Undrained Responses of Anisotropic Granular Material under Rotational Shear by DEM
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 148, Issue 12
Abstract
The undrained response of sand under complex loading conditions involving principal stress rotation (PSR) is of particular interest in practical engineering. Although this subject has been studied extensively through laboratory experiments, more in-depth investigations of the microscopic mechanism underlying the macroscale observations under PSR have not been reported adequately. The discrete element method (DEM) plays an important role in the investigation of the elementary behavior of sand subjected to various complex loading conditions. It could enable us to comprehend the evolution of particle-scale quantities. Therefore, an advanced discrete element approach that can apply an arbitrary undrained loading path is implemented in this study. Based on this approach, numerical algorithms that implement undrained rotational shear are elucidated, and undrained pure PSR tests are conducted on anisotropic specimens with varying stress ratios, densities, and intermediate principal stress ratios. The evolution of the fabric anisotropy of specimens under PSR is quantified by a contact normal fabric tensor. The macroscopic mechanical results are found to be consistent with the experimental results. The interplay between fabric evolution with stress and strain increments is examined. The findings provide effective microscopic insights into the anisotropic responses of granular materials under rotational shear.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The research described in this paper was supported by the Department of Transport of Zhejiang Province through Project No. 2021019 and Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51825803 and 52020105003), which are gratefully acknowledged.
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Received: Dec 20, 2021
Accepted: Jul 6, 2022
Published online: Oct 3, 2022
Published in print: Dec 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Mar 3, 2023
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