A continuum method for granular collapse with μ(I)-rheology-based dynamic earth pressure coefficient

Abstract In this paper, a continuum model with dynamic earth pressure coefficient is established to describe the granular slump process by introducing μ(I) rheology. This rheology is adopted to quantify the normal stresses in our proposed model rather than shear stresses in classical models. The constitutive laws of different depth-averaged continuum approaches including the hydrodynamic, Savage–Hutter and proposed models are comparatively investigated in terms of the rheological effects on the spread of a granular column. The simulation results indicate that the proposed dynamic model captures some significant features during granular slump on inclined planes with different inclination angles (for example, the runout distance, runout time, and final profile). The proposed model can also reproduce the inner static sided axisymmetric region observed in tests when the granular column's initial aspect ratio (ratio of height to radii) is small.