Stress Transfer Within Granular Geomaterials
Local stresses within granular materials are random variables whose variance depends on the size of the elementary surface considered. This paper shows that this 'mechanical scale effect' is closely related to internal random variations of porosity ('geometric scale effect') and can be described through a simple analytical expression supported by experimental data obtained on Schneebeli's material. The results presented are relevant to problems of measurement of stresses within coarse geomaterials used in civil engineering.