Granular And Complex Materials

The science of complex materials continues to engage researchers from a vast range of disciplines, including physics, mathematics, computational science, and virtually all domains of engineering. This volume presents a unique multidisciplinary panorama of the current research in complex materials. The contributions explore an array of problems reflecting recent developments in four main areas: characterization and modeling of disordered packings, micromechanics and continuum theory; discrete element method; statistical mechanics. The common theme is the quest to unravel the connection between the microscopic and macroscopic properties of complex materials. Sample Chapter(s). Chapter 1: Foam as granular matter (2,433 KB). Contents: Foam as Granular Matter (D Weaire et al.); Delaunay Simplex Analysis of the Structure of Equal Sized Spheres (A V Anikeenko et al.); On Entropic Characterization of Granular Materials (R Blumenfeld); Mathematical Modeling of Granular Flow-Slides (I Vardoulakis & S Alevizos); The Mechanics of Brittle Granular Materials (I Einav); Stranger than Friction: Force Chain Buckling and Its Implications for Constitutive Modelling (A Tordesillas); Investigations of Size Effects in Granular Bodies During Plane Strain Compression (J Tejchman & J Grski); Granular Flows: Fundamentals and Applications (P W Cleary); Fine Tuning DEM Simulations to Perform Virtual Experiments with Three-Dimensional Granular Packings (G W Delaney et al.); Fluctuations in Granular Materials (R P Behringer); Statistical Mechanics of Dense Granular Media (M Pica Ciamarra et al.); Compaction of Granular Systems (P Richard et al.). Readership: Physicists, material scientists, soil engineers and applied mathematicians.

Explaining the science contained in a simple assembly of grains—the most abundant form of matter present on Earth. Granular media—composed of vast amounts of grains, consolidated or not—constitute the most abundant form of solid matter on Earth. Granular materials assemble in disordered configurations scientists often liken to a bag of marbles. Made of macroscopic particles rather than molecules, they defy the standard scheme of classification in terms of solid, liquid, and gas. Granular materials provide a model relevant to various domains of research, including engineering, physics, and biology. William Blake famously wished “To See a World in a Grain of Sand”; in this book, pioneering researchers in granular matter explain the science hidden behind simple grains, shedding light on collective behavior in disordered settings in general. The authors begin by describing the single grain with its different origins, shapes, and sizes, then examine grains in piled or stacked form. They explain the packing fraction of granular media, a crucial issue that bears on the properties displayed in practical applications; explore small-scale deformations in piles of disordered grains, with particular attention to friction; and present theories of various modes of disorder. Along the way, they discuss such concepts as force chains, arching effects, wet grains, sticky contacts, and inertial effects. Drawing on recent numerical simulations as well as classical concepts developed in physics and mechanics, the book offers an accessible introduction to a rapidly developing field.

This review volume, co-edited by Nobel laureate G Ertl, provides a broad overview on current studies in the understanding of design and control of complex chemical systems of various origins, on scales ranging from single molecules and nano-phenomena to macroscopic chemical reactors. Self-organizational behavior and the emergence of coherent collective dynamics in reactionOCodiffusion systems, reactive soft matter and chemical networks are covered. Special attention is paid to the applications in molecular cell biology and to the problems of biological evolution, synthetic biology and design of artificial living cells.Starting with a detailed introduction on the history of research on complex chemical systems, its current state of the art and perspectives, the book comprises 19 chapters that survey the current progress in particular research fields. The reviews, prepared by leading international experts, yield together a fascinating picture of a rapidly developing research discipline that brings chemical engineering to new frontiers."

Networked systems are all around us. The accumulated evidence of systems as complex as a cell cannot be fully understood by studying only their isolated constituents, giving rise to a new area of interest in research ? the study of complex networks. In a broad sense, biological networks have been one of the most studied networks, and the field has benefited from many important contributions. By understanding and modeling the structure of a biological network, a better perception of its dynamical and functional behavior is to be expected. This unique book compiles the most relevant results and novel insights provided by network theory in the biological sciences, ranging from the structure and dynamics of the brain to cellular and protein networks and to population-level biology.

This volume contains the proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on the Micromechanics of Granular Media, Powders and Grains 2005. Powders and Grains is an international scientific conference held every 4 years that brings together engineers and physicists interested in the micromechanics of granular media.The book is a guide to the hotte

This book presents articles covering a wide spectrum of topics in geotechnical engineering, including properties of soils, unsaturated soil mechanics, ground improvement, liquefaction and seismic studies, soil-structure interaction and stability analysis of man-made and natural slopes. The contributing authors are renowned researchers in their respective fields, which include soft ground improvement, seismic response of retaining structure using soil-structure Interaction (SSI) principles, and unsaturated soils. Based on keynote addresses and invited talks presented at the Indian Geotechnical Conference 2016, this book will prove a valuable resource for practicing engineers and researchers in the field of geotechnical engineering.

A rich variety of real-life physical problems which are still poorly understood are of a nonlinear nature. Examples include turbulence, granular flows, detonations and flame propagation, fracture dynamics, and a wealth of new biological and chemical phenomena which are being discovered. Particularly interesting among the manifestations of nonlinearity are coherent structures. This book contains reviews and contributions reporting on the state of the art regarding the role of coherent structures and patterns in nonlinear science.