Quasistatic behaviour of granular materials: Some things we learned from DEM studies

Abstract

We propose a quick overview of some aspects of granular quasistatic rheophysics that are being better understood thanks to the micromechanical viewpoint enabled by grain-level discrete element simulations (DEM): the random close packing state of maximally dense disordered assemblies, the approach to the "critical state" of continuously sheared materials, the role of elasticity and contact deformability in macroscopic strains, the nature of the quasistatic limit of slow deformation. © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.