From avalanches to fluid flow: A continuous picture of grain dynamics down a heap

Abstract

Surface flows are excited by steadily adding spherical glass beads to the top of a heap. To simultaneously characterize the fast single-grain dynamics and the much slower collective intermittency of the flow, we extend photon-correlation spectroscopy via fourth-order temporal correlations in the scattered light intensity. We find that microscopic grain dynamics during an avalanche are similar to those in the continuous flow just above the transition. We also find that there is a minimum jamming time, even arbitrarily close to the transition.