A numerical model of fragmentation of a two-dimensional granular medium under pressure is investigated. The fragmentation process is found to be strongly dependent on the type of force used as the criterion for breaking the grains. The fragmentation mode affects the process less dramatically.
Gravity is demonstrated to be an important factor.
The origin of the log-normal size distribution is quite easy to understand. If all grains and fragments break always independently of each other and with a more or less constant probability per unit time, then, after a long time, the number of breakings per unit mass will have a normal distribution. By combining this with Eq. An interesting feature of power-law fragment size distributions is that it is possible to fill the entire space with fragments even if they have a 'problematic' shape like circles. In this paper we investigate a numerical two-dimensional model for the fragmentation of a granular medium under pressure.