Granular Materials in Civil Engineering: Recent Advances in the Physics of Their Mechanical Behavior and Applications to Engineering Works - Multiscale Geomechanics: From Soil to Engineering Projects - page 35

phenomena within the materials up to the scale of the engineering structure,
therefore considering a multiscale approach.
a) High speed railway infrastructures
b) Marine works
c) Rockfill Dams
(Grand-Maison Dam-Photo EDF)
Figure 3.1. Large earth and rockfill infrastructures in civil engineering
This chapter presents the main results from personal research into the physics of
granular materials, as well as results from a collaborative research in France
investigating the mechanical behavior of large rockfill dams. This collaborative
research program revisited previous experimental results on rockfills, applying
present knowledge on the physics of materials, especially in the fracture mechanics
of brittle materials [FRO 05], bringing to light a wide set of new results of practical
use.
We will successively present the two physical phenomena at the basis of the
mechanical behavior of these materials:
− first, the mobilization of the shear strength, which is the main aspect of
structural stability due to energy dissipation by friction at the contact between
grains;
− second, grain breakage leading to increasing compressibility of the granular
assembly, additional settlements of the structure, and scale effects.
Practical applications will be presented throughout this chapter and the ones
discussed in greatest detail will be the subject of a specific section (section 3.3).