Micro Shear Bands: Precursor for Strain Localization in Sheared Granular Materials
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 145, Issue 2
Abstract
Recent studies have shown that detection of the onset and evolution of micro shear bands (MSBs) in granular materials can be improved using measurements of the kinematic behavior of particles. Different methods such as the discrete-element method (DEM) or three-dimensional (3D) imaging techniques have been used to measure the kinematics of individual particles within triaxial specimens. However, conventional kinematic techniques that use particle translation and/or rotation cannot detect the onset and growth of MSBs during the hardening phase of axisymmetric triaxial experiments. In order to expose the localized shearing and particle-scale behavior of triaxial specimens, a relative particle translation gradient (RPTG) concept is used to detect and expose the onset of strain localization before the peak principal stress ratio (PSR). RPTG measurements for four different granular materials are reported in this paper. The RPTG concept is used to expose the onset of MSBs during the hardening phase of the experiments. In addition, the contact number of individual particles is quantified and discussed in relation to particle rotation to investigate a particle-scale relationship between particle contacts and rotation. The effects of density, confining pressure, and particle shape on contact number are examined.
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Acknowledgments
The research is funded by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant Nos. CMMI-1266230 and CMMI-1362510. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF. The SMT images presented in this paper were collected using the X-Ray Operations and Research Beamline Station 13-BMD at Argonne Photon Source (APS), a US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. The authors acknowledge the support of GeoSoilEnviroCARS (Sector 13), which is supported by NSF–Earth Sciences (EAR-1128799), and DOE, Geosciences (DE-FG02-94ER14466). The authors thank Dr. Mark Rivers of APS for help performing the SMT scans.
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Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 145 • Issue 2 • February 2019
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This work is made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
History
Received: Aug 23, 2017
Accepted: Jul 12, 2018
Published online: Nov 16, 2018
Published in print: Feb 1, 2019
Discussion open until: Apr 16, 2019
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