Abstract
IN view of the many technological fields where an understanding of the properties of granular materials is fundamental, it is surprising that there has been little systematic investigation, the present inchoate body of knowledge being derived from ad hoc studies. In reviewing the more recent literature, D. R. Hudson (Machinery, 70, 617, 681 ; 1947) discusses work on packings of material in bulk carried out by investigators in the fields of geology, fuel technology, the ceramic industry, civil and chemical engineering, and powder metallurgy. This widespread interest may account partly for the diffuse study in industrial research. On the academic side the present preoccupation with the fine-structure of matter has led to the neglect of Osborne Reynolds' pioneer work on packings, undertaken in the 1890's in an attempt to provide a mechanical explanation of the universe.
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Mechanics of Packings of Granular Material. Nature 161, 512–513 (1948). https://doi.org/10.1038/161512d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/161512d0