Measurement of the Abrasion of Granular Materials Using Fractals

Gravels forming part of flexible pavements experience abrasion as a result of traffic loads. Abrasion takes place when the sharp corners of the particles break and produce a mixture of grains of varying sizes. Also, the original particles change in shape as well. In this study, the abrasion of gravels are evaluated experimentally and analytically. Experimentally, the gravels were subjected to abrasion in a jar milling test. Analytically, abrasion was measured using the fractal dimension concept. Two fractal dimension values were obtained. One was the shape fractal dimension value and the other was the fragmentation fractal dimension value. Two sets of gravels were used in this study. One was made of smooth gravel, the other was made of rough gravel. It was determined that with an increase in the level of abrasion, the shape fractal dimension number decreased in value and the fragmentation fractal dimension number increased in value.