Table Of ContentBUILT ON SAND
BUILT ON SAND
THE SCIENCE OF GRANULAR MATERIALS
ETIENNE GUYON, JEAN- YVES DELENNE,
AND FARHANG RADJAI
TRANSLATED BY ERIK BUTLER
FOREWORD BY KEN KAMRIN
THE MIT PRESS CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS LONDON, ENGLAND
Translation copyright © 2020 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Originally published as Matière en grains
© 2017 ODILE JACOB
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any
electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information
storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher.
This book was set in ITC Stone and Avenir by Toppan Best-set Premedia Limited.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Guyon, Etienne, author. | Delenne, Jean-Yves, author. | Radjaï, Farhang,
author. | Butler, Erik, 1971- translator. | Kamrin, Ken, writer of foreword.
Title: Built on sand : the science of granular materials / Etienne Guyon,
Jean-Yves Delenne, and Farhang Radjai ; translated by Erik Butler ; foreword by
Ken Kamrin.
Other titles: Matière en grains. English
Description: Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press, [2020] | Originally
published as: Matière en grains, by Odile Jacob, 2017. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019025843 | ISBN 9780262043700 (hardcover)
Subjects: LCSH: Granular materials.
Classification: LCC TA418.78 .G8513 2020 | DDC 620.1--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019025843
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
CONTENTS
FOREWORD vii
PREFACE ix
1 GRAINS, SEEDS, AND POWDERS 1
2 GRAIN PRODUCTION 17
3 PILES OF GRAINS 39
4 THE PACKING FRACTION 63
5 MAKING CONTACTS 81
6 MANIFESTATIONS OF DISORDER 101
7 FORCE CHAINS 117
8 GRANULAR FLOWS 133
9 FROM SANDCASTLES TO CLAY TOWERS 149
10 STICKY GRAINS 171
11 FLUIDS IN GRANULAR MATERIALS 191
12 GRAINS IN A FLUID 211
CONCLUSION 231
vi Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 235
GLOSSARY 237
BIBLIOGRAPHY 245
IMAGE CREDITS 247
INDEX 251
FOREWORD
There is something deeply intriguing about a pile of grains. On its face,
it seems simple. What could be so challenging about a packing of many
objects? And yet, the history of granular materials science begs to differ.
Despite the commonality of granular media in day-t o-d ay life—i ncluding
many important geophysical and industrial applications—t he model-
ing of this material displays curious challenges beyond what is seen in
other common materials like water or structural solids. To understand
the behavior of a landslide, for example, is to understand the culmina-
tion of physical processes happening all the way down to the scale of the
individual grains and their contact and dynamic laws. These curiosities
are what drew me to the field as a student and have kept me interested
for years.
Luckily, the last two decades or so have seen a growing revolution in
granular media, guided by rapid computer modeling techniques, inno-
vative experimental methods, and new physical insights that span the
grain level up to the geological scale. Our ability to translate particle-l evel
information, such as surface roughness, shape, size distribution, and wet-
ness into large-s cale models and simulations is at an inflection point.
Indeed, it is now timely for a book like this to help us put all these pieces
together.
viii Foreword
The three authors are leaders in this modern wave of the field. I have
had the pleasure of extensive interactions with Dr. Delenne and Dr. Radjai,
in the United States and in France. We organized an international confer-
ence in 2014 in Montpellier and Dr. Radjai spent several years as a visit-
ing researcher at MIT. Over the last half-d ecade, we have had numerous
exchanges and served on committees for each other’s students and post-
doctoral scholars. My appreciation of them as friends is surpassed only
by my respect for them as scientists. Delenne and Radjai have developed
some of the best computational tools out there for simulating granular
materials—b e the grains jagged, wet, soft, or bouncy. Their methods are
used sometimes in place of experiments due to their reliability and have
played a significant part in the development of novel theories of granular
mechanics. As for Dr. Guyon, his seminal work in hydrodynamics and
granular media was fundamental in my own education. But in synthesis
with his technical work, Dr. Guyon has worked intensely for improving
scientific communication to the public. I was fortunate to get to see Dr.
Guyon present on the history and creation of the French museum system
and its successes in public outreach. His drive and passion to communi-
cate the joy of science, regardless of the audience’s background, is evident
in the presentation of this book.
This book is not just a work about the science and applications of
granular media. It is a history book as well. It is also a how-t o book of
sorts, explaining methods for how these materials have been made and
manipulated since early civilization. The discussions are broad, ranging
from ancient ways to shape flint, to the science of making couscous, to
the statistics of percolating chains, to the etymology of our words. Such
breadth does justice to a subject matter rife with so many different direc-
tions to study. While the common link is granular media, this text is
really an opportunity to witness a storyline that passes through chemis-
try, physics, astronomy, math, and engineering.
Enjoy the ride!
Prof. Ken Kamrin
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
