A stroll on the beach can mean sinking your toes into smooth sand or walking firm-footed on a surface that appears almost solid. While both properties are commonplace, exactly what it is that makes ...

Examples of granular matter: multicolored plastic balls in a playground, gravel, sesame seeds and lentils (clockwise from top left). Images by Julia Kertesz, Martin Olsson, Jitender Kumar and Zyance ...

Dense flows of grains driven by gravity down inclines occur in nature and in industrial processes. Natural examples include rock avalanches and dune slides. Applications are found in the chemical, ...

The transmission of force through granular matter such as sand is a crucial consideration in certain applications. The behaviour observed depends on the particle interactions as well as on the length ...