#4 Effect of Intruder Shape on Jamming and Force Chain Formation in a Confined Granular Medium

Granular media are ubiquitous in nature and engineering, ranging from sand dunes to powder materials used in agriculture and construction. The behavior of granular media is highly complex and dependent on many factors, including the shape and size of particles, boundary conditions, and external forces. In this project, we focus on the behavior of intruders, which are objects that are inserted into a granular medium, with a particular emphasis on the effect of their shape on the mechanical behavior of the medium. We will use numerical simulations (discrete element methods (DEM), which is a numerical simulation technique that models individual particles and their interactions) to investigate the jamming and force chain formation in a confined granular medium for different intruder shapes.