Includes bibliographical references and index.

Foreword; 1 Introduction; 1.1 Definition and examples of granular media; 1.2 Between solid and liquid: what makes granular matter so difficult to describe?; 1.3 A sketch of the book; 2 Interactions at the grain level; 2.1 Solid contact forces; 2.1.1 Elastic contact: the Hertz law; 2.1.2 Solid friction; 2.1.3 Collision between two particles; 2.2 Cohesion forces; 2.2.1 Electrostatic effects; 2.2.2 Adhesion; 2.2.3 Capillary cohesion; 2.2.4 Real surfaces and the role of rugosity; 2.2.5 Solid bridges; 2.3 Forces in a flow; 2.3.1 The force on a grain in a uniform and steady flow.

2.3.2 Force in unsteady and inhomogeneous flows2.3.3 Hydrodynamic forces between grains: lubrication; 3 The granular solid: statics and elasticity; 3.1 Granular packings; 3.1.1 Volume fraction; 3.1.2 Monodisperse packings of spheres; 3.1.3 Packings of spheres of different sizes; 3.1.4 Compaction; 3.2 Forces in a granular packing; 3.2.1 The role of friction and isostaticity; 3.2.2 Force distribution; 3.3 From forces to stresses; 3.3.1 Definition of stresses in a granular medium; 3.4 Stress distribution in static configurations; 3.4.1 Stress distribution in a silo: Janssen's model.

3.4.2 Stresses under a sand pile3.5 Elasticity; 3.5.1 Elasticity of a one-dimensional chain of beads; 3.5.2 Elastic moduli of a granular packing; 3.5.3 The constitutive relation; 3.5.4 Acoustics in granular media; 4 The granular solid: plasticity; 4.1 Phenomenology; 4.1.1 The sand pile; 4.1.2 The shear cell; 4.1.3 The triaxial test; 4.2 The different levels of description: a scalar approach; 4.2.1 The first level of description: a frictional medium; 4.2.2 The second level of description: taking into account variationsin the volume fraction; 4.2.3 Towards more refined descriptions.

4.3 The Mohr-Coulomb model4.3.1 The yield criterion; 4.3.2 Applications of the Mohr-Coulomb criterion; 4.3.3 Generalization in three dimensions: the yield surface; 4.3.4 Plastic deformations; 4.3.5 Conclusions about the Mohr-Coulomb/Drucker-Prager model; 4.4 The role of the volume fraction: critical-state theory; 4.4.1 The Drucker-Prager model with dilatancy; 4.4.2 The Cam-clay model; 4.5 Towards a more refined description of the plasticity; 4.5.1 Taking into account elasticity; 4.5.2 Towards more complex loading paths; 4.5.3 Localization phenomena; 4.5.4 Towards granular flows.

4.6 Plasticity of cohesive materials4.6.1 The phenomenology of cohesive granular media; 4.6.2 The cohesive Mohr-Coulomb model; 4.6.3 The relation between macroscopic and microscopic cohesion; 5 Granular gases; 5.1 Analogies and differences with a molecular gas; 5.2 A heuristic approach to the kinetic theory; 5.2.1 Conservation equations; 5.2.2 Transport coefficients; 5.2.3 A few words on boundary conditions; 5.3 A formal approach to the kinetic theory: the Boltzmann equation; 5.3.1 The inelastic Enskog-Boltzmann equation; 5.3.2 Conservation laws.

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"Sand, rice, sugar, snow, cement ... Although ubiquitous in our daily lives, granular media still challenge engineers and fascinate researchers. This book provides the state of the art of the physics of granular media and recent advances in the field. The book presents the fundamental properties of granular materials: interactions between grains; solid, liquid and gaseous behaviours; coupling with a fluid; and sediment transport and formation of geological structures. Descriptions of the phenomena combine qualitative and formal arguments, coming from areas as diverse as elasticity, plasticity, statistical physics, fluid mechanics and geomorphology. Many examples of the astonishing behaviours of granular media are presented, icluding avalanches, segregation, dune song and quicksand. This book is ideal for graduate students and researchers in physics, applied mathematics and engineering"--