Intrinsic creep of a granular column subjected to temperature changes

Minute external perturbations, such as temperature variations, can lead to a creep of the fragile structures that are the granular piles. We report a study, resolved in space and time, of the dynamics associated with the slow compaction of a granular column submitted to thermal cycles. Avoiding the thermal dilations of the container, we observe that the material still creeps, even in the absence of external mechanical perturbations. The latter intrinsic creep of the material exhibits several surprising features: the compaction of the material is not homogeneous along the column height, and sudden collapses involve the entire system even if one could expect arches to screen the mechanical interaction between regions far apart from one another. In addition, the analysis of the dependence of the flow rate on the frequency of the temperature cycles suggests that the creep is mainly induced by the propagation of the temperature profile, slow temperature changes being less efficient than rapid ones in making the material flow.