Onset of sediment transport is a continuous transition driven by fluid shear and granular creep

Nature Communications
Morgane HoussaisDouglas J Jerolmack

Abstract

Fluid-sheared granular transport sculpts landscapes and undermines infrastructure, yet predicting the onset of sediment transport remains notoriously unreliable. For almost a century, this onset has been treated as a discontinuous transition at which hydrodynamic forces overcome gravity-loaded grain-grain friction. Using a custom laminar-shear flume to image slow granular dynamics deep into the bed, here we find that the onset is instead a continuous transition from creeping to granular flow. This transition occurs inside the dense granular bed at a critical viscous number, similar to granular flows and colloidal suspensions and inconsistent with hydrodynamic frameworks. We propose a new phase diagram for sediment transport, where 'bed load' is a dense granular flow bounded by creep below and suspension above. Creep is characteristic of disordered solids and reminiscent of soil diffusion on hillslopes. Results provide new predictions for the onset and dynamics of sediment transport that challenge existing models.

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Citations

Apr 22, 2017·Soft Matter·Ishan Srivastava, Timothy S Fisher
Oct 11, 2017·Soft Matter·Juha KoivistoAntti Puisto
Nov 10, 2017·Nature Communications·Behrooz FerdowsiDouglas J Jerolmack
Jul 26, 2016·Physical Review Letters·Guillaume DumazerEirik Grude Flekkøy
Apr 15, 2016·Physical Review. E·Raphaël PorylesGermán Varas
Apr 20, 2018·Science Advances·Tímea Novák-SzabóDouglas J Jerolmack
Sep 20, 2019·Proceedings. Mathematical, Physical, and Engineering Sciences·Indraneel KasmalkarJenny Suckale
Sep 7, 2019·Physical Review Letters·Luigi La RagioneGregory P Bewley
Nov 14, 2015·Physical Review. E, Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics·Abram H ClarkCorey S O'Hern
Feb 13, 2016·Physical Review. E·Le YanMatthieu Wyart
Sep 5, 2015·Physical Review Letters·Yi FanRichard M Lueptow
Apr 2, 2018·The Review of Scientific Instruments·S M SaliliD J Durian
Apr 25, 2018·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Behrooz FerdowsiDouglas J Jerolmack
Jan 14, 2017·Physical Review. E·M HoussaisD J Jerolmack
Oct 30, 2016·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Pascale AussillousMatthieu Wyart
Jun 3, 2018·The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America·Jenna Hare, Alex E Hay
May 23, 2021·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Rachel C GladeJoel C Rowland
Dec 8, 2021·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Predrag PopovićEric Lajeunesse

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