Critical length of force chains and shear band thickness in dense granular materials

This paper investigates the existence of the critical force chain length and the buckling of unconfined grain columns in dense granular materials. Tests on assemblies of flat pentagon photoelastic particles were first carried out to demonstrate the maximum length of force chains. Then, the theoretical buckling analysis and distinct element method (DEM) simulations for grain columns composed of mono-sized elliptical particles were performed. The …