title: Flexural fracturing of a cohesive granular layer.
abstract: We report on the fracturing of cohesive granular materials subjected to a flexural deformation. A thin layer of glass beads or of flour is deposited on an unstretchable membrane to which flexion is imposed. We observe the formation of a periodic fracturing pattern whose characteristics are discussed in comparison with results previously obtained for an in-plane stretching [Alarcon, Ramos, Vanel, Vittoz, Melo, and Géminard, Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 208001 (2010)]. In particular, at a given relative humidity, the wavelength is observed to depend linearly on the layer thickness but to be independent of the grain size, although the smallest grains are clearly more cohesive.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physique, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Université de Lyon, CNRS, UMR 5672, 46 Allée d'Italie, F-69007 Lyon, France.
authors.forename: Jean-Christophe
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Géminard
authors.forename: Lorène
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Champougny
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lidon
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Melo
mesh_terms: D000268:Adhesiveness; D003102:Colloids / Q000737:chemistry*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D055119:Elastic Modulus; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008958:Models, Molecular
chemical_list: D003102:Colloids