Influence of Particle Shape on Microstructure of Granular Materials under Gravity
Publication: Journal of Engineering Mechanics
Volume 147, Issue 11
Abstract
The paper presents a study of particle shape effect on microstructure within granular materials in gravitational environments using samples acquired from three-dimensional (3D) discrete element method (DEM) modeling and simulation (M&S) of gravitational pluviations. Three-axis ellipsoidal particles with various aspect ratios are examined for their spatial orientations, and the three-axis probability density functions (PDF) are analyzed before and after pluviation. A complicated data structure, convex hull, is employed to construct tetrahedra that connect particle centroids and investigate the internal topology and fabric of particle assemblies composed of various particle shapes. The Qhull-constructed connected tetrahedra within granular materials may serve as a useful tool to study the geometrical fabric (such as tetrahedron shape, solid angles, and void ratio), investigate particle collision requirements in sample preparation, describe strain/deformation/failure mechanisms, and explore stress distribution over granular materials.
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Data Availability Statement
Some data, models, or codes that support the findings of this work are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. The codes are available from this website: https://gitlab.com/micromorph/paraellip3d-cfd
Acknowledgments
Funding for this work was provided by ONR grant N00014-17-1-2704, which is gratefully acknowledged. Computational resources were provided by the DoD High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP). We declare that there is no conflict of interest.
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Published In
Journal of Engineering Mechanics
Volume 147 • Issue 11 • November 2021
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 3, 2021
Accepted: Jul 27, 2021
Published online: Sep 13, 2021
Published in print: Nov 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Feb 13, 2022
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