Abstract
A numerical investigation of the effect of particle breakage on the one-dimensional compression behavior of a realistic granular assembly was carried out using the discrete-element method. The morphologies of sands were obtained using X-ray microcomputed tomography. Sand assemblies were generated in terms of the statistical distribution of sphericity from real sands. The results of single-particle compression tests showed that particle shape significantly affects crushing strength. Particle breakage had a significant influence on compressive deformation, as demonstrated by comparing breakable assemblies with unbreakable ones. The strong force distribution became broader, and the proportion of weak force increased with particle breakability. Looser samples underwent much more particle breakage than did denser samples. It was found that breakage dissipation was a small fraction of energy input compared with frictional dissipation. An excellent hyperbolic relationship between relative breakage and energy input was found, which was independent of initial void ratio.
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Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge support received from the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2016YFC0600904), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51804300), and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2018M632418). The authors also thank the anonymous reviewers, whose comments significantly improved the manuscript.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 21 • Issue 7 • July 2021
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 23, 2020
Accepted: Jan 4, 2021
Published online: Apr 28, 2021
Published in print: Jul 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Sep 28, 2021
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Analysis (by type)
- Compression tests
- Compressive strength
- Discrete element method
- Engineering fundamentals
- Engineering materials (by type)
- Geomechanics
- Geotechnical engineering
- Granular materials
- Laboratory tests
- Material mechanics
- Material properties
- Materials engineering
- Methodology (by type)
- Numerical analysis
- Numerical methods
- Particles
- Sandy soils
- Soil mechanics
- Soils (by type)
- Strength of materials
- Tests (by type)
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