title: Refraction of shear zones in granular materials.
abstract: We study strain localization in slow shear flow focusing on layered granular materials. A heretofore unknown effect is presented here. We show that shear zones are refracted at material interfaces in analogy with refraction of light beams in optics. This phenomenon can be obtained as a consequence of a recent variational model of shear zones. The predictions of the model are tested and confirmed by 3D discrete element simulations. We found that shear zones follow Snell's law of light refraction.
authors.affiliation: Research Group Theory of Condensed Matter of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Physics, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, H-1111 Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Tamás
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Unger
mesh_terms: D001698:Biomedical Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D001703:Biophysics / Q000379:methods*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D017276:Friction; D006112:Gravitation; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008027:Light; D008422:Materials Testing; D015233:Models, Statistical; D055095:Optics and Photonics