Abstract
The mechanisms of force transmission in granular materials is a classic physics problem that has been addressed since the 19th century, when Heinrich Rudolf Hertz investigated the interaction between two similar objects that were in contact under compression. However, the study of force transmission mechanisms in assemblies of more particles has proven to be a formidable problem due to the complex nature of granular materials. In recent years, synchrotron microcomputed tomography (SMT) and three-dimensional X-ray diffraction microscopy (3DXRD) have been employed to study the mechanics of granular materials experimentally. Combining SMT and 3DXRD offers unique three-dimensional (3D) experimental measurements of the internal structure, kinematics (such as rotation and translation), and lattice strains of individual sand particles. In this paper, in situ SMT and 3DXRD scans were acquired at multiple load steps for a specimen composed of 2,705 natural Ottawa sand particles that were subjected to one-dimensional (1D) confined compression. An algorithm was developed to combine SMT images and 3DXRD lattice strain measurements and used to characterize the constitutive behavior of sand particles. The results were used to identify the crystal structure and the evolution of the stresses and lattice strains of individual sand particles. Another algorithm was developed to characterize the force structures within the specimen. Force structures were identified, and their properties (such as length) and evolution through the experiment were examined. The contact number of particles is a particle-scale property that affects the mechanics of granular materials. The effect of the contact number of the sand particles on the onset and evolution of the force structures was also investigated and discussed.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code generated or used during the study are available from the corresponding author by request.
Acknowledgments
This material is based on work supported by the US National Science Foundation under Grant No. CMMI-1362510. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. The SMT and 3DXRD images were collected using beamline 1-ID of the Argonne Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory. Use of the Advanced Photon Source, an Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory, was supported by the DOE under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357.
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Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 146 • Issue 5 • May 2020
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©2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 16, 2019
Accepted: Nov 18, 2019
Published online: Mar 10, 2020
Published in print: May 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Aug 10, 2020
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