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Enlightening force chains: a review of photoelasticimetry in granular matter

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Abstract

A photoelastic material will reveal its internal stresses when observed through polarizing filters. This eye-catching property has enlightened our understanding of granular materials for over half a century, whether in the service of art, education, or scientific research. In this review article in honor of Robert Behringer, we highlight both his pioneering use of the method in physics research, and its reach into the public sphere through museum exhibits and outreach programs. We aim to provide clear protocols for artists, exhibit-designers, educators, and scientists to use in their own endeavors. It is our hope that this will build awareness about the ubiquitous presence of granular matter in our lives, enlighten its puzzling behavior, and promote conversations about its importance in environmental and industrial contexts. To aid in this endeavor, this paper also serves as a front door to a detailed wiki containing open, community-curated guidance on putting these methods into practice (Abed-Zadeh et al. in Photoelastic methods wiki https://git-xen.lmgc.univ-montp2.fr/PhotoElasticity/Main/wikis/home, 2019).

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Rémy Mozul for his technical support with the wiki [44]. Several conversations and collaborations have led to sharing the techniques described in this paper. We are grateful to Bernie Jelinek and Richard Nappi for sharing their technical knowledge about photoelastic material cutting. The outlook section contains insights gained from Chris M. Bingham, Willie J. Padilla, Anthony Llopis and Nan M. Jokerst (recent work on terahertz photoelasticity), and from Nathalie Vriend and Amalia Thomas (fast-imaging photoelasticity). Finally, we thank the late Robert Behringer for his kindness, his depth of knowledge gained from developing photoelastic techniques for two decades, and his stimulating attitude towards every new generation of scientists passing through his laboratory. This review article is a product of his excellent mentorship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Center for Nonlinear and Complex Systems, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Aghil Abed Zadeh, Dong Wang, Yiqiu Zhao & Hu Zheng

  2. Laboratoire de Mécanique et Génie Civil, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, Montpellier, France

    Jonathan Barés

  3. Department of Physics, Haverford College, Haverford, PA, USA

    Theodore A. Brzinski

  4. Department of Physics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA

    Karen E. Daniels

  5. Physical Chemistry and Soft Matter, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Joshua Dijksman & Marcel Workamp

  6. Institute of Mechanics, Material and Civil Engineering, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

    Nicolas Docquier & Olivier Lantsoght

  7. Department of Physics and Department of Chemistry, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Henry O. Everitt

  8. Department of Physics, Universität Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg, Germany

    Jonathan E. Kollmer

  9. School of Earth Science and Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing, 211100, Jiangsu, China

    Hu Zheng

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  1. Aghil Abed Zadeh
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  2. Jonathan Barés
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  10. Dong Wang
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Correspondence to Jonathan Barés.

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Abed Zadeh, A., Barés, J., Brzinski, T.A. et al. Enlightening force chains: a review of photoelasticimetry in granular matter. Granular Matter 21, 83 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10035-019-0942-2

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