Configurational mechanics in granular media

Abstract Granular materials belong to the class of complex materials within which rich properties can emerge on large scales despite a simple physics operating on the microscopic scale. Most notable is the dissipative behaviour of such materials mainly through non-linear frictional interactions between the grains which go out of equilibrium. A whole variety of intriguing features thus emerges in the form of bifurcation modes in either patterning or un-jamming. This complexity of granular materials is mainly due to the geometrical disorder that exists in the granular structure. Diverse configurations of grain collections confer to the assembly the capacity to deform and adapt itself against different loading conditions. Whereas the incidence of frictional properties in the macroscopic plastic behavior has been well described for long, the role of topological reorganizations that occur remains much more elusive. This paper attempts to shed a new light on this issue by developing ideas following the configurational entropy concept within a proper statistical framework. As such, it is shown that contact opening and closing mechanisms can give rise to a so-called configurational dissipation which can explain the irreversible topological evolutions that granular materials undergo in the absence of frictional interactions.