A MECHANICAL MODEL OF PARTICULATE MATERIAL BASED ON STOCHASTIC PROCESS

Abstract

In this paper the probability theory is applied to analyse the motions of particles in a particulate material and the mechanical model for particulate material is established. In modelling, the motions of particles are regarded as the Markov process which is one of the well-known stochastic processes. In this model the contact angles formed at contact points of particles are adopted as random variable. The basic equation of the two dimensional Markov process is derived and applied to the mechanical behaviours of particulate material. Furthermore, the strains are defined for particulate material and derived by using probability density function of contact angles and the discontinuous motions of particles at contact points.