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Variational Methods for Continuum Models of Granular Materials

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Encyclopedia of Continuum Mechanics

Synonyms

Energy methods for granular materials;Variational methods in granular micromechanics

Definitions

Continuum models of granular materials aim to describe their behavior in average sense while exploiting the paradigm of continuum mechanics. For granular materials, however, success of these continuum models is predicated upon how they treat grain interactions and grain kinematics within the formulation.

Continuum Models of Granular Materials

Continuum approaches can be more efficient and desirable for granular mechanics problems that require a macro-scale description involving a large number of grains (>106grains) with varying sizes and bulk and surface characteristics packed in a disordered state. In these cases, an average behavior is sufficient, and it is not necessary to obtain the trajectory of each grain as well as the spatial distributions of deformation energies at the grain-scales. For such problems, the discrete approach may be constrained, not only by its...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering Department, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA

    Anil Misra

  2. International Research Center for the Mathematics and Mechanics of Complex Systems, Università degli Studi dell’Aquila, L’Aquila, Italy

    Anil Misra

  3. International Telematic University Uninettuno, Rome, Italy

    Luca Placidi

  4. Department of Architecture, Design and Urban Planning (DADU), University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy

    Emilio Turco

Authors
  1. Anil Misra
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  2. Luca Placidi
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  3. Emilio Turco
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anil Misra .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Mechanik, Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Institut für Mechanik, Magdeburg, Germany

    Holm Altenbach

  2. Griffith University (Gold Coast Campus), Griffith School of Engineering Griffith University (Gold Coast Campus), Southport, QLD, Australia

    Andreas Öchsner

Section Editor information

  1. DISG, University of Rome La Sapienza, Rome, Italy

    Francesco dell’Isola

  2. International Research Center M&MoCS, University of L’Aquila, L’Aquila, Italy

    Francesco dell’Isola

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Misra, A., Placidi, L., Turco, E. (2019). Variational Methods for Continuum Models of Granular Materials. In: Altenbach, H., Öchsner, A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Continuum Mechanics. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-53605-6_343-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-53605-6_343-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-662-53605-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-53605-6

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