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This paper reviews the different existing Contact Dynamics schemes for the simulation of granular media, for which the discrete incremental problem is based on the resolution of convex problems. This type of discretization has the great advantage of allowing the use of standard convex optimization algorithms. In the case of frictional contacts, we consider schemes based on a convex relaxation of the constraint as well as a fixed point scheme. The model and the computations leading to the discrete problems are detailed in the case of convex, regular but not necessarily spherical particles. We prove, using basic tools of convex analysis, that the discrete optimization problem can be seen as a minimization problem of a global discrete energy for the system, in which the velocity to be considered is an average of the pre- and post-impact velocities. A numerical study on an academic test case is conducted, illustrating for the first time the convergence with order 1 in the time step of the different schemes. We also discuss the influence of the convex relaxation of the constraint on the behavior of the system. We show in particular that, although it induces numerical dilatation, it does not significantly modify the macrosopic behavior of a column collapse en 2d. The numerical tests are performed using the code SCoPI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate collective motions of points in 2D systems, orchestrated by Lloyd algorithm. The algorithm iteratively updates a system by minimising the total quantizer energy of the Voronoi landscape of the system. As a result of a tradeoff between energy minimisation and geometric frustration, we find that optimised systems exhibit a defective landscape along the process, where strands of 5- and 7-coordinated dislocations are embedded in the hexatic phase. In particular, dipole defects, each of which is the simplest possible pair of a pentagon and a heptagon, come into the picture of dynamical arrest, as the system freezes down to a disordered hyperuniform state. Moreover, we explore the packing fractions of 2D disk packings associated to the obtained hyperuniform systems by considering the maximum inscribed disks in their Voronoi cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A discrete element study of a reinforced granular embankment by rigid inclusions, submitted to cyclic loadings is presented. The discrete element method (based on molecular dynamics method) is used to understand the load transfer mechanisms into the granular layer (just above the inclusions) during cyclic loadings. The microscale study showed that the soil above the rigid inclusions retrieve the larger forces, illustrating on the role of the granular layer as a load transfer layer, while the settlement of both the granular layer and loading slab increase with loading. The efficiency of load transfer to piles and ability (capacity of the granular material to postpone the overloads to the piles) decreases with cycling, but keeping high values at the end of cycles. The transfer of forces in the granular layer is achieved by two mechanisms, interacting together (inverted pyramid above rigid inclusions and arching), confirming results found in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability to predict thermal-induced stresses in granular materials is of practical importance across a range of disciplines ranging from process engineering to geotechnical engineering. This study presents an analytical formula to predict thermal-induced stress increments in mono-disperse granular materials subject to an initial isotropic stress state. A complementary series of DEM simulations were carried out to explore the applicability of the proposed analytical formula. The comparative analysis showed that the proposed expression can accurately predict stress changes in packings where there are negligible particle displacements as a consequence of the thermal loading (e.g. regular packings and medium/dense random packings); however large errors were observed in loose samples with a random packing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Standard Penetration Test (SPT) is the most widely used method for dynamic testing of soils. The test is simple and robust but difficult to control and not fully standardized. As a result, experimental results typically show large variations and poor repeatability. To mitigate that correction factors such as energy normalization and rod length have been introduced in SPT practice. This study provides an examination of the two correction factors using models based on the discrete element method (DEM). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Particle Size Distribution (PSD) is one of the prime guiding factors of granular media response. Degradation via weathering is a process, which brings about a gradual shift in the PSD. In nature, chemically sensitive material like calcite undergoes chemo-mechanical degradation bringing about variations in their behaviour. In the present study, an experimental investigation is carried out to get insight into the mechanical response during the coupled chemo-mechanical process. The experiments were carried out at two different rates of dissolutions in a custom made 1D compression mould. From the experiments, it is clear that the higher rate of dissolution reduces the lateral earth pressure more than the lower rate. Discrete Element Method (DEM) analyses the micromechanical process behind the observed response from experiments. The results showed a reduction in lateral stress as soon as the dissolution starts. DEM analysis confirms the competing mechanism between grain size reduction and grain rearrangement as the guiding element for the granular media response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The frictional behaviour of a series of numerical 2D granular mass flows down a model topography is analysed. Effective friction coefficients estimated from final deposits are compared with data from documented natural geophysical flows, and show a consistent behaviour as far as run-out distances are concerned. The latter is used to estimate effective friction coefficients which capture well the frictional behaviour derived from the computation of micro-mechanical stress tensors near the gravity centre. Distinguishing between the different parts of the mass while spreading, we show that the downstream part of the flow exhibits a much larger friction than the core and the tail. A dependence between friction and flow volume is however observed in each region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through numerical simulations, we investigate impact generated seismic wave transmission in granular media under extremely low pressure. This mimics the conditions in the interior of asteroids and other small planetary bodies. We find a dependency not only on the overburden pressure on the medium, but also on the velocity of the impact that generates the wave. This is, at extremely low values of overburden pressure, the wave speed depends no only on the imposed pressure, but also on the increment in pressure created by the passing of the wave. We study crystalline and random packings and find very similar behaviour though with different wave speeds as expected. We then relate our results to different mission-related events on asteroids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use three-dimensional particle dynamics simulations to investigate the microstructure evolution of granular material subjected to isochoric cyclic shearing, driving the system to a liquefaction state. The cyclically sheared assembly presents a realistic macroscopic response as observed in physical experiments. By analyzing the contact network evolution in the post-liquefaction period, we show that the onset of liquefaction state is characterized by a sudden drop of coordination number and a fragile particle connectivity network. The simulation suggests a critical coordination number for exiting the liquefaction state. Evolution of fabric anisotropy combined with coordination number implies the isotropic and anisotropic gain or loss of contacts at certain durations of a post-liquefaction loading cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wet granulation processes can be driven from low to high water content. In this study, we consider the model situation of the growth of a single wet aggregate rolling in a dry granular flow inside a rotating drum. We measure the time evolution of its diameter for different grains and liquids, as well as various rotation rates of the drum. Using X-ray tomography, we are able to characterize the internal structure of the granular aggregate at different times during the process. We show that the growth rate of the aggregate can be related to the transport of the liquid inside the granule and the capture of grains. We propose a model to rationalize the maximum size of the aggregate and its growth rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We numerically study the effect of inter-particle friction coefficient on the response to cyclical pure shear of spherical particles in three dimensions. We focus on the rotations and translations of grains and look at the spatial distribution of these displacements as well as their probability distribution functions. We find that with increasing friction, the shear band becomes thinner and more pronounced. At low friction, the amplitude of particle rotations is homogeneously distributed in the system and is therefore mostly independent from both the affine and non-affine particle translations. In contrast, at high friction, the rotations are strongly localized in the shear zone. This work shows the importance of studying the effects of inter-particle friction on the response of granular materials to cyclic forcing, both for a better understanding of how rotations correlate to translations in sheared granular systems, and due to the relevance of cyclic forcing for most real-world applications in planetary science and industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the evolution of shear bands in granular media subjected to very large deformations using the orthogonal cutting geometry. We perform our cutting experiments on Cauvery Delta sand with d50 of 0.45mm. We also capture images of the cutting process which allows us to perform a PIV analysis to determine the deformation in material around the cutting tool. In our experiments we observe that the dynamic angle of repose of the pile that forms in-front of the tool as cutting progresses, approaches the critical state friction angle of the material. We observe a flow bifurcation around the tool as the material begins to slip along planes which are oriented at an angle of π/4 – θ/2, θ being the dynamic angle of repose, to the cutting direction. This leads to formation of shear bands/velocity jumps which contain around 14 particles. A measurement of dilation angle within the shear bands indicate that material is in a critical state of deformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tsunami-like waves can arise from large-scale geological events such as the collapse of a mountain flank or a volcano into a lake or an ocean. We here mimic this situation at the laboratory scale. The landslide is modeled by the sudden release of a rectangular granular column, which impacts a still water layer and generates a wave. Through experiments varying both the column dimensions and the initial water depth, three regimes of nonlinear waves of different shapes are reported. The amplitude and width of the generated waves are governed by a local Froude number based on the velocity of the granular front at the water surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In partially wet granular beds, liquid migrates between particles due to collisions and contacts. This, in turn, influences the flow behaviour of the granular bed. We investigate liquid redistribution in moving monodisperse particles in a rotating drum using Discrete Element Method (DEM) simulations. For weak capillary forces, liquid re-distribution, induced by the continuous flow of particles, leads to concentration of the liquid in the core of the bed, where the flow is quasi-static. High capillary forces reduce the surface flow speed and granular temperature. This decreases liquid bridges rupturing in the flowing layer, allowing the liquid to remain in the outer region of the bed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the results of both experimental and numerical investigations of the silo discharge for a cohesive granular material. In our study, thanks to a cohesion-controlled granular material (CCGM) we propose to investigate the effect of the cohesive length lc, on the discharge of a silo for two different configurations, one axisymmetrical, and one quasi-2D rectangular silo. In both configurations, an adjustable bottom is used to control the size of the orifice. As observed for cohesionless granular material by previous studies, the mass flow rate and the density through an orifice are mostly controlled by the diameter of the orifice D. The experimental results of the quasi-2D silo are compared with continuum numerical simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present work, the relaxation of several wood powders has been investigated in an annular shear cell. It is found that the slow logarithmic relaxation commonly observed for various materials including granular materials is interrupted by large events. Their frequency and amplitude are investigated with respect to particle size and stress-history by measuring stresses and strain. These large events during the relaxation appear to be controlled by the deformation. The coarser the particles are, the bigger is the deformation of the powder bed between two fast relaxation events and during the event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The erosion of a cohesive soil by an impinging turbulent jet is observed, for instance, during the landing of a spacecraft or involved in the so-called jet erosion test. To provide a quantitative understanding of this situation for cohesive soils, we perform experiments using a model cohesion controlled granular material that allows us to finely tune the cohesion between particles while keeping the other properties constant. We investigate the response of this cohesive granular bed when subjected to an impinging normal turbulent jet. We characterize experimentally the effects of the cohesion on the erosion threshold and the development of the crater. We demonstrate that the results can be rationalized by introducing a cohesive Shields number that accounts for the inter-particles cohesion force. The results of our experiments highlight the crucial role of cohesion in erosion processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mechanical properties of wet granular materials are different to those of dry granular matter. If the wet granular medium is not completely saturated, the capillary bridges form and the surface tension changes the elastic properties of the medium. We studied the sliding friction of a sledge over wet granular media and found that surface tension and viscosity have crucial effect on the dynamic friction coefficient of the wet granular media. Higher the viscosity of the interstitial liquid results in higher dynamic friction coefficient. Furthermore, viscous interstitial liquid shows time dependency behaviour. Viscosity makes the friction coefficient to increase since causes more the energy loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate both experimentally and theoretically the apparent mass of a ferromagnetic granular assembly filling a cylindrical container and submitted to a magnetic field B, aligned vertically along the silo. We show that the mass of the ferromagnetic granular column depends strongly on the applied magnetic field. Notably, our measurements deviate strongly from the exponential saturation of the measured mass as a function of the true mass of the grain packing, as predicted by Janssen [H.A. Janssen, Vereins Eutscher Ingenieure Zeitschrift, 1045 (1895)]. In particular, the measured mass of tall columns decreases systematically as the amplitude of the magnetic field increases. We rationalize our experimental findings by considering the induced magnetic dipole-dipole interactions within the whole packing. We show the emergence of a global magnetic radial force along the walls of the silos, fully determined by the external magnetic field. The resulting tunable frictional interactions allows a full control of the effective mass of the ferromagnetic granular column. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soft granular materials are assemblies of highly deformable grains interacting via surface forces. The large grain deformations of these materials differ them from hard granular systems, in which, their behaviors are essentially governed by grain rearrangements. In this paper, we study the uniaxial compression of soft granular materials using a numerical approach based on the Material Point Method allowing for large grain deformations, coupled with the Contact Dynamics method for the treatment of unilateral frictional contacts between grains. Considering the neo-Hookean and elasto-plastic grains, the compaction of 2D soft granular packings is analyzed. We focus essentially on the evolution of the packing vertical stress as a function of the packing fraction and the predictive models are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Passages of people or cattle through narrow entrances or exits occur in manifold situations. They are difficult to study experimentally, because one has to carefully separate objective, physical parameters from subjective, individual motivations, manners and temperament. Mechanically excited physical model systems can help to discriminate some of these classes of parameters. We characterize active and passive particles of equal shape and mass on a vibrating plate and study their bottleneck passage dynamics. They show fundamentally different scaling behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flowing grains can clog an orifice by developing arches, an undesirable event in many cases. Several strategies have been put forward to avoid this. One of them is to vibrate the system in order to undo the clogging. Nevertheless, the time taken to break an arch under a constant vibration has a distribution displaying a heavy tail. This can lead to a situation where the average breaking time is not well defined. Moreover, it has been observed in some experiments that these tails tend to flatten for very long times, exacerbating the problem. Here we will review two conceptual frameworks that have been proposed to understand the phenomenon and discuss their physical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper experimentally analyzes the collapse of conical granular columns made out of non-cohesive granular materials. Dimensionless run-out lengths were found, as a function of the aspect ratio a, similar to those occurring in the collapse of cylindrical columns, although in the case of conical columns of high aspect ration, at the end of the collapse, a layer of grains that rotates around the cone axis appears and it affects the final profiles of the mounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use bi-dimensional non-smooth contact dynamics simulations to analyze the isotropic compaction of mixtures composed of rigid and deformable incompressible particles. Deformable particles are modeled using the finite-element method and following a hyper-elastic neo-Hookean constitutive law. The evolution of the packing fraction, bulk modulus and particle connectivity, beyond the jamming point, are characterized as a function of the applied stresses for different proportion of rigid/soft particles and two values of friction coefficient. Based on the granular stress tensor, a micro-mechanical expression for the evolution of the packing fraction and the bulk modulus are proposed. This expression is based on the evolution of the particle connectivity together with the bulk behaviour of a single representative deformable particle. A constitutive compaction equation is then introduced, set by well-defined physical quantities, given a direct prediction of the maximum packing fraction φmax as a function of the proportion of rigid/soft particles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The experiments involving a slider moving on top of granular media consisting of photoelastic particles in two dimensions have uncovered elaborate dynamics that may vary from continuous motion to crackling, periodic motion, and stick-slip type of behavior. We establish that there is a clear correlation between the slider dynamics and the response of the force network that spontaneously develop in the granular system. This correlation is established by application of the persistence homology that allows for formulation of objective measures for quantification of time-dependent force networks. We find that correlation between the slider dynamics and the force network properties is particularly strong in the dynamical regime characterized by well-defined stick-slip type of dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we explore the influence of the grain size distribution (GSD) on density, connectivity and internal forces distributions, for both 2D and 3D granular packings built mechanically. For power law GSDs, we show that there is an exponent for which density and connectivity are optimized, and this exponent is close to those that characterize other well known GSDs such as the Fuller and Thompson distribution and the Appollonian packing. In addition, we studied the distributions of normal forces, finding that these can be well described by a power-law tail, specially for the GSDs with large size span. These results highlight the role of the GSD on internal structure and suggest important consequences on macroscopic properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When a mechanical wave travels through a medium, its intensity diminishes with distance. The research focuses on the energy transfer with distance as well as across different wavenumbers, as the mechanical wave propagates. The diffusive characteristic of energy propagation has been discussed for one-dimensional chains composed of random, pre-stressed soft and stiff particles interacting through Hertzian repulsive forces, which can be solved analytically after linearization. The effect of soft-stiff ratio (disorder in property) on energy transfer across wavenumbers is examined using a standing sinusoidal wave initial condition (with a specific wavenumber). From the total energy signals in wavenumber space, as function of time, it is observed that stronger disorder leads to more rapid loss of energy of the signal and faster transfer of energy to other wavenumbers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mixing granular particles of di erent sizes is a common way of increasing the packing fraction. Recently, a model predicting the packing fraction, taking into account the inhomogeneity of the mixed small and large particles, has been proposed by S. Pillitteri et al. Under certain conditions, this model can be simpli ed and analytical solutions can be found. We present here these solutions, compared to experimental data, and the physical interpretation they can bring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Particulate matter offers a broad spectrum of phenomena, well known in the granular matter community. This fact is not only related to the individual or collective behaviour that grains can present depending on the external boundary conditions and/or internal interactions but, to the wide range of particle sizes. This feature confers the possibility of studying a particular phenomenon in different size scales. The main goal of this paper is to describe the detachment of particles from surfaces, where particles go from tens of microns to several millimetres, in a variety of scenarios. All the studied systems presented here have in common the need to determine the critical conditions to lose the equilibrium balance, initiating incipient motion. Solving the right time moment for particle resuspension, consideration of the local interactions between particle, surface and external applied forces can be achieved from different modelling approaches, from deterministic dynamics to statistical mechanics. This paper focuses on some of these approaches performed recently on grains through different size scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarizes recent joint work towards a constitutive modelling framework for dense granular suspensions. The aim is to create a time-dependent, tensorial theory that can implement the physics described in steady state by the Wyart-Cates model. This model of shear thickening suspensions supposes that lubrication films break above a characteristic normal force so that frictional contact forces come into play: the resulting non-sliding constraints can be enough to rigidify a system that would flow freely at lower stresses [1]. Implementing this idea for time-dependent flows requires the introduction of new concepts including a configuration-dependent 'jamming coordinate', alongside a decomposition of the velocity gradient tensor into compressive and extensional components which then enter the evolution equation for particle contacts in distinct ways. The resulting approach [2, 3] is qualitatively successful in addressing (i) the collapse of stress during flow reversal in shear flow, and (ii) the ability of transverse oscillatory flows to unjam the system. However there is much work required to refine this approach towards quantitative accuracy, by incorporating more of the physics of contact evolution under flow as determined by close interrogation of particle-based simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cohesive granular media have broad applications in industries. However, our understanding of their flow behavior is still limited compared to dry granular media, although rich knowledge about their static and plastic properties has been gained. In this paper, we provide some insights into the flow behavior of cohesive granular media from our recent numerical studies using an inclined plane and a plane shear cell. We evidence that the cohesive nature of flows is significantly affected by material properties of the particles like stiffness and inelasticity in addition to the inter-particle adhesion and introduce the concept of "effective" adhesion, which incorporates the effects of these three variables. We propose constitutive relations involving dimensionless inertial number and "effective" cohesion number, based on the "effective" adhesion to describe the rheology. We also show that increasing adhesion increases the hysteresis in granular media, evidencing the existence of a prominent shear weakening branch in the friction coefficient versus inertial number rheological curve. Moreover, we reveal that this increasing hysteresis gives rise to the increasing occurrence of shear banding instability, pointing to the increasing possibility of jamming in cohesive granular media. Finally, we present a promising experimental approach to investigate the flow behavior of cohesive granular materials, based on a simple method of preparing a long time stable medium with a controlled adhesion between particles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Granular matter, particulate matter and granular materials are generic terms to refer to systems composed of many macroscopic bodies (grains or particles) where the contact interaction (which is non-conservative) plays a crucial role in the behavior of the system. This contrasts with other systems (e.g., atomic or molecular systems) where the constituent bodies (e.g., atoms or molecules) interact via conservative forces. The non-conservative contact interactions come from inelastic collisions (due to plastic deformation, sound or heat production) and also from friction. This makes the study of granular matter a major challenge to scientists and the handling/storage/processing of granular materials a major challenge to engineers. Particulate matter covers a very broad range of systems, from those formed by fine particles (powders) to those formed by large rocks (derbis), from soft bodies (cotton balls) to hard grains (glass beads), from those we eat (muesli) to those we play with (beach sand), from those used to build our houses (cement) to those used to grow our crops (soil). Needless to say, any new knowledge in this area has a tremendous potential to impact our lives and our economy. Powders & Grains is a conference held every four years to bring together researchers working both in fundamental aspects of granular matter and in technological applications. This volume collects the 195 papers presented during the 2021 edition of P&G, which provide an excellent overview of the current state-of-the-art in granular matter and new trends with contributions form six continents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The design of protective structures often requires numerical modeling of shock-wave propagation in the surrounding soils. Properties of the soil such as grain-grading and water-fraction may vary spatially around a structure and among different sites. To better understand how these properties affect wave propagation we study how the meso-structure of soils affects their equation of state (EOS). In this work we present a meso-mechanical model for granular materials based on a simple representation of the grains as solid spheres. Grain-grading is prescribed, and a packing algorithm is used to obtain periodic grain morphologies of tightly packed randomly distributed spheres. The model is calibrated by using experimental data of sand compaction and sound-speed measurements from the literature. We study the effects of grain-grading and show that the pressures at low strains exhibit high sensitivity to the level of connectivity between grains. At high strains, the EOS of the bulk material of the grains dominates the behavior of the EOS of the granular material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discretization of computational domain is a crucial step in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) because it influences not only the numerical stability of the analysed model but also the agreement of obtained results and real data. Modelling flow in packed beds of granular materials is a very challenging task in terms of discretization due to the existence of narrow spaces between spherical granules contacting tangentially in a single point. Standard approach to this issue results in a low quality mesh and unreliable results in consequence. Therefore the common method is to reduce the diameter of the modelled granules in order to eliminate the single-point contact between the individual granules. The drawback of such method is the adulteration of flow and contact heat resistance among others. Therefore an innovative method is proposed in the paper: single-point contact is extended to a cylinder-shaped volume contact. Such approach eliminates the low quality mesh elements and simultaneously introduces only slight distortion to the flow as well as contact heat transfer. The performed analysis of numerous test cases prove the great potential of the proposed method of meshing the packed beds of granular materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents testing results of the numerical technique to simulate the agitation process of concentrated suspensions. The simulating technique is based on Eulerian two-fluid model of granular media, k-w SST URANS turbulence model, and sliding mesh approach. The results obtained show a good qualitative and quantitative agreement between calculation and experiment in terms of the shape and location of the phase interface and the distribution of the solid phase along the height. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Segregation during flow of granular materials is important from an industrial point of view. Considerable work has been done on granular segregation in heap flows by continuous pouring. We studied the flow and segregation of granular mixtures during heap formation in a quasi two-dimensional rectangular bin by intermittent pouring. The heap formed by repeatedly pouring a fixed mass of the mixture. Each feeding results in the formation of a layer of the mixture on the surface of the heap. The system is a simplified model for the feeding of raw materials to a blast furnace, which is widely used for the manufacture of iron and steel. Experiments were carried out to study the dynamics of granular materials during heap formation. The number density, area fraction and average velocity of small and big particles are plotted across the flowing depth with time. Results shows that larger particles are always on top flowing over small particles. During flow small particles easily percolate through the gaps between the large particles. A thin layer of small particles is also observed at the free surface. Here the system never reached a steady state as we are pouring the mixture intermittently and system is closed. The velocity increases initially and then decreases towards the end. The number density (i.e. area fraction) profile changes for small and big particles during flow. Image analysis is done to detect the position of each particle on the side wall. Each experiment is repeated six times to get average data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently Janda et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 248001 (2012)] reported an experimental study where it was measured the velocity and volume fraction fields of 1 mm diameter stainless steel beads in the exit of a two-dimensional silo. In that work, they proposed a new expression to predict the flow of granular media in silos which does not explicitly include the particle size as a parameter. Here, we study if effectively, there is not such influence of the particle size in the flux equations as well as investigate any possible effect in the velocity and volume fraction fields. To this end, we have performed high speed motion measurements of these magnitudes in a two-dimensional silo filled with 4 mm diameter beads of stainless steel, the same material than the previous works. A developed tracking program has been implemented to obtain at the same time both, the velocity and volume fraction. The final objective of this work has been to extend and generalize the theoretical framework of Janda et al. for all sizes of particles. We have found that the obtained functionalities are the same than in the 1 mm case, but the exponents and other fitting parameters are different. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a recent work [C. Lozano et al. Phys. Rev. Lett 114, 178002 (2015)] segregation in an horizontally shaken granular layer was studied by analysing the particle-particle interactions in the simplest case possible of a two particles cluster. There, it was found that all clusters are transient (they eventually split if one waits long enough) and the probability distribution function of the separation times displays a power law tail, indicating that the splitting probability is not constant over time. Here, we extend this study to clusters of 3, 5, 10 and 20 particles where we also observe the power law decay of the distribution of cluster splitting time. In addition, we observe a weak increase of the average cluster splitting time with the cluster size, suggesting that interaction forces are non-additive. Finally, we show interesting statistics on the way in which clusters break suggesting that escaping of individual particles in the cluster borders is more likely than cluster breakage in subclusters of similar size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pore size distribution is an important feature of granular materials in the context of filtration and erosion in soil hydraulic structures. Present study focuses on the evolution characteristics of pore size distribution for numerically simulated granular assemblies while subjected to various compression boundary constrain, namely, conventional drained triaxial compression, one-dimensional or oedometric compression and isotropic compression. We consider the effects initial packing of the granular assembly, loose or dense state. A simplified algorithm based on Delaunay tessellation is used for the estimation of pore size distribution for the deforming granular assemblies at various stress states. The analyses show that, the evolution of pore size is predominantly governed by the current porosity of the granular assembly while the stress path or loading process has minimal influence. Further it has also been observed that pore volume distribution reaches towards a critical distribution at the critical porosity during shear enhanced loading process irrespective of the deformation mechanism either compaction or dilation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a new approach to assess interparticle forces in granular materials, based on the combination of experimental measurements and numerical techniques. Experimental measurements mainly consist in the assessment of the full kinematics of grains in a quasi-statically loaded assembly; such measurements are performed by applying Digital Image Correlation (DIC) on high-resolution photographs taken during the tests. This experimental data is then combined with the application of numerical methods which account for grain equilibrium. Two different approaches are adopted for this purpose: a Static ElastoPlastic Computation (SEPC) and the Non-Smooth Contact Dynamics (NSCD). Both methods aim to find a set of contact forces that is mechanically admissible, based on kinematics measured from experiments. In this way, we aim to make an assessment of forces that is experimentally based, as it comes from experimental measurements, and realistic, in the sense of being mechanically admissible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polymeric deformable granular materials are widely used in industry and the understanding and the modelling of their shaping process is a point of interest. This kind of materials often presents a viscoelastic-plastic behaviour and the present study promotes a joint approach between numerical simulations and experiments in order to derive the behaviour law of such granular material. The experiment is conducted on a polystyrene powder on which a confining pressure of 7MPa and an axial pressure reaching 30MPa are applied. Between different steps of the in-situ test, the sample is scanned in an X-rays microtomograph in order to know the structure of the material depending on the density. From the tomographic images and by using specific algorithms to improve the images quality, grains are automatically identified, separated and a finite element mesh is generated. The long-term objective of this study is to derive a representative sample directly from the experiments in order to run numerical simulations using a viscoelactic or viscoelastic-plastic constitutive law and compare numerical and experimental results at the particle scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a multi-scale modeling of Boundary Value Problem (BVP) approach involving cohesive-frictional granular materials in the FEM × DEM multi-scale framework. On the DEM side, a 3D model is defined based on the interactions of spherical particles. This DEM model is built through a numerical homogenization process applied to a Volume Element (VE). It is then paired with a Finite Element code. Using this numerical tool that combines two scales within the same framework, we conducted simulations of biaxial and pressuremeter tests on a cohesive-frictional granular medium. In these cases, it is known that strain localization does occur at the macroscopic level, but since FEMs suffer from severe mesh dependency as soon as shear band starts to develop, the second gradient regularization technique has been used. As a consequence, the objectivity of the computation with respect to mesh dependency is restored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work acoustic emission (AE) is used as experimental evidence of the progressive nature of grain crushing. Stress controlled high pressure oedometric compression test are carried out on 1.2 mm monodisperse samples of glass beads. It was observed that the granular assembly starts to experience particle breakage at a vertical stress of about 25MPa. When this yield pressure is exceeded the glass beads start to break emitting loud impulsive sound and the vertical displacement increases rapidly. The load was increased beyond the yield stress and at each increment while the vertical stress remained constant the sample continued to emit sound. The emission of sound at a constant vertical stress indicates that crushing is a progressive failure mechanism; once the first crushing event occurs, the structure starts to rearrange causing other crushing events to occur and additional settlement. In particular, two signal processing algorithms are used on the samples of the acoustic signal to obtain two additional metrics of the crushing evolution. The first is the cumulative energy versus time. The second is the number of crushing events versus time, which is based on the automatic detection of the peaks of the sound signal envelope. There is a clear correlation between the cumulative acoustic energy emitted and the observed sample displacement. Using laser scanning, the evolution of the particle size distribution and particle shape are measured in detail so that a link between the acoustic data and the crushing intensity is established. The crushing intensity was controlled using materials with different strengths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the behaviors of the large porous-alumina particles on the free surface of the small glass-grain system under vertical vibration. The experiments are performed using cylindrical container with diameter Φ = 240 mm, loaded with small glass beads to a static depth h =100 mm. We control the shaker to vibrate at the various frequencies f, from 40 to 80 Hz, and dimensionless acceleration Γ = (4π2Af2)/g from 2 to 6. When the glass granular system is at rest, porous alumina particles are placed on its free surface. A parameter critical frequency fu is defined to distinguish two kinds of diffusion in particles. When the vibration frequency is less than fu, quasi-two-dimensional surface diffusion can occur in porous alumina particles, surface granules clusters formed under certain condition. The frequency and dimensionless acceleration of the vibration are varied to view their effect on the clustering and surface particle-distribution. When the vibration frequency is larger than fu, the surface diffusion disappears and a three-dimensional diffusion appears. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]