  Depth averaged conservation equations are written for granular surface flows.
Their application to the study of steady surface flows in a rotating drum
allows to find experimentally the constitutive relations needed to close these
equations from measurements of the velocity profile in the flowing layer at the
center of the drum and from the flowing layer thickness and the static/flowing
boundary profiles. The velocity varies linearly with depth, with a gradient
independent of both the flowing layer thickness and the static/flowing boundary
local slope. The first two closure relations relating the flow rate and the
momentum flux to the flowing layer thickness and the slope are then deduced.
Measurements of the profile of the flowing layer thickness and the
static/flowing boundary in the whole drum explicitly give the last relation
concerning the force acting on the flowing layer. Finally, these closure
relations are compared to existing continuous models of surface flows.
