FULLY-DEVELOPED FLOW OF GRANULAR-MATERIALS DOWN A HEATED INCLINED PLANE

The mechanics of flowing granular materials such as coal, sand, metal ores, etc., and their now characteristics have received considerable a ttention in recent years as it has relevance to several important tech nological problems. In a number of instances, these materials are also heated prior to processing, or cooled after processing. The governing equations for the now of granular materials, taking into account the heat transfer mechanism by conduction, are derived using a continuum m odel (cf. Goodman and Cowin [1], [2], Rajagopal and Massoudi [3]). For a fully developed flow of these materials down an inclined plane, the equations reduce to a system of coupled non-linear ordinary different ial equations. The resulting boundary value problem is solved numerica lly and the results are presented for cases where the viscosity and th ermal conductivity are assumed to be functions of the volume fraction. It is shown that the equations admit multiple solutions for certain v alues of the parameters.