Rotation

*Correspondence to: F. Calvetti, D.I.S., Milan University of Technology (Politecnico), and A.L.E.R.T. Geomaterials.
CCC 1082-5010/99/030247}33$17.50 Received 9 October 1997

Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Revised 22 April 1998
MECHANICS OF COHESIVE-FRICTIONAL MATERIALS
Mech. Cohes.-Frict. Mater. 4, 247}279 (1999)
Interparticle forces distribution in granular materials:
link with the macroscopic behaviour
Francesco Calvetti* and Fabrice Emeriault`
D.I.S., Milan University of Technology (Politecnico), and A.L.E.R.T. Geomaterials
`L.T.D.S, Ecole Centrale de Lyon, and A.L.E.R.T. Geomaterials
SUMMARY
This paper addresses the modelling of the incremental behaviour of an idealized granular material and its
link with the distribution of contact forces within the representative volume. Based on the results obtained
from a series of numerical DEM experiments, a discussion of the di!erent operations used in a micro-
mechanical modelling framework is proposed. First, the relevance of the usual description of the contact
forces distribution through its average value for a given contact orientation is evaluated. Next, this
description is implemented in a complete homogenization process. The derived stress}strain relationship
acceptably predicts the anisotropic elastic properties of the material provided that the particles do not rotate
but fails to if this constraint is removed. Therefore, in the last section, a more re"ned description of the
contact forces distribution is invoked, considering the actual scatter from the average values through the
standard deviation. Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
KEY WORDS: granular materials; stress}strain relationship; contact force; DEM; particle rotation; anisotropy
1. INTRODUCTION
Modelling the macroscopic behaviour of a granular material taking into account its discrete
character through a micromechanical approach faces a huge problem due to the lack of reliable
measurements of the local variables, especially those related to the contact forces. Several
experimental researches have been performed in the past, using two-dimensional photo-elastic
models` or other devices.`" These approaches, very useful in the determination of the packing
structure or to show the development of contact chains, are a!ected by insu$cient precision.
Other approaches, based on stereo-photogrammetry techniques, can give accurate measurements
of the micro-kinematics only.`
A very useful alternative to the experiments is the Distinct Element Method."` This numerical
method can be considered as an experimental-numerical tool for problems considering the
elementary representative volume. Treating the medium as a collection of rigid particles, it can
provide the local information (particle position and velocity, interparticle contact forces) needed
to investigate the relation between the microscopic and the macroscopic behaviour. By means of
DEM codes various topics, such as the evolution of the fabric anisotropy, the small strain
behaviour,`" the formation of shear bands," the dilatancy mechanism or the e!ect of particle
size and shape have been studied.
Based on experimental or numerical observations, theoretical models of the behaviour of
granular materials have been established in which the microscopic, or local, behaviour is
explicitly taken into account. These approaches, known as micromechanical modelling, were
already used to predict the elastic part of the behaviour, considering the e!ect of the fabric
anisotropy or the non-linearity of the local contact law`" or the plastic behaviour, for instance
the dilatancy or failure characteristics.`
In general, while these methods give a rather satisfying value, or range of values, for the
Young's modulus, they fail to properly describe the evolution of Poisson's ratio with the
evolution of the material fabric. The main factor that was not considered in these theoretical
developments is the e!ect of the particle rotation. Therefore, the idea arose to consider the
granular materials as a micro-polar or Cosserat material and to introduce in the kinematics an
additional degree of freedom, the rotation of the particle or the rotation of the contact plane
between two particles.`" If the introduction of the particle rotation can be interesting in the
modelling of mechanisms such as deformation inside the shear band, it is of little help to explain
the deformation mechanism of an isotropic material loaded in its principal directions.
In this paper, the emphasis is put on an aspect which is discarded in most of the theoretical
developments until now: the statistical character of the local variables, such as contact forces and
contact displacements. For example, the contact forces are usually described through their
average value for a considered contact plane orientation."`"
It will be shown that the prediction of the elastic sti!ness of an idealised granular material is
greatly improved if the complete distribution of contact forces (their average for a given
orientation n and a &&standard deviation'') is introduced in a micromechanical process. Two
extreme cases are studied in the sequel: the particle rotations are either inhibited or set free. The
in#uence of the induced fabric anisotropy is also investigated. The DEM is used here as an
&experimental' device providing all the mechanical parameters of interest with a satisfying
precision (contact number, contact orientation, contact force, relative contact displacement) for
all the particles within the elementary representative volume.
2. NUMERICAL MODEL
In the "rst part of this paper, the incremental behaviour of an idealized granular material (a
random assembly of rigid disks) is investigated using the DEM code PFC-2D.`
The DEM has already shown its usefulness in the study of the incremental behaviour of granular
materials, due to the possibility to perform di!erent loading paths on the same specimen: Bardet
et al.`` and Bardet`` subjected a circular assembly of disks to a series of stress controlled
incremental loading paths, and showed that the incremental behaviour of such a material can be
treated in the framework of elasto-plasticity, with non-associated #ow rule; Calvetti et al.`" came to
the same conclusions performing strain controlled incremental probes on a small assembly of
dodecagonal particles (in that case the reversibility locus corresponding to di!erent initial stress
states was determined, showing the e!ects of a mixed isotropic-kinematic hardening).
2.1. Description of the numerical model
In the present study, an assembly of rigid rollers is considered. As usual dealing with DEM
codes, the particles are rigid, and their deformation is represented by a small overlapping at
248 FRANCESCO CALVETTI AND FABRICE EMERIAULT
Mech. Cohes.-Frict. Mater., 4, 247}279 (1999) Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Table I. Numerical parameters
Normal contact
sti!ness k
L
Shear contact
sti!ness k
R
Contact friction
angle (disk}disk)
Contact friction
angle (disk}wall)
Biaxial compression 5000 kN/m 5000 kN/m 263 03
Incremental probes 5000 kN/m 1250}5000 kN/m 263 03
contact points. The magnitude of normal and tangential contact forces is linked to the relative
normal and tangential displacements of particles in contact through a linear elastic relation, the
tangential forces being limited by Coulomb's friction.
The boundary of the numerical specimen is de"ned by smooth &wall' elements, and either stress
(through wall applied force) or strain (through wall speed) control of the tests is available. The
mechanical properties of particles and contacts are displayed in Table I. It is important to
underline the fact that even if the chosen contact sti!ness is low, and certainly not adequate to
quantitatively model the behaviour of a real granular material (quartz sand), the particle
overlapping associated with the average contact forces (see Section 3) is about 1/500 of the
distance between the centres of two particles in contact (with reference to the initial isotropic
specimen con"guration). Therefore, the basic assumption &rigid particles' can be considered
satis"ed, even if in a slightly &relaxed' sense. On the other hand, the stability of the centred "nite
di!erence integration scheme used to solve the equations of motion limits the numerical timestep
to a value which is inversely proportional to the square root of the contact sti!ness.` The chosen
contact sti!ness represents a compromise between two opposite requirements that could be
labelled &rigid particles' and &fast calculation'.
The specimen employed in the presented series of tests (Figure 1) is a 20;20 cm assembly of
1159 10-cm-thick disks with uniform radius distribution between 1)45 and 4)33 mm. No gravity is
involved in the simulations.
The principal directions of stresses and strains are parallel to the walls of the specimen, and
coincide with x}y axes (in the following vertical and horizontal axes). Cauchy's stresses and
strains (o
V
, o
W
, c
V
and c
W
) are calculated from walls reactions and displacements, assuming
a uniform distribution within the specimen. It is important to note that, although using a 2-D
model, the thickness of the specimen (10 cm) is explicitly taken into account in the evaluation of
stresses. The following 2D invariant variables are introduced: s'"(o
W
#o
V
)/2 (mean e!ective
pressure); t"(o
W
!o
V
)/2 (deviatoric stress); the associate strain invariant variables are
v"(c
W
#c
V
) (volumetric strain); e"(c
W
!c
V
) (deviatoric strain). This particular choice of invari-
ants guarantees the energetic equivalence: d="o
V
cR
V
#o
W
cR
W
"s')v #t)eR. Hereafter, in analogy
with classical triaxial tests, the terms &compression' and &extension' are used to indicate a loading
path for which At'0 and At(0, respectively.
2.2. Biaxial loading
In order to evaluate the in#uence of fabric and stress anisotropy on the incremental behaviour
of the assembly a vertical compression with constant lateral stress is performed "rst, starting from
an initial isotropic pressure of 100 kPa. The macroscopic behaviour of the specimen in this phase
is shown in Figure 2; the points marked A to E, corresponding to a vertical stress of 100 (isotropic
state of stress), 150, 170, 190 and 210 kPa (close to failure, which takes place at o
W
"220 kPa), are
INTERPARTICLE FORCES IN GRANULAR MATERIALS 249
Figure 1. The employed specimen. Shaded area represents the zone not considered in the volume computation
(see Section 2.4)
placed where the con"guration of the specimen was recorded for the subsequent incremental
loadings. The observed behaviour is a quite classical one for a medium sand, even though the
mobilised friction angle (22)43) is slightly lower than the interparticle friction angle, which is due
to the fact that the particles are perfectly circular disks, free to rotate. It is only worth noting that,
although the behaviour is initially compacting, the number of contacts between particles de-
creases with strain (cf. Table III).
2.3. Incremental loading paths
For each initial state of stress (points A to E of Fig. 2), the incremental loading consists of eight
stress-controlled probes of equal modulus, but with di!erent direction in the Ao
V
}Ao
W
plane: with
reference to Figure 3, each probe is characterised by the angle (:
N
) between the probe direction
and the Ao
V
axis: Ao
V
"(2 cos(:
N
); Ao
V
"(2 sin(:
N
); the magnitude of the probes can be
considered &small' with respect to the initial state of stress. The stress increments are applied at
the boundaries in a unique step, and the corresponding strains are measured at the end of the
stress propagation within the specimen. Then, stress increments are removed, and the strains
Figure 2. Global behaviour of the specimen during compression: stress}strain curve and volumetric curve
Figure 3. Incremental stress probes
corresponding to the unloading are measured. The complete analysis of the non-reversible
incremental behaviour exhibited by the specimen falls beyond the interest of this paper, in which
only the reversible strains are analysed. It is only reported that the measured plastic strains
conform to the already mentioned results by Bardet et al.,`` Bardet`` and Calvetti et al.`"
The behaviour of the specimen is interpreted in terms of response envelops plotted in the
Ac
V
}Ac
W
plane.`` As it will be shown in the following, the reversible incremental behaviour of the
specimen can be perfectly "tted by an hyper-elastic law, that can be written in the general form:
c
V
c
W
"
1
E
V
!
v
WV
E
W
!
v
VW
E
V
1
E
W
o
V
o
W
with
v
WV
E
W
"
v
VW
E
V
(1)
It is here recalled that the general hyper-elastic response envelop to a series of circular stress
increments centred at the origin of the axes in the Ao
V
}Ao
W
plane, is an ellipse centred at the origin
of axes in the Ac
V
}Ac
W
plane. If the material is isotropic (E
W
"E
V
), the ellipse axes are 453 rotated
from the Ac
V
}Ac
W
axes; the eccentricity of the ellipse depends on v
WV
"v
VW
; in particular, if E
W
"E
V
and v
WV
"v
VW
"0 the ellipse degenerates into a circle. The response envelope for a non isotropic
material with v
WV
"v
VW
"0 is an ellipse with axes parallel to the Ac
V
}Ac
W
axes. In all cases, since
the compliance matrix is symmetric, the response envelope has a polar symmetry with respect to
the axes origin.
The incremental behaviour is investigated under di!erent conditions:
1. initial stress-level: o
V
"100 kPa; o
W
"100, 150, 170, 190, 210 kPa;
2. the ratio between the shear and the normal sti!ness of contacts (:"k
R
/k
L
) is given the
following values: 0)25, 0)5 and 1;
3. the particles are either free to rotate or "xed.
The condition characterizing the biaxial compression (:"1; free rotation) will be called the
&reference condition'. The elastic parameters that make equation (1) "t the numerical results are
displayed in Table II; their evolution with the initial value of o
W
will be compared to the proposed
theoretical predictions in Sections 4 and 5.
The in#uence of the initial state of stress is considered "rst (Figure 4, reference condition): as the
stress-level increases, the deviatoric sti!ness of the material decreases considerably, especially
approaching the failure; on the contrary, the bulk sti!ness of the material is almost constant. As it
will be shown in the following, the specimen fabric, initially isotropic, becomes more and more
anisotropic as the biaxial compression is performed. As a consequence, the isotropic incremental
elastic behaviour that characterises the specimen response for o
V
"o
W
, turns into an anisotropic
one. In the Ac
V
}Ac
W
plane, the strains measured during the probes 1, 2, 3 and 4, are symmetric to
those measured in the corresponding probes 5, 6, 7 and 8: the condition v
WV
/E
W
"v
VW
/E
V
is thus
always respected.
If the particle rotations are "xed during the incremental probes, the behaviour of the material
qualitatively changes from the reference one. In fact, the response of the specimen is that of an
elastic material with v
WV
"v
VW
"0 (Figure 5). From a quantitative standpoint, it is worth noting
that the rotation constraint considerably reduces the measured strains, except for the isotropic
probes, i.e. the bulk sti!ness of the material is not much a!ected by the rotation constraint. It is
concluded that the rotation mechanism is of main importance, and therefore it must be con-
sidered in the modelling, when the specimen is subjected to deviatoric load conditions. As
observed in the reference case, the incremental behaviour turns from isotropic into anisotropic
with the initial stress level.
Table II. Elastic parameters
o
W
(kPa) E
V
(MPa) E
W
(MPa) v
VW
v
WV
100 32)6 32)8 0)201 0)202
150 31)7 33)4 0)206 0)215
170 29)9 33)3 0)220 0)241
190 24)6 31)7 0)257 0)332
210 18)5 29)5 0)273 0)426
Free rotation, kn"ks
100 43)7 44)0 0)003 0)003
150 42)6 44)0 0)004 0)003
170 41)8 44)0 0)005 0)004
190 39)4 43)7 0)005 0)004
210 35)6 43)4 0)006 0)005
Fixed rotation, kn"ks
100 35)3 35)7 0)151 0)153
150 34)6 36)4 0)150 0)156
170 34)1 36)5 0)151 0)156
190 31)7 36)3 0)148 0)167
210 28)1 36)4 0)140 0)178
Fixed rotation, kn"2ks
100 28)2 28)6 0)294 0)297
150 27)9 29)2 0)289 0)303
170 26)9 29)4 0)289 0)312
190 24)5 29)1 0)284 0)332
210 21)1 29)4 0)264 0)359
Fixed rotation, kn"4ks
The in#uence of : is now illustrated for o
V
"o
W
and "xed rotations (Figure 6): as expected, the
reduction of the shear contact sti!ness corresponds to larger strains, except for the isotropic
probes. Indeed, a reduction of the shear sti!ness of contacts reduces the e!ects of the rotation
constraint, and makes the response envelops similar to those corresponding to the reference
condition (see Figure 5). In the next section, this point will be discussed in terms of contact force
distributions.
2.4. Local measurements
The theoretical study presented in the following is based on the evaluation of several micro-
mechanical quantities that can be divided into two groups: geometrical variables (the specimen
structure, characterised by the number of physical contacts N and their angular distribution P(n);
the mean radius of the disks R; the volume of the specimen <), and static variables (contact
forces). In this section geometrical variables are considered, while the static variables are analysed
in Section 3.
2.4.1. Specimen fabric. As usual, the specimen structure is represented by the number of
contacts and their angular distribution. It is worth noting that in the sequel, the number of
Figure 4. Reversible strains: computed and elastic "t. In#uence of the initial stress level
Figure 5. Reversible strains: computed and elastic "t. In#uence of the rotation constraint
Figure 6. Reversible strains: computed and elastic "t. In#uence of the parameter :
contacts referred to as N is the number of physical contacts between particles. Therefore, the
coordination number is equal to 2N/N
. The disk}wall contacts, characterized by "xed orienta-

tions and particular parameters (zero friction) are not considered. If the specimen is large enough,
in order to represent the structure, the contact probability along a certain orientation can be
introduced as P(n)"(1/) 1#A cos[2(0!0
"
)], with n'"[cos(0) sin(0)] characterizing the
contact orientation with respect to the x-axis. This description is quite a classical one, and can be
found, for instance, in Reference 28. In an equivalent way, the usual fabric tensor is introduced:`"
F
GH
"
RN
<
(o
GH
#
`
GH
) where
GH
"
a 0
0 !a
takes into account the anisotropy of the material, and o
GH
is the Kronecker symbol.
During the biaxial compression the fabric anisotropy develops, mainly due to the loss of
contacts along the x-axis. The values of the fabric parameters N and a that will be used in
Section 3 are displayed in Table III.
2.4.2. Specimen volume. In most of the relations presented in the following, an important role
is played by the contact density N/< whose value is slightly a!ected by the presence of the walls.
In fact, the grain size curve is such that within a narrow band along the walls, disk}disk contacts
are not likely to take place (see Figure 1): therefore, along the walls there is a zone with a lower
contact density, which must be considered in the modelling. Since only disk}disk contacts are
counted, the volume corresponding to the wall-side bands (with a thickness chosen equal to the
Table IV. Evaluation of the mean radius
Eq. (2a) Eq. (2b) (Eq. 2c)
Mean radius (mm) 2)885 3)00 3)04
Table III. Evolution of contact distribution during the biaxial test
Point o
V
(kPa) o
W
(kPa) N a
A 100 100 2011 !0)00154
B 100 150 2014 !0)0287
C 100 170 1998 !0)0397
D 100 190 1946 !0)07446
E 100 210 1874 !0)14933
mean radius) is subtracted from the global specimen volume. The retained value
(<"3)76;10` m`) is kept constant in calculations, since the volume does not change in
a signi"cant way during the compression. According to the evaluation of stresses, the computed
volume takes explicitly into account the thickness of the specimen (10 cm).
2.4.3. Mean particle radius. The de"nition of a mean radius for a generic grain size curve is
ambiguous. For instance, the averaging operations:
R"
1
N
N
,N
R
N
(2a)
or
R"
1
N
N

,N
R`
N
(2b)
respectively simply based on the radius of the particles, or based on the surface occupied by each
particle, could be used.
In this paper, the following relation was retained:
R"
1
2N
,
A
(2c)
where the summation is extended to all physical disk}disk contacts and
A
is the distance between
the centres of two particles in contact. The choice was inspired by the need to ful"l the
equivalence between the summation form and the integral form of classical averaging operations
as
o
GH
"
1
<
A
FA
G
A
H
"2NR
`L
"
P(n)F
G
(n)n
H
) d0 (3)
The quantitative di!erence between the three proposed average operations is slight. The
corresponding values are shown in Table IV.
3. DESCRIPTION OF AVERAGE CONTACT FORCES
The description of the distribution of interparticle contact forces in a granular material has been
investigated by several authors`"`" because of its particular interest in the derivation of
stress}strain relationship from micromechanical considerations, i.e. by taking into account the
contact distribution and the local contact law. The fundamental hypotheses common to the
di!erent available descriptions are the following:
* the distribution of the contact forces FA is represented by F(n) the average value of the forces
having a contact orientation n.
* the average value F(n) depends linearly on the stress o
GH
.
* the fabric tensor F
GH
is also included in the expression of F(n):
F
GH
"
RN
<
(o
GH
#
`
GH
) where
GG
"0 (4)
In this paper, the expression of F(n) derived by Emeriault et al.`" from the general representation
theorem`` will be considered.
F
G
(n)"
<
RN(1#n n)
.
j o
GH
n
H
#
1!j
2
[4non!tr o]n
G
#z
tr o [n n)n
G
!
`
GH
n
H
]
#z
`
[tr on
G
!4no nn
G
#2n no
GH
n
H
#2non
GH
n
H
!
`
tr o
GH
n
H
]
#z
`
[!
`
n o nn
G
#no n n nn
G
!
"
no n
GH
n
H
!
"
n no
GH
n
H
!
`"
tro
GH
n
H
]
#z
"
[ o
GH
HI
n
I
!
GH
o
HI
n
I
#tr on
G
!4no nn
G
!tr o
GH
n
H
#4no n
GH
n
H
]
(5)
The geometrical anisotropy is taken into account through the deviatoric tensor that appears in
both the contact distribution probability P(n)"(1/) 1#n n and the fabric tensor F
GH
(equa-
tion (4)).
The general form of equation (5) is based on several hypotheses:
* F(n)P(n) is an isotropic function of three variables n, o and .
* F(n)P(n) is linear in o and .
* F(n)P(n) is odd in n.
* F(n)P(n) can be written as I
?
(cJ
?
/cv) where I
?
and J
?
are polynomial invariants of n, o and
and v, n, o and respectively, v being an arbitrary vector. I
?
are polynomial functions of
tro, no n, tr, n n, tro , and no n. (cJ
?
/cv) are functions such as n, o n, n and o n.
Further details on this approach using the representation theorem of isotropic functions can be
found in Reference 15. Here, it is noted that equation (5) has been established using the general
form for F(n)P(n) (11 parameters) and the compatibility with the de"nition of the average global
stress from the contact forces (equation (3)). This compatibility has to be veri"ed whatever o and
. Therefore the number of parameters reduces to 5 (i.e. j, z
, z
`
, z
`
, z
"
) (see Reference 26). The
values of volume, number of contacts and &average' radius of particles have been given in
Section 2.
In opposition to previous work, equation (5) is used to model the contact forces corresponding
to the initial stress o
GH
(points A to E of Figure 2) and to the incremental loading oR
GH
. While the
Figure 7(a). Distribution of incremental contact forces for :"1)0 (isotropic stress state: 100 kPa and no rotation allowed)
values of <, R, N and
GH
are equal, the other parameters di!er. j, zM
, z
`
, z
`
, z
"
correspond to the
distribution of initial forces and j, z
, z
`
, z
`
, z
"
to the incremental one.
3.1. Description of the incremental average contact forces
This section is devoted to the evaluation of the accuracy of expression (5) in the case of an
incremental stress loading for the conditions described in Section 2 such as di!erent values of the
ratio :"k
R
/k
L
, di!erent values of material anisotropy and two conditions on the rotations of the
particles.
In each case studied, four incremental stress loadings are considered, along the paths 1, 2, 3 and 4
de"ned in Section 2 (Figure 3). The results obtained are presented in a normal vs. tangential force
diagram (analogous to a Mohr representation).
3.1.1. Ewect of the ratio :. The e!ect of this parameter on the average contact force is presented
for the initial isotropic stress state, for which the contact distribution is almost isotropic (cf.
Table III). Thus, the parameters z
G
do not a!ect the force distribution, and the only remaining
parameter is j. Figures 7(a) and 7(b) show the results obtained for two values of the ratio of
contact sti!ness with "xed particle rotation. It is "rst concluded that the interparticle contact law
in#uences the values of the average contact forces. A smaller tangential sti!ness induces a reduc-
tion in the tangential force range and an increase in the normal components. This explains why (5)
Figure 7(b). Distribution of incremental contact forces for :"0)25 (isotropic stress state: 100 kPa and no rotation
allowed)
has been preferred to the expression used in Reference 14:
F
G
"o
GH
n
I
F
IH
(6)
because equation (6) is independent of the interparticle contact law.
Following equation (5), if the specimen is initially isotropic, the isotropic probe involves only
an increase of the normal contact forces, whose value, not in#uenced by the contact orientation,
only depends on the geometrical parameters <, R and N. The presented numerical results are in
good agreement with the theoretical trend equation (5), especially in the case :"1 (Figure 7(a)).
From the results obtained for :"0)25, 0)5 and 1)0, it is possible to determine the value of
j giving the best description of the average contact forces (Table V).
An approximate analytical relationship between : and j can be deduced from these measure-
ments:
j"
6:
5:#1
(7)
3.1.2. Ewect of the particle rotation constraint. For the isotropic stress state and :"1, the cases
of free and "xed particle rotation are now compared. Figures 7(a) and 7(c) show that the release of
the particle rotation induces a drastic reduction in tangential force and a corresponding slight
Table V. Values of j deter-
mined from numerical simula-
tions
: j
0)25 0)67
0)5 0)84
1)0 1)02
Figure 7(c). Distribution of incremental contact forces for :"1)0 (isotropic stress state: 100 kPa and free rotation)
change in the normal force ranges in order to keep the same macroscopic stress. Figure 7(c) also
demonstrates that the average contact force in the free rotation case can also be represented by
equation (5). Nevertheless, the value of j is di!erent:
* j"1.02 for "xed rotations
* j"0.77 for free rotations
Following equation (7), the case :"1 and free rotation is analogous, from an incremental
average contact force point of view, to the case :"0)36 and "xed rotation.
3.1.3. Ewect of the induced anisotropy The in#uence of the structural anisotropy is shown in
Figure 7(a) and 7(d) (o
W
"100 and 210 kPa; :"1)0). Due to the di$culty of "tting the "ve
Figure 7(d). Distribution of incremental contact forces for :"1)0 (anisotropic stress state: 210 kPa and no rotation
allowed)
parameters of equation (5) on the numerical results of Figure 7(d), it is assumed that j does not
change with o
W
(it is given the value corresponding to the initial point of the biaxial test), and that
the three parameters z
`
, z
`
, z
"
are equal to 0)0. The only remaining parameter is z
, and the value

z
"0)5 provides an acceptable description of the contact forces in the three studied cases of
: value.
3.2. Description of the initial average contact force
As will be shown in the next section, for each point chosen along the biaxial loading path (cf.
Section 2), it is important to have a good description of the existing contact forces, considered as
the forces acting at the beginning of the subsequent incremental probes.
The main problem deals with the calibration of the di!erent parameters of equation (5). Since
the material is initially isotropic, none of the parameters can be determined from the correspond-
ing average contact force distribution. Moreover, the di$culty of the evaluation of the aniso-
tropic parameters z
G
requires the introduction of several hypotheses:
* since the isotropic compression and the biaxial loading are performed with free rotations of
the particles, the value of j is taken equal to the one determined from the corresponding
(reference condition) incremental case (j"0)77).
* the z
G
are assumed equal to 0)0 except z
.
* the value z
"0)8 is calibrated on the contact forces corresponding to o

W
"210 kPa.
Figure 8. Distribution of initial contact forces for :"1)0 (100 and 210 kPa)
With these hypotheses a good agreement between the results of the numerical analysis and the
description adopted is obtained (Figure 8).
4. MACROSCOPIC BEHAVIOUR DERIVATION FROM AVERAGE FORCES
The theoretical developments presented in this section are based on the micromechanical
homogenisation techniques already discussed by several authors.`""
The basic equations used to derive the stress}strain relationship are as follows:
* de"nition of the average incremental interparticle contact force from the increment of
macroscopic stress (for the complete derivation, see Reference 26):
FQ
G
"
<
RN(1#nn)
jo
GH
n
H
#
1!j
2
[4no n!tr o ] n
G
#z tro [nn)n
G
!
`
GH
n
H
]
(8)
This equation has already been used in a more complete form in Section 3.
* interparticle contact law (linear elastic):
FQ
L
"k
L
;Q
L
and FQ
R
"k
R
;Q
R
with :"
k
R
k
L
(9)
* averaging operation, i.e. de"nition of the increment of macroscopic strain from the distribu-
tion of interparticle contact displacements:
c
GH
"
1
2R
`L
"

jN;Q
G
n
H
#
1!jN
2
[4n
G
n
H
!o
GH
];Q
I
n
I
#zMo
GH
[n
?
?@
n
@
;Q
I
n
I
!
`
;Q
?
?@
n
@
]
d0 (10)
This operation is derived from the description of the initial average contact force:
F
G
"
<
RN(1#nn)
j o
GH
n
H
#
1!jN
2
[4non!tr o] n
G
#zMtr o[nn n
G
!
`
GH
n
H
]
(11)
and the energy equation:
o
GH
c
GH
"
1
<
`L
"
F
G
;Q
G
P(n) d0 (12)
In their developments, Cambou et al.` and Emeriault et al." have established the averaging
operation (10) considering that j "j and z"z. These relations are valid if the contact law and
the rotation constraint remain the same throughout the loading which is not the case here.
Therefore equation (10) has been written here for independent values of j , j, z and z. In the
sequel, elastic characteristics will be derived considering di!erent values of the four latter
parameters.
As pointed out in Section 2, the initial isotropic compression and the biaxial test have been
performed with :"1 and free rotations.
If the assembly is initially isotropic (z"z"0), the stress}strain relationship can be analyti-
cally derived:
c "
<
8NR`k
L
oR
GH
2#2jN!j!jjN#
2jjN
:
#
`
tr o o
GH
!4#4j #j#jj !
2jj
:
(13)
The elasticity is isotropic and the constitutive parameters are:
Young's modulus: E"
2NR`k
L
<
1
jN!
j
8
!
jjN
8
#
jjN
4:
(14)
Poisson's ratio: v"
1!j !
j
4
!
jj
4
#
jj
2:
2j !
j
4
!
jj
4
#
jj
2:
(15)
In the general case, the two parameters z and z are present in the expressions of the average
initial and incremental forces and the averaging operation (10) has to be performed numerically.
4.1. Comparison with numerical results: Fixed rotations case
The elastic constitutive parameters have been measured (Figures 9(a)}9(e)) for the "ve di!erent
stress levels de"ned in Section 2 and three di!erent values of the tangential contact sti!ness (the
normal sti!ness remaining constant). For the three values of k
R
, the trend is the same. The Young's
modulus in the direction of loading remains almost constant throughout the loading, slightly
decreasing at the end of the test. The modulus in the opposite direction remains constant in the
Figure 9(a). Evolution of the Young's modulus with the vertical stress (:"1)0 and no rotation allowed)
Figure 9(b). Evolution of the Young's moduli with the vertical stress (:"0)5 and no rotation allowed)
Figure 9(c). Evolution of the Poisson's ratios with the vertical stress (:"0)5 and no rotation allowed)
Figure 9(d). Evolution of the Young's moduli with the vertical stress (:"0)5 and no rotation allowed)
Figure 9(e). Evolution of the Poisson's ratios with the vertical stress (:"0)5 and no rotation allowed)
"rst part of the test and decreases quickly when the sample approaches the failure. Since the
elasticity matrix is symmetric (E
V
v
WV
"E
W
v
VW
), the evolutions of the two Poisson's ratios are linked
to those of the Young's moduli. v
WV
is increasing (#20% at the most for :"0)25 and
o
W
"210 kPa) while v
VW
is decreasing (!11% for the same case). The e!ect of the ratio : can be
observed at the beginning of the loading. A decrease in : induces a decrease in the Young's
modulus and the increase of the Poisson's ratio.
Introducing the values of R, N, <and the anisotropic contact distribution index a (cf. Table III)
in the homogenization process presented above, and using the parameters j calibrated for each
case (see Section 3), it is possible to describe qualitatively the evolution of all the elastic
constitutive parameters (Figures 9(a)}9(e)). If the predicted values of the Poisson's ratio are very
close to the measured ones, the two Young's moduli are always overestimated. It is interesting to
note that the overestimation equally applies to E
V
and E
W
(between 12 and 24%). Two kinds of
explanation can be given for this &isotropic' overestimation:
E the estimated volume < and number of contacts N are not compatible, i.e. the &disturbance' in
the regular contact network introduced by the boundaries is not correctly taken into account;
the e!ective mean radius R should be determined in a way di!erent from equation (2c).
E the modelling of the behaviour using the average contact force is not su$cient to predict
accurately the elasticity matrix.
Since the measurement of the geometrical parameters (Section 2.4) appears quite sound, the
second cause is retained and it will be investigated in Section 5.
Figure 10(a). Evolution of the Young's modulus with the vertical stress (:"1)0 and free rotation)
It is worth noting that the values of j and z used to predict the elastic properties are those
calibrated on the initial contact force distribution (:"1)0 and free rotation (j"0)77 and
z"0)8)). The value of z used in the derivation of the elastic constitutive parameters is not equal to
0)8 as it has been determined in the previous section, but its value is adjusted so that the resulting
elasticity matrix be symmetric. The e!ect of this correction on the computed values of moduli or
Poisson's ratios is always smaller than 0)5%. Finally the Poisson's ratios measured and predicted
for :"1)0 are not reported in Figures 9 because they are constantly equal to 0)0.
4.2. Comparison with numerical results: Free rotations case
The case of free rotation has only been studied for equal normal and tangential sti!ness.
The results are reported in Figures 10(a) and 10(b) and show the general trend already observed in
the "xed rotation case. Nevertheless, the initial Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio are far
di!erent from the values obtained with "xed rotations. As expected, the release of the particle
rotations constraint induces a greater deformation of the sample in the direction of loading and
an expansion in the orthogonal direction (which is not the case for "xed rotation where v"0).
If the value of j determined in Section 3 (j"0)77) is introduced in the homogenisation process,
the predicted elastic constitutive parameters are: E"47)4 MPa and v"0)026 to be compared
with the numerical simulation results: E"32)7 MPa and v"0)20. It is concluded from this
observation that, in the case of free rotation, the homogenisation process using the average force
for a given contact orientation as a "rst approximation of the complete distribution is not valid.
A discussion of this particular point is extensively presented in Section 5.
Figure 10(b). Evolution of the Young's moduli with the vertical stress (:"0)5 and free rotation)
5. REFINED DESCRIPTION OF THE FORCE DISTRIBUTION}INFLUENCE
ON MACROSCOPIC BEHAVIOUR
The aimof this section is to explain the results presented in Section 4 and the discrepancy between
numerical and the homogenization approach results, in particular for the case of free rotation of
particles. The basic idea is to consider in the description of the contact force distribution not only
the average value for a given contact orientation, but also the scatter from this average value.
It is assumed that for each contact c in the sample the force (incremental or initial) can be
represented as
FA"FM(nA)#oFA and FQ A"FM
Q
(nA)#oFQ A (16)
where FM(nA) (resp. FM
Q
(nA)) is the average initial (resp. incremental) contact force corresponding to the
orientation nA of the contact c.
5.1. First and second order work
In the homogenization process used in Section 4, the averaging operation is inferred from two
equations, namely the description of the average contact force (11) and the equation (12). The
latter expresses the equality of the macroscopic work and the sum of the local work determined
for each contact within the sample. In (12) the actual contact forces and the incremental relative
contact displacements have been replaced by their "rst-order approximation with respect to the
contact orientation.
Without this assumption, (12) is written as
o
GH
c
GH
"
1
<
A
F
G
;Q
G
(17)
Introducing (16) into the latter, the equality of macroscopic and local works is "nally written as
o
GH
c
GH
"
1
<

A
FM
G
(nA) ;M
Q
G
(nA)#
1
<
A
o FA
G
o;Q A
G
(18)
The "rst part of the right end member can be safely identi"ed with the integral over the contact
orientation if the number of contacts is large enough.
o
GH
c
GH
"
N
<
`L
"
FM
G
;M
Q
G
P(n) d0#
1
<
A
oFA
G
o;Q A
G
(19)
The second-order work can be treated in the same way:
o
GH
c
GH
"
N
<
`L
"
FM
Q
G
;M
Q
G
P(n) d0#
1
<
A
oFQ A
G
o;Q A
G
"
N
<k
L

`L
"

FM
Q
`
L
#
1
:
FM
Q
`
R
P(n) d0#
1
<k
L
A
(oFQ A
L
)`#
1
:
(oFQ A
R
)` (20)
where the linear elastic contact law is used explicitly.
The respective contributions of the average forces and of the deviation from the average to the
right sides of (19) and (20) are reported in Table VI. Results are presented for three di!erent
incremental paths (1 (isotropic compression), 2 (biaxial loading in the y-direction and 3 (purely
deviatoric)) and for the conditions of free and "xed rotations (the normal and tangential sti!ness
are equal).
When the rotations of the particles are "xed, the contribution of the deviation from the average
is almost constant whatever the loading path and remains relatively small (approximately 10% of
the macroscopic work). If the particles are free to rotate, this contribution is greater. Although
almost constant for the "rst order work (15% of the total work), it increases with the deviatoric
character of the incremental loading for the second order work (up to 40% for the purely
deviatoric path). In the last column of Table VI, the values corresponding to the "rst order work
are not signi"cant because in the case of Path 3 the macroscopic work is null (the initial stress is
isotropic and the incremental loading is purely deviatoric).
It follows from this study that to accurately take into account a more re"ned description
of the contact forces distribution in order to derive macroscopic stress}strain relationships,
the condition on second-order work (20) has to be used in preference to the "rst-order work
equation (19).
5.2. Rexned modelling of the distribution of incremental contact forces
Following the conclusions of the previous section, the distribution of the deviation from the
average oFQ A is studied and modelled in this part. This deviation is shown to be dependent on the
loading path, the rotation constraint and the value of : (Figures 11(a)}11(d)).
M
e
c
h
.
C
o
h
e
s
.
-
F
r
i
c
t
.
M
a
t
e
r
.
,
4
,
2
4
7
}
2
7
9
(
1
9
9
9
)
C
o
p
y
r
i
g
h
t
1
9
9
9
J
o
h
n
W
i
l
e
y
&
S
o
n
s
,
L
t
d
.
Figure 11(a). Distribution of normal and tangential contact forces with respect to the contact orientation: :"1)0, initial
isotropic stress state 100 kPa, "xed rotation, path 3
Figure 11(b). Distribution of normal and tangential contact forces with respect to the contact orientation: :"1)0, initial
isotropic stress state 100 kPa, "xed rotation, path 2
Figure 11(c). Distribution of normal and tangential contact forces with respect to the contact orientation: :"1)0, initial
isotropic stress state 100 kPa, free rotation, path 3
Figure 11(d). Distribution of normal and tangential contact forces with respect to the contact orientation: :"1)0, initial
isotropic stress state 100 kPa, free rotation, path 2
Figure 12. (a) Evolution of x and y with the incremental loading direction: :"1)0, initial stress 100 kPa, free rotation;
(b) Evolution of x and y with the incremental loading direction: :"1)0, initial stress 100 kPa, "xed rotation
If the particles are free to rotate, the deviation from the respective average of both normal and
tangential contact forces can be represented by simple uniform centred distributions:
oFQ A
L
"X, X3[!x; x] and P(X)"
1
2x
(21a)
oFQ A
L
">, >3[!y; y] and P(>)"
1
2y
(21b)
The values of x and y depend on the loading path and on the value of :.
On the contrary, if the rotations of the particles are "xed, the normal and tangential distribu-
tions of oFQ A assume the following form.
oFQ A
L
"X[sin2:
N
#cos 2:
N
(1#: cos(20#2:
N
))], X3[!x; x] and P(X)"
1
2x
(22a)
oFQ A
R
">[sin2:
N
#cos 2:
N
(1!: sin(0#:
N
))], >3[!y; y] and P(>)"
1
2y
(22b)
where :
N
is the direction of the incremental loading in the Ao
V
}Ao
W
plane (Figure 3) and 0 is the
orientation of the contact normal vector with respect to the x-axis.
As previously pointed out the values of x and y depend on the loading direction, the anisotropy
of the material, the ratio : and the particle rotation constraint. The evolution of the statistical
parameters x and y are presented in Figures 12(a)}12(f).
Figure 12. (c) Evolution of x and y with the incremental loading direction: :"1)0, initial stress 190 kPa, free rotation;
(d) Evolution of x and y with the incremental loading direction: :"1)0, initial stress 190 kPa, "xed rotation
Figure 12. (e) Evolution of x and y with the incremental loading direction: :"0)25, initial stress 100 kPa, free rotation;
(f) Evolution of x and y with the incremental loading direction: :"0)25, initial stress 100 kPa, "xed rotation
5.3. Modelling of the elasticity
By introducing the proposed modelling of the deviation from the average contact forces
(equations (21) and (22)) in the second-order work equation (equation (20)) the following
expression is obtained, from which it is possible to determine the elastic constitutive parameters
of the material:
<oR
GH
cR
GH
"
1
k
L
A
(FQ A
L
)#
1
:
(FQ A
R
)`
"
N
k
L

`L
"

V
V
[FM
Q
`
L
#2FM
Q
L
oFM
Q
A
L
#(oFQ A
L
)`]P(n)P(X) d0 dX (23)
#
N
:k
L

`L
"

V
V
[FM
Q
`
R
#2FM
Q
R
oFM
Q
A
R
#(oFQ A
R
)`]P(n)P(>) d0 d>
In each of the integrals of equation (23), the second term vanishes because the distributions oFQ A
L
and oFQ A
R
are centred. Therefore equation (23) leads to
<oR
GH
cR
GH
"
N
k
L

`L
"
FM
Q
`
L
P(n) d0#
N
k
L
`L
"

V
V
(oFQ A
L
)` P(n)P(X) d0 dX
(24)
#
N
:k
L

`L
"
FM
Q
`
R
P(n) d0#
N
: k
L
`L
"

W
W
(oFQ A
R
)`P(n)P(>) d0 d>
In the isotropic case and for free rotation, equation (24) is writen as
<oR
GH
cR
GH
"
N
2k
L
`L
"
FM
Q
`
L
d0#
N
2:k
L

`L
"
FM
Q
`
R
d0#
N
k
L
x`
3
#
N
: k
L
y`
3
(25)
By using the expression of the average contact force established in Section 3 for an isotropic
medium, equation (25) is writen as
<oR
GH
cR
GH
"
<`o`
2 k
L
NR`
1#(1!2cos :
N
sin:
N
)
j`
4
!j#
`
#
1
:
j`
4
(cos :
N
!sin:
N
)`
#
N
k
L
x`
3
#
N
: k
L
y`
3
(26)
For "xed rotation, the same process yields
<oR
GH
cR
GH
"
<`o`
2 k
L
NR`
1#(1!2cos :
N
sin:
N
)
j`
4
!j#
`
#
1
:
j`
4
(cos :
N
!sin:
N
)`
#
N
k
L
x`
3
1#
`
cos 2:
N
[:` cos 2:
N
#4sin2:
N
]
#
N
k
L
x`
3
1#
`
cos` 2:
N
[:`!2:#
`
]#2cos 2:
N
sin 2:
N
[1!:]
(27)
Figure 13(a). Evolution of the Young's modulus with the vertical stress (:"1)0 and no rotation allowed)
Table VII. Comparison between experimental results and prediction
: Rotation
Measured E Predicted E
Measured v Predicted v (MPa) (MPa)
1)0 Fixed 43)8 42)9 0 0
Free 32)7 32)7 0)201 0)208
0)25 Fixed 28)4 27)1 0)295 0)322
Free 22)7 22)0 0)407 0)430
In order to determine the elastic constitutive parameters of an isotropic medium, the following
parameters must be evaluated:
* <, R, N (see Section 2.4)
* j, which is based on the description of the average contact force (see Section 3)
* x and y, which are measured in the present section.
If equation (26) and (27) are written for :
N
"/4 (isotropic probe) and :
N
"3/4 (purely
deviatoric probe), the Young's modulus and the Poisson's ratio can be obtained. Table VII
Figure 13(b). Evolution of the Young's modulus with the vertical stress (:"1)0 and free rotation)
contains the results of this process for two ratios : and the two rotation conditions. In each case
the predicted Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio compare very well with the numerical ones
(within less than 5% for E and 9% for v).
For an anisotropic medium the procedure is di!erent; and the average forces are used to derive
numerically the stress}strain relationship c
GH
"C
GHIJ
oR
GH
to be introduced into the "rst term
(written as <oR
GH
C
GHIJ
oR
GH
) on the right-hand side of equations (26) or (27). By considering the
loading paths 1, 2 and 3 the four coe$cients of the anisotropic elasticity are obtained. The results
presented in Figures 13(a)}13(c) have been obtained adopting for the quantities x and y an
interpolation between 100 and 190 kPa linear with the anisotropy index a.
In the case of "xed rotation, the moduli resulting from the presented approach are slightly
underestimated but the precision is nevertheless greatly improved when the &standard deviation'
is taken into account. The underestimation can be explained by the di$culty of representing
accurately the distribution of oFQ A.
On the contrary, in the case of free rotation, the distribution of oFQ A is accurately described by
a uniform centred distribution. Therefore, the results are remarkably good for 100 and 190 kPa.
The linear interpolation used to derive the elastic constitutive parameters between these two
stress states does not seemto be adequate even though the experimental results are predicted with
a satisfying precision.
Figure 13(c). Evolution of the Poisson's ratio with the vertical stress (:"1)0 and free rotation)
6. CONCLUSIONS
A DEM model of a granular material (an assembly of rigid disks) is subjected to a series of
incremental loading on a specimen composed of rigid disks. The obtained macroscopic results
show that the reversible incremental behaviour obeys a hyper-elastic law.
The average contact forces distributions (initial and incremental) can be accurately described by
the relations derived from the representation theorem, but unfortunately this "rst order description
is not su$cient to predict with a satisfying precision the elastic behaviour of this type of material.
A more re"ned description of the incremental contact forces has been therefore proposed,
considering the average contact force for a given contact orientation and also a centred
distribution around this average. The size and shape of the centred distribution depends on the
contact law, the fabric anisotropy and the constraint on the particle rotations. Based on the
equality of macroscopic and local second order works, the elastic constitutive parameters have
been predicted with a very good accuracy.
Further developments of this new approach should consider inelastic mechanisms such as
interparticle sliding.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge the "nancial support of the ALERT Geomaterials
network that has made possible the stay of Dr. Emeriault at the Department of Structural
Engineering of the Politecnico di Milano.
The kind contribution of Prof R. Nova in discussing results, and his stimulating hints, are also
gratefully acknowledged.
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*Correspondence to: F. Calvetti, D.I.S., Milan University of Technology (Politecnico), and A.L.E.R.T. Geomaterials.

CCC 1082-5010/99/030247}33$17.50 Received 9 October 1997

. The disk}wall contacts, characterized by "xed orienta-

, and the value

"0)8 is calibrated on the contact forces corresponding to o

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