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Granular-microstructured rods show strong dependence of grain-scale interactions in their mechanical behavior, and therefore, their proper description requires theories beyond the classical theory of continuum mechanics. Recently, the authors have derived a micromorphic continuum theory of degree n based upon the granular micromechanics approach (GMA). Here, the GMA is further specialized for a one-dimensional material with granular microstructure that can be described as a micromorphic medium of degree 1. To this end, the constitutive relationships, governing equations of motion and variationally consistent boundary conditions are derived. Furthermore, the static and dynamic length scales are linked to the second-gradient stiffness and micro-scale mass density distribution, respectively. The behavior of a one-dimensional granular structure for different boundary conditions is studied in both static and dynamic problems. The effects of material constants and the size effects on the response of the material are also investigated through parametric studies. In the static problem, the size-dependency of the system is observed in the width of the emergent boundary layers for certain imposed boundary conditions. In the dynamic problem, microstructural effects are always present and are manifested as deviations in the natural frequencies of the system from their classical counterparts. 

Granular micromechanics approach (GMA) provides a predictive theory for granular material behavior by connecting the grain-scale interactions to continuum models. Here we have used GMA to predict the closed-form expressions for elastic constants of macro-scale chiral granular metamaterial. It is shown that for macro-scale chirality, the grain-pair interactions must include coupling between normal and tangential deformations. We have designed such a grain-pair connection for physical realization and quantified with FE model. The verification of the prediction is then performed using a physical model of 1D bead string obtained by 3D printing. The behavior is also verified using a discrete model of 1D bead string. 

For many problems in science and engineering, it is necessary to describe the collective behavior of a very large number of grains. Complexity inherent in granular materials, whether due the variability of grain interactions or grain-scale morphological factors, requires modeling approaches that are both representative and tractable. In these cases, continuum modeling remains the most feasible approach; however, for such models to be representative, they must properly account for the granular nature of the material. The granular micromechanics approach has been shown to offer a way forward for linking the grain-scale behavior to the collective behavior of millions and billions of grains while keeping within the continuum framework. In this paper, an extended granular micromechanics approach is developed that leads to a micromorphic theory of degree n. This extended form aims at capturing the detailed grain-scale kinematics in disordered (mechanically or morphologically) granular media. To this end, additional continuum kinematic measures are introduced and related to the grain-pair relative motions. The need for enriched descriptions is justified through experimental measurements as well as results from simulations using discrete models. Stresses conjugate to the kinematic measures are then defined and related, through equivalence of deformation energy density, to forces conjugate to the measures of grain-pair relative motions. The kinetic energy density description for a continuum material point is also correspondingly enriched, and a variational approach is used to derive the governing equations of motion. By specifying a particular choice for degree n, abridged models of degrees 2 and 1 are derived, which are shown to further simplify to micro-polar or Cosserat-type and second-gradient models of granular materials.