image velocimetry measurements in terms of both time averages and second-order statistics (i.e., granular temperature). The same measuring instruments are also used to obtain concurrent estimations of the solid volume fraction at the sidewall by employing the stochastic-optical method (SOM). This innovative approach uses a measurable quantity, called two-dimensional volume fraction, which is correlated with the near-wall volume fraction and is obtainable from digital images under controlled illumination conditions. The knowledge of this quantity allows the indirect measurement of the near-wall volume fraction thanks to a stochastic transfer function previously obtained from numerical simulations of distributions of randomly dispersed spheres. The combined measurements of velocity and volume fraction allow a better understanding of the flow dynamics and reveal the superposition of different flow regimes along the flow depth, where frictional and collisional mechanisms exhibit varying relative magnitudes.