Grain-scale geometry and force networks in general granular materials

Granular material is nearly ubiquitous in nature.  Some examples include sand, soil, snow, rocks; even the interactions of ice burgs and floes can reasonably be considered as large-scale particle interactions.  It is well accepted that continuum-scale behaviour of a granular body is determined by the grain-scale interactions of its constituent particles, but there is still much to learn regarding those grain-scale interactions and their relationship with continuum-scale inputs.  Vibrating granular beds are a good case study for examining this, since differing flow regions generally form within the bed – depending on both the nature of the vibrations and granular material – and the test conditions can be repeated accurately in a laboratory. 

In this experimental study, various beds of spherical glass beads were subjected to sinusoidal horizontal vibrations of various amplitude and frequency combinations.  The granular beds were framed as quasi two-dimensional: the particles were three-dimensional, contained within a thin transparent tank such that phenomena could only occur in two dimensions.  The tests were designed to provide insight into the grain-scale interactions within granular materials.  That is: how do various load inputs and granular compositions affect general grain-scale response, and in turn, how does this grain-scale response affect the continuum-scale behaviour of the material?

Grain-scale interactions were compared between differing granular beds undergoing equivalent vibrations.  The results are used to discuss how behavioural response of granular material to macro-scale inputs is ultimately tied to the geometric complexity of the internal packing structure and the corresponding network of contact forces that packing structure lends itself to.  The concept of ‘geometric compatibility’ between particles within any granular medium is discussed as an explanation for large behavioural differences between grain-scale, and by extension continuum-scale, responses to vibration – or indeed any mechanical work a granular material is subjected to.