Formulation of Anisotropic Strength Criteria for Cohesionless Granular Materials
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 17, Issue 7
Abstract
Granular materials deposited under gravity usually exhibit inherent fabric anisotropy, which leads to profoundly varying strength under different loading directions in regard to the bedding plane that has been observed through experiments and numerical simulations. Classical isotropic strength criteria that are only stress dependent cannot describe such anisotropy in strength. This study introduces an anisotropic strength variable Λ that measures the distance between the bedding plane and the maximum shear stress ratio plane, thus incorporating both the stress tensor and the material orientation, and guarantees objectivity. The strength variable Λ is adopted to construct a general formulation that allows for the extension of many existing isotropic strength criteria to become anisotropic. The formulation requires only the following two parameters: kf0, reflecting the minimum strength of the material, and a, reflecting the intensity of inherent anisotropy. The two parameters can be conveniently calibrated. The proposed strength criteria formulation is validated against both physical tests and discrete-element method (DEM) simulations on various granular materials, showing its capability in describing the anisotropic strength. The anisotropic strength criteria formulation is applied to analysis of passive earth pressure to showcase the significance that considerations for strength anisotropy could make to geotechnical design.
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Acknowledgments
The work in this paper was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 51678346 and 51038007) and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grants 2015M570106 and 2016T90099). The second author would like to especially thank Professor Yannis Dafalias for his discussions and insights regarding the anisotropy of granular materials.
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Published In
International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 17 • Issue 7 • July 2017
Copyright
© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 13, 2016
Accepted: Oct 14, 2016
Published online: Nov 29, 2016
Discussion open until: Apr 29, 2017
Published in print: Jul 1, 2017
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