Flexural fracturing of a cohesive granular layer

Jean-Christophe Géminard (1) , Lorène Champougny (1) , Pierre Lidon (1) , Francisco Melo (2)

1 Phys-ENS - Laboratoire de Physique de l'ENS Lyon
2 NLPL - Laboratorio de Fisica No Lineal

We report on the fracturing of cohesive granular materials subjected to a flexural deformation. A thin layer of glass beads or of flour is deposited on an unstretchable membrane to which flexion is imposed. We observe the formation of a periodic fracturing-pattern whose characteristics are discussed in comparison with results previously obtained for an in-plane stretching [PRL 105, 208001 (2010)]. In particular, at a given relative humidity, the wavelength is observed to depend linearly on the layer thickness but to be independent of the grain size although the smallest grains are clearly more cohesive.

Domaines: Géophysique [physics.geo-ph]; Géophysique [physics.geo-ph]; Mécanique des matériaux [physics.class-ph]; Mécanique des matériaux [physics.class-ph]

Jean-Christophe Géminard, Lorène Champougny, Pierre Lidon, Francisco Melo. Flexural fracturing of a cohesive granular layer. 2012. ⟨hal-00657851⟩