Observed Effects of Interparticle Friction and Particle Size on Shear Behavior of Granular Materials
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 16, Issue 1
Abstract
This paper presents an experimental study on the shear behavior of granular materials, focusing on the effects of interparticle friction and particle size, which are of fundamental importance but are not yet well understood. The experimental program consisted of a large number of direct shear tests on glass beads of varying sizes and interparticle friction conditions, performed under a range of packing densities and normal stress levels. Test data were interpreted in terms of the stress–dilatancy relationship and shear strength parameters. The study indicates that under otherwise similar testing conditions, oil-lubricated glass beads tend to have substantially lower shear strength as compared with water-lubricated, water-flooded, and dry glass beads. It has also been found that at similar particle size uniformity, increasing mean particle size () leads to more dilatant shear response and higher shear strength. A generalized stress–dilatancy relation is proposed, which introduces a variable dilatancy coefficient that reflects on the effects of interparticle friction and particle size. It is shown that classical stress–dilatancy relations can be regarded as special cases of this generalized case, with the dilatancy coefficient being taken as a constant. Further explanations for the observed effects on macroscopic behavior are provided from the micromechanics perspectives.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the University of Hong Kong under the Seed Funding for Basic Research Scheme. The authors also want to thank the financial support provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 51209237, 51428901, and 41030747.
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Information & Authors
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Published In
International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 16 • Issue 1 • February 2016
Copyright
© 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 28, 2014
Accepted: Mar 12, 2015
Published online: Apr 25, 2015
Discussion open until: Sep 25, 2015
Published in print: Feb 1, 2016
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