Photoelastic Grain Solver v2.0: An updated tool for analysis of force measurements in granular materials

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Role

Author

Publication

Powders & Grains 2025 – 10th International Conference on Micromechanics on Granular Media

Journal Title

EPJ Web of Conferences

Volume

340

First Page

10004

Publication Date

12-1-2025

Abstract

Photoelastic force imaging is an experimental technique whereby a birefringent granular material is imaged with a polariscope to characterize the internal stress state of a granular material. Photoelasticimetry is the only proven experimental technique that allows researchers to measure the shear and normal forces at every particle contact in a granular packing. In 2017, Kollmer et al. [Rev. Sci. Instrum. 88, 051808 (2017)] developed an open-source software to perform this analysis. Here, we present the next substantial update to this software package. The new version improves resolution and efficiency and substantially changes the software architecture. The structural changes better facilitate add-ons, modules, and future improvements to the performance, accessibility, and versatility of the tool. Besides updates to the core software, we introduce new infrastructure to support the ongoing development of software, documentation, and training materials. The full development team, software, and supporting resources are available at https://github.com/photoelasticity.

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