Shear Strength of Assemblies of Frictionless Particles
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 17, Issue 11
Abstract
Whether a granular assembly of frictionless particles has shear strength is a very interesting but not well-understood question. This study addressed this question using discrete element method (DEM) simulations along with an energy-based analysis. It is shown that the use of artificial damping in DEM simulations leads to a frictionless assembly exhibiting normal quasi-static shear behavior, with the overall angle of friction at the critical state being nonzero. However, when this artificial damping is absent, the frictionless assembly cannot achieve a quasi-static state but rather exhibits a stress oscillating state, with all particles in vibration, and the shear strength is expected to be zero. From an energy perspective, it is shown that the artificial damping used in DEM simulations plays the sole role in energy dissipation for the frictionless assembly and that it facilitates the establishment of a quasi-static state from which shear strength is mobilized. Therefore, the nonzero angle of shear resistance reported in the literature for frictionless granular assemblies under quasi-static shear should be regarded as a false rather than a true strength parameter.
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Acknowledgments
The authors extend their sincere gratitude to the financial support provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51209237, 51428901) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (13lgpy05).
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Published In
International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 17 • Issue 11 • November 2017
Copyright
© 2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 9, 2016
Accepted: May 24, 2017
Published online: Sep 8, 2017
Published in print: Nov 1, 2017
Discussion open until: Feb 8, 2018
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