Discrete element modeling of sand behavior in a biaxial shear test  

作　　者：Zhi-yi HUANG Zhong-xuan YANG Zhen-yu WANG 

机构地区：[1]Department of Civil Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China [2]MOE Key Laboratory of Soft Soils and Geoenvironmental Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China [3]Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

出　　处：《Journal of Zhejiang University-Science A(Applied Physics & Engineering)》2008年第9期1176-1183,共8页浙江大学学报（英文版）A辑（应用物理与工程）

基　　金：the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 10725210 and 50509021);the Postdoctoral Foundations in China (No. 20070421202);the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University in China (No. NCET-05-05010);the Com-petitive Postdoctoral Research Project in Zhejiang Province, China

摘　　要：The mechanical behavior of sand is very complex, and depends on factors including confining pressure, density, and drainage condition. A soil mass can be contractive or dilative when subjected to shear loading, and eventually reaches an ultimate state, referred to as the critical state in soil mechanics. Conventional approach to explore the mechanical behavior of sand mainly relies on the experimental tests in laboratory. This paper gives an alternative view to this subject using discrete element method (DEM), which has attracted much attention in recent years. The implementation of the DEM is carried out by a series of numerical tests on granular assemblies with varying initial densities and confining pressures, under different test configurations. The results demonstrate that such numerical simulations can produce correct responses of the sand behavior in general, including the critical state response, as compared to experimental observations. In addition, the DEM can further provide details of the microstructure evolutions during shearing processes, and the resulting induced anisotropy can be fully captured and quantified in the particle scale.The mechanical behavior of sand is very complex, and depends on factors including confining pressure, density, and drainage condition. A soil mass can be contractive or dilative when subjected to shear loading, and eventually reaches an ultimate state, referred to as the critical state in soil mechanics. Conventional approach to explore the mechanical behavior of sand mainly relies on the experimental tests in laboratory. This paper gives an alternative view to this subject using discrete element method （DEM）, which has attracted much attention in recent years. The implementation of the DEM is carried out by a series of numerical tests on granular assemblies with varying initial densities and confining pressures, under different test configurations. The results demonstrate that such numerical simulations can produce correct responses of the sand behavior in general, including the critical state response, as compared to experimental observations. In addition, the DEM can further provide details of the microstructure evolutions during shearing processes, and the resulting induced anisotropy can be fully captured and quantified in the particle scale.

关 键 词：Granular soil behavior Critical state MICROSTRUCTURE Discrete element method （DEM） 

分 类 号：TU43[建筑科学—岩土工程]