Micro to MACRO Mathematical Modelling in Soil Mechanics

This volume collects selected papers from the Symposium on Micro to Macro Mathematical Modelling in SoilMechanics held in Reggio Calabria at the Università Mediterranea from May 29th to June 1st, 2018. The symposium was the fourth of a series started in 2000 in Reggio Calabria by one of us (P. Giovine) and further continued by him with the collaboration of always renewed scientific committees. Gianfranco Capriz (University of Pisa and Accademia dei Lincei, Rome) also gave an essential impulse to this process by contributing to the activity of the scientific committees in all editions of the symposium and addressing research on granular matter. This series of symposia registered a continuous growth in the number of participants. The various editions covered several aspects of the mechanics of granular matter, from theoretical issues (ranging from kinetic theory to extended thermodynamics, mixture theory, homogenization, and multi-scale continuum descriptions) to computer simulations and experimental campaigns. Problems emerging in the mechanics of soils often call upon methods and views from different theoretical settings, above all when we require a rather detailed mathematical representation of the physics involved. Proposed models imply challenging mathematical problems. Different computationalmethods show their powerfulness in specific circumstances; their technology requires at times refinements or adaptations, with consequent need of convergence proofs. Experimental campaigns vary from laboratory to in situ testing. However, their planning requires a preliminary theoretical view on the phenomena that we want to investigate, taking into account the limits of experimental devices. Due to the multiplicity of circumstances, methods, physical aspects, models, and theoretical problems involved in the mechanics of soils, we find it very hard to offer a complete view on the discipline. So, with this volume, we just try to furnish a collection of papers able to show a significant and variegate portion of the scenario. The articles collected here cover theoretical, computational, and experimentalwork. The readers find the analyses of questions dealing with crushing of particles, poro-mechanics, dynamics of pollutants, granular jamming, swelling, solid-fluid and chemo-mechanical couplings, greenfield tunneling, aging and liquefaction, photoelasticity, description of microstructures, etc. In these analyses, methods from theoretical continuum mechanics play an essential role, even with the help of rather sophisticated analytical tools. Computational strategies based on finite or discrete elements appear as useful (if not necessary at times) tools to quantify the solutions to specific problems. The experimental techniques involve in some cases X-ray tomography beyond the standard triaxial cell and other traditional procedures. In summary, this volume indicates a variety of peculiar aspects of the current trends in the mechanics of soils, which can be a source of suggestions for further researches.