Shear flow of sphere packings in the geometric limit

Overview & Synopsis

We investigate the behavior of a model granular material made of frictionless, nearly rigid equal-sized beads, in the quasistatic limit, by numerical simulation. In the macroscopic geometric limit (that is the macroscopic, rigid and quasistatic limits), with either volume or normal stress controlled simulations, static and dynamic macroscopic friction coefficients coincide, dilatancy vanishes and the material satisfies a Lade-Duncan failure criterion. The macroscopic shear strength stems from both contact network and force anisotropy.