This report addresses the properties of flow and jamming in a funnel or hopper. The first part of this project, to date, involves understanding flow properties using a quasi-2D hopper geometry, photoelastic techniques, and high speed video.
The second part of the project involves using theoretical approaches that, to some extent, borrow from recent work in the physics community on the so-called jamming transition.
The third aspect of this work, a direct application to an IFPRI industrial partner, is to better understand and interpret results using the Flowdex tester. This device is used to characterize flowability, and in particular to characterize that property for various powders of interest to P&G.
This work has benefited considerably from collaborative interactions with Dr. Paul Mort of P&G. IFPRI funds were used primarily for the support of Ph.D. student Junyao Tang, who is working fulltime on this project. In addition, an undergraduate Sepher Sagdiphour has carried out a significant number of measurements.