Unphysical coefficients of sliding friction in numerical simulations of granular materials

Unphysical coefficients of sliding friction in numerical simulations of granular materials | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Short Report Unphysical coefficients of sliding friction in numerical simulations of granular materials James Jenkins, Michele Larcher This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9215988/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract We focus on a simple model of elastic-frictional collisional contact employed in many numerical simulations of granular flows and highlight the role played by the tangential coefficient of restitution in determining an effective coefficient of normal restitution. We show that the unrealistically high value of the coefficient of sliding friction often employed in numerical simulations, typically without a physical explanation, together with complete tangential restitution, is energetically equivalent to a lower and more realistic value of sliding friction and a more realistic lower tangential restitution Granular flow Discrete numerical simulations Inelastic-frictional collisions Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9215988","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Short Report","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":617845616,"identity":"91cb8222-a513-4081-ac51-311084cc9be2","order_by":0,"name":"James Jenkins","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAvElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACxgaGxAcfwEzmxgNAgggtbQzJhjOguonTwsDGwCbNQ5IW5vkND6RtamzyzdkbgVoqrBMbiHBYgnHOsTTLnT0HgVrOpBOnJTm34bCBwY3EhgOMbYeJ03LYEqTl/kOgln/EaUlsZgTbAvQ+kEGMloRkxp5jaQYGZ4AOSziWbkxQi2HzmfQfP2psDAyOHz744EONtSxhLQ08CQheAi5lyECegf0AMepGwSgYBaNgJAMAXHVFBUx24tcAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"Cornell University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"James","middleName":"","lastName":"Jenkins","suffix":""},{"id":617845617,"identity":"d4656033-0136-488a-99c7-0c37d275844c","order_by":1,"name":"Michele Larcher","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Free University of Bozen-Bolzano","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Michele","middleName":"","lastName":"Larcher","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-24 20:53:42","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9215988/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9215988/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":106503355,"identity":"9a9e54a3-4958-4365-9b34-7ee5842fef1f","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-09 09:29:37","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":246176,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"JenLar.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9215988/v1_covered_a1512ae2-02ae-4e53-b46f-4ebb3628aa91.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Unphysical coefficients of sliding friction in numerical simulations of granular materials","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Granular flow, Discrete numerical simulations, Inelastic-frictional collisions","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9215988/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9215988/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"We focus on a simple model of elastic-frictional collisional contact employed in many numerical simulations of granular flows and highlight the role played by the tangential coefficient of restitution in determining an effective coefficient of normal restitution. We show that the unrealistically high value of the coefficient of sliding friction often employed in numerical simulations, typically without a physical explanation, together with complete tangential restitution, is energetically equivalent to a lower and more realistic value of sliding friction and a more realistic lower tangential restitution","manuscriptTitle":"Unphysical coefficients of sliding friction in numerical simulations of granular materials","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-04-09 09:28:08","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9215988/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"49f59381-953c-4968-a8e3-9e30080c6318","owner":[],"postedDate":"April 9th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-05-15T08:53:34+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-04-09 09:28:08","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-9215988","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-9215988","identity":"rs-9215988","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}