Quantitative comparison of hydrodynamic and elastoplastic approaches for modeling granular flow in silo

Hydrodynamic and elastoplastic theories are two commonly used continuum approaches for modeling granular materials. Here, the elastoplastic approach is extended to incorporate the rheology of dense granular flow, which therefore allows a quantitative comparison with the hydrodynamic approach under the same setting of rheological laws, material parameters, and numerical method. The flow patterns yielded by two approaches are apparently similar and the discharge rates are close. Yet the elastoplastic approach creates a narrow dome-like flow zone in contrast to the wide cone-like flow zone generated by the hydrodynamic approach. The shear localization is also less prominent in elastoplastic modeling owing to the existence of elastic deformation. The stresses predicted by two approaches match well in flow zones but show significant differences in stagnant zones. The proposed elastoplastic approach incorporating flow rheology can be used generally in both solid and fluid states of granular materials. © 2019 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 65: e16533, 2019