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Wormhole formation in fluid-driven granular flow

Miles Morgan, David W. James, Martin Monloubou, Bjornar Sandnes Orcid Logo

Communications Physics, Volume: 8, Start page: 468

Swansea University Authors: Miles Morgan, Bjornar Sandnes Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1038/s42005-025-02366-w

Abstract

Fluid-driven flow of granular material leads to complex behaviour and emergent instabilities in many natural and industrial settings. However, the effect of using fluid flow to vertically drive a dense bed of sedimenting grains is not well documented. Here we find contrasting behaviours in a submerg...

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Published in: Communications Physics
ISSN: 2399-3650
Published: Springer Nature 2025
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa70646
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spelling 2025-12-12T13:40:24.7326549 v2 70646 2025-10-13 Wormhole formation in fluid-driven granular flow 74c1257d35ba8de6402ca451aab305a1 Miles Morgan Miles Morgan true false 61c7c04b5c804d9402caf4881e85234b 0000-0002-4854-5857 Bjornar Sandnes Bjornar Sandnes true false 2025-10-13 EAAS Fluid-driven flow of granular material leads to complex behaviour and emergent instabilities in many natural and industrial settings. However, the effect of using fluid flow to vertically drive a dense bed of sedimenting grains is not well documented. Here we find contrasting behaviours in a submerged fluid-driven silo, including fingering patterns, porous flow, classical silo flow, and the formation of straight, semi-dilute wormhole-like channels. Once formed, these channels rapidly propagate towards the outlet and act as a bypass of the wider packing. The onset of this instability occurs when the gravity-driven grain flow at the free surface is insufficient to supply the fluid-assisted central region below the interface. Balancing empirical models of these flows predicts the height at which channels emerge as a function of grain size and flow rate. These findings provide a framework for predicting and controlling fluid-grain interactions in natural hazards, industrial processing, and geophysical flows. Journal Article Communications Physics 8 468 Springer Nature 2399-3650 24 11 2025 2025-11-24 10.1038/s42005-025-02366-w COLLEGE NANME Engineering and Applied Sciences School COLLEGE CODE EAAS Swansea University External research funder(s) paid the OA fee (includes OA grants disbursed by the Library) This work was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council EPSRC grants EP/X028771/1 and EP/S034587/1. 2025-12-12T13:40:24.7326549 2025-10-13T11:34:34.5625887 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Chemical Engineering Miles Morgan 1 David W. James 2 Martin Monloubou 3 Bjornar Sandnes 0000-0002-4854-5857 4 70646__35814__c8a7d636cb374052b5056ec8edafaad3.pdf 70646.VOR.pdf 2025-12-12T13:36:11.6713418 Output 6131094 application/pdf Version of Record true © The Author(s) 2025. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title Wormhole formation in fluid-driven granular flow
spellingShingle Wormhole formation in fluid-driven granular flow
Miles Morgan
Bjornar Sandnes
title_short Wormhole formation in fluid-driven granular flow
title_full Wormhole formation in fluid-driven granular flow
title_fullStr Wormhole formation in fluid-driven granular flow
title_full_unstemmed Wormhole formation in fluid-driven granular flow
title_sort Wormhole formation in fluid-driven granular flow
author_id_str_mv 74c1257d35ba8de6402ca451aab305a1
61c7c04b5c804d9402caf4881e85234b
author_id_fullname_str_mv 74c1257d35ba8de6402ca451aab305a1_***_Miles Morgan
61c7c04b5c804d9402caf4881e85234b_***_Bjornar Sandnes
author Miles Morgan
Bjornar Sandnes
author2 Miles Morgan
David W. James
Martin Monloubou
Bjornar Sandnes
format Journal article
container_title Communications Physics
container_volume 8
container_start_page 468
publishDate 2025
institution Swansea University
issn 2399-3650
doi_str_mv 10.1038/s42005-025-02366-w
publisher Springer Nature
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Chemical Engineering{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Chemical Engineering
document_store_str 1
active_str 0
description Fluid-driven flow of granular material leads to complex behaviour and emergent instabilities in many natural and industrial settings. However, the effect of using fluid flow to vertically drive a dense bed of sedimenting grains is not well documented. Here we find contrasting behaviours in a submerged fluid-driven silo, including fingering patterns, porous flow, classical silo flow, and the formation of straight, semi-dilute wormhole-like channels. Once formed, these channels rapidly propagate towards the outlet and act as a bypass of the wider packing. The onset of this instability occurs when the gravity-driven grain flow at the free surface is insufficient to supply the fluid-assisted central region below the interface. Balancing empirical models of these flows predicts the height at which channels emerge as a function of grain size and flow rate. These findings provide a framework for predicting and controlling fluid-grain interactions in natural hazards, industrial processing, and geophysical flows.
published_date 2025-11-24T05:30:06Z
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score 11.089572

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