Impact Waves in Sand: A Symposium: Theory Compared with Experiments on Sand Columns

A phenomenological theory is developed in order to study the propagation of unidimensional compression waves in columns of sand. The medium of the theory is treated as an elastic-plastic continuum. It is assumed that each element of the substance exhibits a strain- rate effect such that, at a given strain, the plastic strain-rate is proportional to the difference between the compressive stress on the particle and that stress which would act on the element under static conditions. Published experimental results on the propagation of stress waves in sand are used as a basis of comparison between experiment and theory. The present theory gives satisfactory agreement with experiments on stress propagation in two dry sands.