A discrete Boltzmann equation model for two-phase shallow granular flows

In this paper a Discrete Boltzmann Equation model (hereinafter DBE) is proposed as solution method of the two-phase shallow granular flow equations, a complex nonlinear partial differential system, resulting from the depth-averaging procedure of mass and momentum equations of granular flows. The latter, as e.g. a debris flow, are flows of mixtures of solid particles dispersed in an ambient fluid.The reason to use a DBE, instead of a more conventional numerical model (e.g. based on Riemann solvers), is that the DBE is a set of linear advection equations, which replaces the original complex nonlinear partial differential system, while preserving the features of its solutions. The interphase drag function, an essential characteristic of any two-phase model, is accounted for easily in the DBE by adding a physically based term. In order to show the validity of the proposed approach, the following relevant benchmark tests have been considered: the 1D simple Riemann problem, the dam break problem with the wet-dry transition of the liquid phase, the dry bed generation and the perturbation of a state at rest in 2D. Results are satisfactory and show how the DBE is able to reproduce the dynamics of the two-phase shallow granular flow.