Force measurements in stiff, 3D, opaque granular materials

¹ Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550, USA
² Division of Solid Mechanics, Lund University, Lund 22100, Sweden
³ California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
⁴ European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Grenoble 38000, France

^* e-mail: hurley10@llnl.gov

Published online: 30 June 2017

Abstract

We present results from two experiments that provide the first quantification of inter-particle force networks in stiff, 3D, opaque granular materials. Force vectors between all grains were determined using a mathematical optimization technique that seeks to satisfy grain equilibrium and strain measurements. Quantities needed in the optimization – the spatial location of the inter-particle contact network and tensor grain strains – were found using 3D X-ray diffraction and X-ray computed tomography. The statistics of the force networks are consistent with those found in past simulations and 2D experiments. In particular, we observe an exponential decay of normal forces above the mean and a partition of forces into strong and weak networks. In the first experiment, involving 77 single-crystal quartz grains, we also report on the temporal correlation of the force network across two sequential load cycles. In the second experiment, involving 1099 single-crystal ruby grains, we characterize force network statistics at low levels of compression.