Related papers: Stress in frictionless granular material: Adaptive…
In quasi-two-dimensional experiments with photoelastic particles confined to an annular region, an intruder constrained to move in a circular path halfway between the annular walls experiences stick-slip dynamics. We discuss the response of…
We report experimental evidence of a Gardner-like transition from variable to persistent force contacts in a two-dimensional, bidisperse granular crystal by analyzing the variability of both particle positions and force networks formed…
The mechanical properties of a disordered heterogeneous medium depend, in general, on a complex interplay between multiple length scales. Connecting local interactions to macroscopic observables, such as stiffness or fracture, is thus…
This study examines the flow of dense granular materials under external shear stress and pressure using discrete element method simulations. In this method, the material is allowed to strain along all periodic directions and adapt its solid…
The stress response of polymer double networks depends not only on the properties of the constituent networks, but also on the interactions arising between them. Here we demonstrate, via coarse-grained simulations, that both their global…
We investigate the mechanical properties of inclined frictional granular layers prepared with different protocols by means of DEM numerical simulations. We perform an orthotropic elastic analysis of the stress response to a localized…
By means of contact dynamic simulations, we investigate the contact network topology and force chains in two-dimensional packings of elongated particles modeled by rounded-cap rectangles. The morphology of large packings of elongated…
A general approach is presented for understanding the stress response function in anisotropic granular layers in two dimensions. The formalism accommodates both classical anisotropic elasticity theory and linear theories of anisotropic…
Entangled granular systems exhibit mechanical rigidity and resistance to deformation, reminiscent of cohesive materials, due to their reduced degrees of freedom and contact friction. A quantitative understanding of how classical granular…
We study the response of granular materials to external stress using experiment, simulation, and theory. We derive an entropic, Ginzburg-Landau functional that enforces mechanical stability and positivity of contact forces. In this…
A new solution for a general half-plane contact in the steady state is presented. The contacting bodies are subject to a set of constant loads - normal force, shear force and bulk tension parallel with the interface - together with an…
This study addresses the modelling of elastic bodies, particularly when the relaxed configuration is unknown or non-existent. We adopt the theory of initially stressed materials, incorporating the deformation gradient and stress state of…
We investigate the evolution of multi-scale mechanical properties towards the macroscopic mechanical instability in frictional granular media under multiaxial compressive loading. Spatial correlations of shear stress redistribution…
We perform molecular dynamics simulations to characterize the occurrence of inhomogeneous shear flows in soft jammed materials. We use rough walls to impose a simple shear flow and study the athermal motion of jammed assemblies of soft…
Physical experiments can characterize the elastic response of granular materials in terms of macroscopic state-variables, namely volume (packing) fraction and stress, while the microstructure is not accessible and thus neglected. Here, by…
Discrete element (DEM) simulations demonstrate that granular materials are non-simple, meaning that the incremental stiffness of a granular assembly depends on the gradients of the strain increment as well as on the strain increment itself.…
Soft composite solids, comprising discrete inclusions embedded within a compliant matrix, are emerging candidates for engineering synthetic tissues and soft robotic materials. Current strategies for controlling their nonlinear mechanics,…
The mechanical properties of a polymeric network containing both crosslinks and sliplinks (entanglements) are studied using a multi-chain Brownian dynamics simulation. We coarse-grain at the level of chain segments connecting consecutive…
Progress is reported on several questions that bedevil understanding of granular systems: (i) are the stress equations elliptic, parabolic or hyperbolic? (ii) how can the often-observed force chains be predicted from a first-principles…
We present a new approach to the modelling of stress propagation in static granular media, focussing on the conical sandpile constructed from a point source. We view the medium as consisting of cohesionless hard particles held up by static…