A critical state μ(I)-rheology model for cohesive granular flows

The dynamic behaviour of granular media can be observed widely in nature and in many industrial processes. Yet, the modelling of such media remains challenging as they may act with solid-like and fluid-like properties depending on the rate of the flow and can display a varying apparent friction, cohesion and compressibility. Over the last two decades, the mu(I)-rheology has become well established for modelling granular liquids in a fluid mechanics framework where the apparent friction mu depends on the inertial number I. In the geo-mechanics community, modelling the deformation of granular solids typically relies on concepts from critical state soil mechanics. Along the lines of recent attempts to combine critical state and the mu(I)-rheology, we develop a continuum model based on modified cam-clay in an elastoplastic framework which recovers the mu(I)-rheology under flow. This model permits a treatment of plastic compressibility in systems with or without cohesion, where the cohesion is assumed to be the result of persistent inter-granular attractive forces. Implemented in a two- and three-dimensional material point method, it allows for the trivial treatment of the free surface. The proposed model approximately reproduces analytical solutions of steady-state cohesionless flow and is further compared with previous cohesive and cohesionless experiments. In particular, satisfactory agreements with several experiments of granular collapse are demonstrated, albeit with shear bands which can affect the smoothness of the surface. Finally, the model is able to qualitatively reproduce the multiple steady-state solutions of granular flow recently observed in experiments of flow over obstacles.