Mechanics of Natural Solids

Sand as an archetypical natural solid.- The Physics of Granular Mechanics.- Are we there yet? Following the energy trail in cohesionless granular solids.- Micromechanical alternatives to phenomenological hardening plasticity.- Mechanisms of localized deformation in geomaterials: an experimental insight using full-field measurement techniques.- Two-dimensional Distinct Element Method (DEM) modeling of tectonic fault growth in mechanically layered sequences.- When geophysics met geomechanics: Imaging of geomechanical properties and processes using elastic waves.- Fracture of Ice and other Coulombic Materials.- Experimental studies of the viscoplasticty of ice and snow.- Discontinuities in granular materials: Particle-level mechanisms.- Grain Crushing, Pore Collapse and Strain Localization in Porous Sandstone.- Long term behaviour and size effects of coarse granular media.- Nature – A Very Clever Experimentalist.

This book presents the lectures of the Symposium on Mechanics of Natural Solids, hold from 7th to 9th September 2009 in Horto, Greece. It delivers a paradigm for the interconnection of the mechanics of soil, rock, ice and snow and also for the interdisciplinary character of the related research. Therefore, the presented lectures are of fundamental character and address the possible interfaces and the fascinating contents of the several subjects.

Presents the lectures of the Symposium on Mechanics of Natural Solids, September 2009 in Horto, Greece
Delivers a paradigm for the interconnection of the mechanics of soil, rock, ice and snow
Presented lectures are of fundamental character