Multiscale Morphological Effects on Stress-Dilation Behaviors of Natural Sands: A 3D Printing Simulation Method
Publication: Journal of Engineering Mechanics
Volume 148, Issue 9
Abstract
Particle morphology is a basic inherent feature of granular materials that plays an important role on their macroscopic behaviors. A multiscale description of particle morphology is generally developed from three levels: large (general form), medium (local roundness), and small (surface roughness). The morphological features of two typical natural sands (Fujian sand and calcareous sand) were investigated in the present study based on spherical harmonic (SH) analysis. Three-dimensional (3D) printing was employed to develop the mass manufacture of grains with independent control of morphology and material properties. Full-scale morphologies of the sphere, Fujian sand (FS) as well as calcareous sand (CS), and single-scale morphologies of calcareous sand at large-(CS24), medium-(CS58), and small-(CS915) levels were printed. A series of triaxial tests were performed on these printed grains to explore their strength-dilation behaviors. The results suggested obvious strain-softening and volume-dilation behaviors were observed at a confining pressure varying from 20 to 100 kPa. A significant enhancement of both shear strength and bulk dilation was indicated from irregularly shaped particles compared with the volume-equivalent spheres. Also, the morphologically derived enhancement of shear strength is weakened from the general form to surface roughness while the enhancement of dilation is the strongest at the medium-scale level of local roundness, indicating different morphological origins between strength and dilatancy. In addition, Bolton’s dilatancy coefficient is a fixed value of 0.452 in this paper, independent of particle shape.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the research grants (No. 51979087) from the National Natural Science Foundation of China. The authors are also grateful to Qincheng Wang for helpful suggestions during preparation of this manuscript.
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© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 12, 2021
Accepted: Apr 5, 2022
Published online: Jun 24, 2022
Published in print: Sep 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Nov 24, 2022
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Calcareous soils
- Engineering materials (by type)
- Geomechanics
- Geotechnical engineering
- Grain (material)
- Granular materials
- Hydraulic engineering
- Hydraulic properties
- Hydraulic roughness
- Material mechanics
- Material properties
- Materials engineering
- Particles
- Shear strength
- Soil analysis
- Soil mechanics
- Soil properties
- Soils (by type)
- Strength of materials
- Water and water resources
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Cited by
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- Yang Xiao, Qingyun Fang, Armin W. Stuedlein, T. Matthew Evans, Effect of Particle Morphology on Strength of Glass Sands, International Journal of Geomechanics, 10.1061/IJGNAI.GMENG-8661, 23, 8, (2023).