Remarks on Constitutive Modeling of Granular Materials

In this paper, we provide a brief overview of certain fundamental concepts which can be used to derive constitutive relations for the stress tensor of granular materials. These include concepts such as dilatancy, cohesion, yield criterion, shear banding, etc. The focus will be on the constitutive relations which are used in the so-called ‘frictional flow’ or ‘slow flow’ regime as opposed to the rapid flow regime; in the slow flow regime the material is about to yield or has just yielded and the flow has been initiated. This type of flow occurs in the storage of grains, etc., in silos and bins or hoppers after the valves/gates are opened. The techniques of continuum mechanics are used to discuss constitutive relations where the effects of non-linearities such as yield stress, dilatancy, density gradients, etc., are important.