Microscopic investigation of cosserat continua

The physics of granular matter is described on the scale of discrete single particles. The Eulerian-Newtonian equations of motion are implemented into a moleculardynamics simulation. Special emphasis is given to localization phenomena and to the influence of rotational degrees of freedom on shear ba nding. The observation from numerical experiments indicates that shear band ing can be modelled by employing only simple contact laws. We assume the no rmal contact forces being caused by damped elastic springs and tangential c ontact forces of Coulomb type friction.