Numerical rheometry of bulk materials using a power law fluid and the lattice Boltzmann method

In the present study, the flow of bulk materials is characterised as a non-Newtonian fluid and modelled using the lattice Boltzmann method. A power law and a Bingham model is implemented in the LBM, which is hydrodynamically coupled to the discrete element method (DEM) for structural interaction. The performance of both non-Newtonian models is assessed, both qualitatively and quantitatively, in benchmark problems. The validated, non-Newtonian LBM–DEM framework is then applied to the geometry of a cylindrical Couette rheometer to numerically determine the constitutive response of a sample of Leighton Buzzard sand. The numerical results, which employ the power law, are compared with experimental data, and a number of other synthetic soil samples are defined using the presented process of numerical rheometry. Finally, the numerical stress–strain rate response of the synthetic soil samples is interpreted within the context of a regularised Bingham model, and the similarities discussed.

► Science has not yet provided a unified constitutive description of bulk materials.
► We present a model of bulk materials as a shear-thinning, non-Newtonian fluid.
► An LBM-DEM model is used to describe a numerical cylindrical Couette rheometer.
► Bulk material parameters are defined using the rheometer and experimental data.
► The numerical rheometry results are contrasted with Bingham model characteristics.