Dilatancy in Slow Granular Flows

When walking on wet sand, each footstep leaves behind a temporarily dry impression. This counterintuitive observation is the most common illustration of the Reynolds principle of dilatancy: that is, a granular packing tends to expand as it is deformed, therefore increasing the amount of porous space. Although widely called upon in areas such as soil mechanics and geotechnics, a deeper understanding of this principle is constrained by the lack of analytical tools to study this behavior. Using x-ray radiography, we track a broad variety of granular flow profiles and quantify their intrinsic dilatancy behavior. These measurements frame Reynolds dilatancy as a kinematic process. Closer inspection demonstrates, however, the practical importance of flow induced compaction which competes with dilatancy, leading more complex flow properties than expected.