Mapping Grain Strains in Sand Under Load Using Neutron Diffraction Scanning

Towards the improvement of the understanding of force/stress distribution in granular media under load, a new experimental approach is suggested. Neutron diffraction, a non-conventional experimental technique, has been successfully used to map the evolution of intragranular strains in sand specimens loaded in a novel plane-strain apparatus. Representative preliminary results from recent experiments are presented, focusing on the correlation between the macro- and micro-scale response of the material, to highlight the potential of the experimental approach.