Proceedings of a Symposium sponsored by the Engineering Mechanics Division of ASCE (Committee on Properties of Materials and Committee on Fluid Mechanics) and the Applied Mechanics Division of American Society of Mechanical Engineers) (Committee on Geomechanics) Evanston, IL, June 29-July 2, 1997. Presenting a collection of recent advances in the areas of granular solids and granular fluids, these proceedings examine a variety of theoretical approaches including micromechanical methods, with the consideration of particle interactions, and conventional continuum mechanics methods. Complementary, computational, and experimental techniques that have been developed that study phenomena ranging from particle-level to bulk behavior are also covered.

Granular or particulate materials arise in almost every aspect of our lives, including many familiar materials such as tea, coffee, sugar, sand, cement and powders. At some stage almost every industrial process involves a particulate material, and it is usually the cause of the disruption to the smooth running of the process. In the natural environment, understanding the behaviour of particulate materials is vital in many geophysical processes such as earthquakes, landslides and avalanches. This book is a collection of current research from some of the major contributors in the topic of modelling the behaviour of granular materials. Papers from every area of current activity are included, such as theoretical, numerical, engineering and computational approaches. This book illustrates the numerous diverse approaches to one of the outstanding problems of modern continuum mechanics.

This textbook compiles reports written by about 35 internationally recognized authorities, and covers a range of interests for geotechnical engineers. Topics include: fundamentals for mechanics of granular materials; continuum theory of granular materials; and discrete element approaches.

Focussing on the basic mechanics and underlying physics of granular material, Mechanics of Granular Matter starts with an introduction to contact mechanics of individual particles before moving on to a discussion of the structure of force chain networks and the influence on bulk mechanical properties of granular solids and granular flows. Furthermore, a preliminary multi scale framework is proposed for the nonlinear mechanics and strain localization in granular materials.

Mechanics of Particulate Materials

This textbook compiles reports written by about 35 internationally recognized authorities, and covers a range of interests for geotechnical engineers. Topics include: fundamentals for mechanics of granular materials; continuum theory of granular materials; and discrete element approaches.