Résumé
A model of the mechanical behaviour and rupture of solid type granular media is proposed in<br />this study.<br />This modelling is carried out on a reference medium made of aluminium cylinders and glue<br />joints playing the role of cohesive bonds. The experimental study of the bond's behaviour<br />leads to a cohesion law and to a failure criterion. These results are put into a computer code<br />based upon a discrete elements method extended to the cohesive case. This code is validated<br />by comparing the mechanical behaviour and the rupture shapes of real and numerical<br />macroscopic samples.<br />The model is therefore tested in the context of applications: strain and rupture of a beam,<br />sample fractionation, yield surface characterisation. Eventually, the association between the<br />model and a phenomenological approach describing the mass transfer, permits us to tackle the<br />cracking of media submitted to shrinking or swelling.