NOTE: This conference is held every other year. The 2020 conference has been cancelled due to covid-19, and the series will pick up again in 2022. This is a description of the 2018 conference. The organizers (Nathalie Vriend at Cambridge, Xiang Chang at U. Minnesota) are hoping to increase industrial participation. They are hoping that IFPRI can provide suggestions for speakers and attendees. Attendance at GRCs is by invitation only.
Particulate materials, like sand, ore or grain, are ubiquitous in Nature. And even more significantly, they are the second-most processed materials in industry, just after water. They may behave similar to a solid, a liquid or a gas, and—frequently—all of those simultaneously. In all cases their behavior is found to be surprisingly rich and complex. The exploration and understanding of the many new phenomena encountered in granular materials calls for a multidisciplinary approach that encompasses fields like chemical, civil and mechanical engineering, fluid mechanics, rheology, physics, applied mathematics, and earth and planetary sciences. This ninth GRC on Granular Matter will provide many opportunities for researchers from different fields to freely interact and discuss about new discoveries and recent progress focused around these multifaceted materials. The base for this interaction will be formed by poster sessions and plenary sessions where invited speakers and discussion leaders will stimulate discussion on topics at the forefront of the field.