Influence of particle shape on granular contact signatures and shear strength: new insights from simulations

The transmission of force within granular materials is sensitive to local particle arrangements, and because of this strong dependence, contact forces will usually be distributed in a complex, non-uniform manner. Load is transmitted by relatively rigid, heavily stressed chains of particles which form a sparse network of "strong" contacts carrying greater than average normal contact forces. The remaining groups of particles, which separate the strong force chains, are only lightly loaded. Based on computer simulations, we show that this complexity in three-dimensional granular materials can be greatly resolved by considering a single, gross measure of the anisotropic fabric distribution of strong contacts. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.