Eur. Phys. J. E (2012) 35: 56
https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2012-12056-3

Regular Article

Experimental study of vertical stress profiles of a confined granular bed under static and dynamic conditions

¹ U.M.R. IATE - INRA - Montpellier SupAgro, 2 place Pierre Viala, Bât. 37, 34060, Montpellier cedex 1, France
² U.M.R. IATE - Université Montpellier 2, place Eugène Bataillon, cc. 05, 34095, Montpellier Cedex 5, France

^* e-mail: mandato@supagro.inra.fr

Received: 17 August 2011
Accepted: 7 June 2012
Published online: 10 July 2012

Abstract

In a wet agglomeration process inside a low shear mixer, the blade function is to induce i) homogenization of the liquid sprayed on the powder surface and ii) a stress field able to transfer the mechanical energy at the particle scale. In this work we study the mechanical state of a confined powder bed through the analysis of stress distributions (by force measurements) in a rectangular cell in two cases: for a classical model powder (i.e. glass beads) and a complex powder (i.e. wheat semolina). Two types of vertical stress profiles are obtained according to the type of measurements carried out in the powder bed, either locally (at different positions in the cell) or globally (at the entire base). The global vertical stress profile follows Janssen's model and the local vertical stress profile highlights a critical length, identified as the percolation threshold of the force network, and a shielding length near the bottom, which is similar to an influence length of the side walls. In the context of wet agglomeration, the results allow to consider the role of the characteristic lengths in the mixing bowl under vertical mechanical solicitation.