| dc.description.abstract | A series of sedimentation experiments and numerical simulations have been conducted
to understand the factors that control the final angle of a static sediment
layer formed by quasi-monodisperse particles settling in an inclined container. The
set of experiments includes several combinations of fluid viscosity, container angle,
and solids concentration. A comparison between the experiments and a set of twodimensional
numerical simulations shows that the physical mechanism responsible
for the energy dissipation in the system is the collision between the particles.
The results provide new insights into the mechanism that sets the morphology of
the sediment layer formed by the settling of quasi-monodisperse particles onto the
bottom of an inclined container. Tracking the interface between the suspension solids
and the clear fluid zone reveals that the final angle adopted by the sediment layer
shows strong dependencies on the initial particle concentration and the container
inclination, but not the fluid viscosity. It is concluded that (1) the hindrance function
plays an important role on the sediment bed angle, (2) the relation between the
friction effect and the slope may be explained as a quasi-linear function of the
projected velocity along the container bottom, and (3) prior to the end of settling
there is a significant interparticle interaction through the fluid affecting to the final
bed organization.We can express the sediment bed slope as a function of two dimensionless
numbers, a version of the inertial number and the particle concentration.
The present experiments confirm some previous results on the role of the interstitial
fluid on low Stokes number flows of particulate matter. | |
