Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 18, 2026

Image-based Lagrangian Particle Tracking in Bed-load Experiments
Published on: July 20, 2017
Flow rule, self-channelization, and levees in unconfined granular flows
S Deboeuf1, E Lajeunesse, O Dauchot
1Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, 4 place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France.
Abstract:
Unconfined granular flows along an inclined plane are investigated experimentally. During a long transient, the flow gets confined by quasistatic banks but still spreads laterally towards a well-defined asymptotic state following a nontrivial process. Far enough from the banks a scaling for the depth averaged velocity is obtained, which extends the one obtained for homogeneous steady flows. Close to jamming it exhibits a crossover towards a nonlocal rheology. We show that the levees, commonly observed along the sides of the deposit upon interruption of the flow, disappear for long flow durations. We demonstrate that the morphology of the deposit builds up during the flow, in the form of an underlying static layer, which can be deduced from surface velocity profiles, by imposing the same flow rule everywhere in the flow.
Related Concept Videos
Underflow Gates
Rapidly Varying Flow
Gradually Varying Flow
Uniform Depth Channel Flow
Energy Considerations in Open Channel Flow
Plane Potential Flows
Uniform Flow
Uniform flow...

