Role of the ratio of tangential to normal stiffness coefficient on the behaviour of vibrofluidised particles

Abstract

The selection of parameters in the contact law for inter-particle interactions affects the results of simulations of flowing granular materials. The present study aims to understand the effect of the ratio of tangential to normal spring stiffness coefficient ($\kappa$) on inter-particle contact behaviour in terms of the rotational coefficient of restitution determined using data obtained from multi-particle simulations. The effect of $\kappa$ on the profiles of the micro- and macroscopic properties of particles in a vibrofluidised bed is also investigated. The Discrete Element Method (DEM) is used to simulate a vertically vibrated fluidised bed using the open-source software LAMMPS. The inter-particle and wall-particle contact forces are determined using the linear spring-dashpot (LSD) model. The distribution of the mean co-ordination number, force during the contact, contact regimes, and rotational coefficient of restitution are determined from the data obtained from simulations. It was shown that $\kappa$ plays a significant role in the distribution of inter-particle contacts between different regimes and, thereby, the velocity distribution and profiles of statistically averaged properties of the vibrofluidised particles. Our results show that for particles with surface friction coefficient $\mu>0.1$, the commonly used value $\kappa=\frac{2}{7}$ results in quantitatively different results from those obtained using $0.67 \le \kappa < 1$, a range consistent with the realistic values of Poisson ratios for simple materials.