II. On the stability of loose earth

Abstract

1. General Principle. The subject of this paper is,—the mathematical theory of that kind of stability, which, in a mass composed of separate grains, arises wholly from the mutual friction of those grains, and not from any adhesion amongst them. Previous researches on this subject are based (so far as I am acquainted with them) on some mathematical artifice or assumption, such as Coulomb’s “wedge of least resistance.” Researches so based, although leading to true solutions of many special problems, are both limited in the application of their results, and unsatisfactory in a scientific point of view. I propose, therefore, to investigate the mathematical theory of the frictional stability of a granular mass, without the aid of any artifice or assumption, and from the following sole.