We investigate the collapse of granular rodpiles as a function of particle (length/diameter) and pile (height/radius) aspect ratio. We find that, for all particle aspect ratios below 24, there exists a critical height Hl below which the pile never collapses, maintaining its initial shape as a solid, and a second height Hu above which the pile always collapses. Intermediate heights between Hl and Hu collapse with a probability that increases linearly with increasing height. The linear increase in probability is independent of particle length, width, or aspect ratio. When piles collapse, the runoff scales as a piecewise power law with pile height, with rf ~H(1.2±0.1) for pile heights below H(c) ≈ 0.74 and r(f) ≈ H(0.6±0.1) for taller piles.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.82.011308 | DOI Listing |
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