Using a cellular automaton for the simulation of flow of granular material
Abstract
A stochastic cellular automaton applied to the simulation of kinematics of granular media is presented. A triangular grid is used to process exchanges between solid particles and empty neighbouring holes, according to simple local probabilistic rules. Simulations of the gravity emptying of a plane silo show some global results such as flow rates consistent with observed physical experiments. However purely probabilistic local rules do not seem to describe with sufficient accuracy displacement or compacity fields.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Granular flow and fluidized beds
Cellular Automata and Applications
Evacuation and Crowd Dynamics
Publication details
- Journal / source
- CRC Press eBooks
- Pages
- 345–350
- Publication date
- 11 February 2026
- Language
- EN
- Document type
- Book chapter