Sands, Powders, and Grains: An Introduction to the Physics of Granular Materials (Partially Ordered Systems) [Hardcover]

Jacques Duran (Author), A. Reisinger (Translator), P.-G.de Gennes (Foreword)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0387986561 | ISBN-13: 978-0387986562 | Publication Date: November 12, 1999 | Edition: 1

This introductory text develops the fundamental physics of the behavior of granular materials. It covers the basic properties of flow, friction, and fluidization of uniform granular materials; discusses mixing and segregation of heterogeneous materials (the famous "brazil-nut problem"); and concludes with an introduction to numerical models. The presentation begins with simple experiments and uses their results to build concepts and theorems about materials whose behavior is often quite counter-intuitive; presenting in a unified way the background needed to understand current work in the field. Developed for students at the University of Paris, the text will be suitable for advanced undergraduates and beginning graduates; while also being of interest to researchers and engineers just entering the field.

Editorial Reviews

Review

FROM THE REVIEWS:

PURE AND APPLIED GEOPHYSICS
"In total, the book is lucidly written and offers a complementary approach to that usually found in the books treating soil and granular media mechanics. It presents a physicist’s viewpoint of granular media. It can also be used by both the researchers and in courses of soil mechanics.”

PHYSICS TODAY
"Duran’s book is didactic in style and provides an excellent starting point for an advanced student to enter the field…the prose is clear…would be a valuable addition for those with interest in the field.”

From the Back Cover

This is an introduction to the physical principles underlying the behavior of materials consisting of grains. These can be found in an enormous variety of places, ranging from the powders used to make vitamin pills to the rings of Saturn, from beaches to grain elevators, and from pottery clay to interstellar dust. Granular materials have interested physicists from Coulomb to Faraday to Reynolds and Rayleigh, but only recently have mathematical and experimental methods been developed to analyze their properties in detail.
This introductory text develops the fundamental physics of the behavior of granular materials. It covers the basic properties of flow, friction, and fluidization of uniform granular materials; discusses mixing and segregation of heterogeneous materials (the famous "brazil-nut problem"); and concludes with an introduction to numerical models. The presentation begins with simple experiments and uses their results to build concepts and theorems about materials whose behavior is often quite counter-intuitive; presenting in a unified way the background needed to understand current work in the field. Developed for students at the University of Paris, the text will be suitable for advanced undergraduates and beginning graduates; while also being of interest to researchers and engineers just entering the field.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 245 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 1 edition (November 12, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0387986561
• ISBN-13: 978-0387986562
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,278,663 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's Just Not About Sands of Time, July 12, 2001

By 

James L. Throne "Jim Throne" (Dunedin, Florida United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sands, Powders, and Grains: An Introduction to the Physics of Granular Materials (Partially Ordered Systems) (Hardcover)

It is interesting that even though the behavior of granular materials (sands, powders, grains) have been studied for more than 2000 years, only recently have technologists addressed the question of determining the fundamental characteristics of granular materials behavior. Two books on the physics of granular materials have been issued by Springer-Verlag in the last year or so. I have reviewed the Ristow book. And now I consider the Duran book.

Ristow is a leading researcher in Germany. Duran is from the French school of powder technology. The two books are at once overlapping and independent. Unlike Ristow's straightforward technical approach to the subject, Duran's approach is more tutorial. And this agrees with Duran's objective as cited in the Foreward. Both authors choose to cover the same ground, and both approach the two major areas, granular behavior of piles and granular behavior in rotating systems, in essentially the same way. I find Duran's approach frustrating, however. I want him to simply "cut to the chase," to "get on with the story." Having said this, I think that Duran provides an easier-to-understand arithmetic approach to granular materials behavior. Surprisingly, this is satisfying ONLY when one rereads the material! Both Ristow and Duran give extensive references. The Duran translation is excellent and the writing and equation explanation is clean. I guess my only fault with Duran is that he does not give as thorough an approach to modeling as Ristow. My library contains both Ristow and Duran.

4.0 out of 5 stars The granular book for physicists, October 5, 2007

By 

T. Brzinski (Philly PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sands, Powders, and Grains: An Introduction to the Physics of Granular Materials (Partially Ordered Systems) (Hardcover)

This is the best book around on the general physics of granular systems. A solid addition to the shelf.