Engineering Challenges
- Excavation and granular–equipment interaction
- Wear of mining and construction equipment
- Pile installation and granular–structure interaction
- Soil liquefaction and instability
- Granular flow, transport, and blockage
Seeing forces inside granular materials.
We investigate how granular materials carry load, reorganize, flow, and interact with engineering systems through photoelastic experiments, advanced imaging, and discrete-element modeling.
Research
From Particle-Scale Forces to Engineering Solutions
We connect engineering challenges to direct particle-scale measurements and micromechanical interpretation.
Geotechnical Engineering
Granular Mechanics
Photoelasticity
Granular–Structure & Equipment Interaction
Photoelastic Granular Mechanics
Full-field particle stress measurement and force-chain tracking under quasi-static, cyclic, and flow conditions, enabling direct investigation of jamming, unjamming, cyclic response, and liquefaction mechanisms.
Mechanistic Insight
- Force-chain formation and reorganization
- Fabric evolution and anisotropy
- Jamming–unjamming transitions
- Stress redistribution and localization
- Micromechanical origins of critical-state behavior
Experimental Platform
A dedicated platform for full-field granular stress imaging.
Our custom experimental platform integrates polarization optics, controllable motion, imaging, and mechanical testing to support quantitative photoelastic measurements in granular systems.
Full-field imaging
Controlled polarization
Particle-scale stress analysis
Granular loading experiments
Funded Projects
Research supported by national and provincial programs.
Four principal-investigator-led projects support the laboratory's work in granular mechanics, photoelasticity, and geotechnical engineering.
Principal Investigator
National Natural Science Foundation of China — Distinguished Young Scholars (Overseas)
Integrated Theoretical Development and Applications of Statics, Dynamics, and Physics of Granular Materials
Principal Investigator
National Natural Science Foundation of China — Young Scientists Fund
Photoelasticity-Based Investigation of Flow Liquefaction Mechanisms and Particle Shape Effects in Geotechnical Granular Materials
Principal Investigator
Natural Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province
Development of a Photoelastic Disk Polarization Scanning Instrument for Investigating Flow Liquefaction Mechanisms in Geomaterials
Principal Investigator
Early-Career Young Scientists and Technologists Project of Jiangxi Province
Study on Flow Liquefaction Mechanisms in Geomaterials
Photoelasticity
Stress becomes visible.
Polarized-light imaging converts otherwise invisible stress information into measurable fringe patterns.
People
Research leadership and collaboration
People contributing to the laboratory's research in granular mechanics, experimental methods, and engineering applications.
Principal Investigator
Yuxuan Wen
Professor · East China Jiaotong University
Research in geotechnical engineering, granular mechanics, photoelasticity, and granular–structure and equipment interaction.
yuxuan.wen@ecjtu.edu.cnCollaborators
T. Matthew Evans
Professor · Oregon State University
Granular mechanics, image analysis, numerical methods, and unsaturated soil mechanics.
Haiyang Zhuang
Professor · East China Jiaotong University
Geotechnical earthquake engineering, intelligent construction and resilience of underground green buildings, and civil engineering reuse of solid waste.
Bitang Zhu
Professor · East China Jiaotong University
Intelligent geotechnical engineering, tunnel engineering, pile foundations, deep excavations, and offshore wind turbine foundations.
Students
Susu Liu
M.S. Student
Photoelastic Granular Mechanics
Rongjun Wei
M.E. Student
Helical Pile–Particle Interaction
Selected Publications
Mechanics, morphology, fabric, and granular behavior.
Selected papers representing our work on granular fabric, jamming, particle shape, and liquefaction.
Isolated effects of three-dimensional particle shape on the critical state behaviour of granular soils under constant mean stress shearing (2026)
Géotechnique 76, No. 8, 1035–1051.
Influence of fines content and initial static shear on the cyclic liquefaction behavior of silty sands: A DEM study (2026)
Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering 207, 110285.
Fabric-based jamming phase diagram for frictional granular materials (2024)
Soft Matter 20, No. 14, 3175–3190.
Evidence of a unique critical fabric surface for granular soils (2023)
Géotechnique 73, No. 5, 439–454.
Relation between void ratio and contact fabric of granular soils (2022)
Acta Geotechnica 17, 4297–4312.
Technology & Collaboration
From fundamental mechanics to deployable engineering technology.
We welcome collaborations with academic groups, engineering companies, equipment manufacturers, and technology partners.
Research Collaboration
Joint work in granular mechanics, photoelasticity, geomechanics, and particle-scale experimental methods.
Industrial R&D
Mechanics-based analysis of excavation, wear, granular processing, and granular–equipment interaction.
Instrumentation & Technology
Photoelastic measurement platforms, imaging workflows, stress analysis, and experimental system development.
Student Opportunities
Research opportunities for students interested in experiments, computation, imaging, and granular mechanics.
Contact
Start a conversation.
Research collaboration, industrial R&D, student opportunities, and technology discussions:
yuxuan.wen@ecjtu.edu.cnEast China Jiaotong University · Nanchang, China
Affiliated with
