https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/201714003041
A differential equation for the flow rate during silo discharge: Beyond the Beverloo rule
1 Dpto. Ingeniería Mecánica, Facultad Regional La Plata, Universidad Tecnológica Nacional, CONICET, Av. 60 Esq. 124, 1900 La Plata, Argentina
2 Laboratorio de Óptica y Fluidos, Universidad Simón Bolívar, Apartado Postal 89000, Caracas 1080-A, Venezuela
* e-mail: marcosamadrid@googlemail.com
** e-mail: jrdarias@usb.ve
*** e-mail: luis.pugnaloni@frlp.utn.edu.ar
Published online: 30 June 2017
We present a differential equation for the flow rate of granular materials during the discharge of a silo. This is based in the energy balance of the variable mass system in contrast with the traditional derivations based on heuristic postulates such as the free fall arch. We show that this new equation is consistent with the well known Beverloo rule, providing an independent estimate for the universal Beverloo prefactor. We also find an analytic expression for the pressure under discharging conditions.
© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2017
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
