Title | Shear strength, force distributions and friction mobilization in sheared packings composed of angular particles |
Publication Type | Conference Proceedings |
Year of Publication | 2013 |
Authors | Azéma E, Estrada N, Radjaï F |
Editor | Yu A, Dong K, Yang R |
Sponsor | Assoc Study Micromechan Granular Media(AEMMG), Univ New S Wales(UNSW) Lab Simulat & Modelling Particulate Syst(SIMPAS), Curtin Univ(CU) Dept Chemical Engn, Univ Twente(UT) Multi Scale Mech Grp(CTW & MESA+), JMBC Res Sch Fluid Mechan, Elsevier, Univ New S Wales(UNSW) Sch Mat Sci & Engn |
Conference Name | 7th International Conference on Micromechanics of Granular Media (Powders and Grains) |
Volume | Book Series: AIP Conference Proceedings POWDERS AND GRAINS 2013 |
Number of Volumes | 1542 |
Pagination | 511-514 |
Date Published | 2013 |
Publisher | AIP |
Conference Location | JUL 08-12 2013 Sydney, AUSTRALIA |
Abstract | In this paper, we explore the effect of particle shape angularity on the mechanical behavior of sheared granular packings. A first series of contact dynamics simulations is performed in 2D with regular polygons with an increasing number of sides ranging from 3 (triangles) to 60. Then, in order to approach “idealized” angular particles, a second series of simulations is performed in 3D with irregular polyhedra with the number of faces ranging from 8 (octahedron-like) to 596. A counterintuitive finding is that the shear strength increases with angularity up to a maximum value and saturates as the particles become more angular (below 6 sides in 2D and 46 faces in 3D). A micromechanical analysis of force and contact orientations, all enhanced by face-face and face-side contacts, reveals that this increase is due to an increase of both contact and force anisotropies, and the saturation for higher angularities is a consequence of a rapid fall-off of the contact and normal force anisotropies compensated by an increase of the tangential force anisotropy. |
DOI | 10.1063/1.4811980 |