Numerical study of jet-induced cratering of a granular bed: Effect of gravity

Abstract

Abstract. This paper presents a numerical study of jet-induced catering of a granular bed by the combined approach of computational fluid dynamics for gas phase and discrete element method for solid phase. The applicability of the model was verified by the good agreement between measured and predicted temporal crater depths and asymptotic crater profiles, and ishereusedto study the effect of gravity within a wide range. The results show that a decreased gravity can significantly slow down the crater growth and increase the asymptotic crater size.The previously formulated equations respectively for the asymptotic crater depths and widthsat different jet velocities are also valid for those under different gravities.