Neiladri Sekhar Ray

Research Information:

Granular materials are the second most widely handled materials in the industry in the form of powders, grains, packings etc. Examples include transport and mixing of powders, storage of cement, sands etc. This calls for a comprehensive understanding of their rheology. For the past three decades, the body of scientific literature encompassing granular materials has evolved considerably. However, there still remains quite a few unanswered questions.

Granular heaps are one of the several prototype systems for studying rheology of granular flows. Experiments on granular heaps can only reveal information about the events occurring on the surface of the heap. Hence, one needs to resolve to DEM simulations to extract knowledge about what happens deep inside the heap. My PhD thesis revolves around exploring the rheology of flow of granular materials on top of three dimensional heaps, through a synergistic combination of experiments and DEM simulations.