Static Friction Phenomena in Granular Materials: Coulomb Law vs. Particle Geometry

TL;DR

This paper introduces a geometrical shape-based model for static friction in granular materials that aligns well with experimental data, avoiding complex force calculations.

Contribution

The novel approach models static friction through particle geometry, eliminating the need for explicit force expressions in simulations.

Findings

Simulation results match experimental data closely

Model effectively captures static and dynamic behavior

Geometry-based method simplifies friction modeling

Abstract

The static as well as the dynamic behaviour of granular material are determined by dynamic {\it and} static friction. There are well known methods to include static friction in molecular dynamics simulations using scarcely understood forces. We propose an Ansatz based on the geometrical shape of nonspherical particles which does not involve an explicit expression for static friction. It is shown that the simulations based on this model are close to experimental results.