Coulomb–Mohr Granular Materials: Quasi-static Flows and the Highly Frictional Limit

One approach to modeling fully developed shear flow of frictional granular materials is to use a yield condition and a flow rule, in an analogous way to that commonly employed in the fields of metal plasticity and soil mechanics. Typically, the yield condition of choice for granular materials is the Coulomb–Mohr criterion, as this constraint is relatively simple to apply but at the same time is also known to predict stresses that are in good agreement with experimental observations. On the other hand, there is no strong agreement within the engineering and applied mechanics community as to which flow rule is most appropriate, and this subject is still very much open to debate. This paper provides a review of the governing equations used to describe the flow of granular materials subject to the Coulomb–Mohr yield condition, concentrating on the coaxial and double-shearing flow rules in both plane strain and axially symmetric geometries. Emphasis is given to highly frictional materials, which are defined as those granular materials that possess angles of internal friction whose trigonometric sine is close in value to unity. Furthermore, a discussion is provided on the practical problems of determining the stress and velocity distributions in a gravity flow hopper, as well as the stress fields beneath a standing stockpile and within a stable rat-hole.