Force fluctuations in granular materials

Force fluctuations in granular materials are investigated. A continuum equation is derived starting from a discrete model proposed in the literature. The influence of boundary conditions is investigated. For periodic boundary conditions the average weight is found to increase linearly with depth while it saturates to a constant value for absorbing boundary conditions, which models the existence of walls. The scale dependencies of the saturation weight, the saturation depth and the average squared fluctuations are obtained. The analytical results are compared with previous works and with numerical simulations in one dimension.