Christophe Dano

Modeling Mechanical Behavior of Very Coarse Granular Materials

A novel approach has been developed to predict the mechanical behavior of very coarse granular materials with a constitutive model, which considers both grain breakage and size effect. The behavior of granular assemblies is significantly influenced by particle breakage. A critical-state double-yield-surface model incorporating the change in the critical-state line and in elastic stiffness caused by grain breakage during loading has been adopted. The amount of grain breakage was estimated by extending the size effect theory on individual grains to granular assemblies. The results from earlier studies on granular materials with parallel gradations have been usefully exploited to calibrate and to validate the model. Comparisons between experiments and simulations suggest that this approach can predict the mechanical behavior of very coarse granular materials from test results performed on a finer fraction with a homothetic gradation.

Experimental Data Highlighting the Role of Surface Fracture Energy in Quasi-Static Confined Comminution

Since the pioneering work of Griffith, Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics has been widely experimentally validated and successfully developed in solid mechanics modeling. However, recent theoretical models applying the energy balance found in Griffith theory specifically for quasi-static confined comminution have until now not been systematically confronted to experiments. In this study, we analyze data of compression tests on crushable sand, where grain breakage has been triggered by flooding the initially dry material at constant stresses. We consider a partition of the dissipation between surface fracture energy and the rearrangement of fragments and grains surrounding crushed particles. Our results show that the role of the surface fracture energy is stressdependent and that its influence becomes less significant at high stresses.

Grading-Dependent Behavior of Granular Materials: From Discrete to Continuous Modeling

AbstractThe aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of soil grading on the stress-strain and the critical-state behavior of granular materials from idealized spheres to natural soils as well as from discrete to continuous modeling. The three-dimensional discrete-element method has been applied to study the mechanical behavior of idealized granular materials. The results confirm that the critical-state line (CSL) shifts downward as grading broadens with an increase of the coefficient of uniformity Cu. An exponential relationship between the critical-state parameters and the coefficient of uniformity Cu can then be established. Furthermore, experimental investigations on an artificial material (glass beads) and a natural material (Hostun sand) were carried out. The experimental results confirm the grading dependency of the critical-state behavior, and a similar relationship between CSL and Cu, for both glass beads and natural sand, extending previous literature results for high Cu values up to 20. Mo...

An experimental study on the influence of the coordination number on grain crushing

In soil mechanics, the material behaviour is significantly affected by grain crushing. This energy dissipating mechanism, along with the frictional rearrangement of grains, is responsible for the energy loss associated with plasticity. However, the micromechanical factors at the grain scale have not been studied by constitutive models which tend to focus on macroscopic parameters. In this study, the influence of the coordination number on the fragmentation of a single cylindrical grain specimen has been examined with a new device by which a series of multipoint crushing tests has been conducted. Experiments conducted with this device have shown the importance of the contacts number, position, type and force in the fragmentation of the individual grain. The results, analysed by imaging techniques, demonstrate that the existing models treating grain rupture are indeed incapable of reproducing the observed fragmentation. Two types of cracks were distinguished, each corresponding to a different crack mode, depending on the contact arrangement. The results of this study could be integrated into fragmentation models for predicting the occurrence of cracks, and the shape of the resulting fragments.

Experiments on a Calcareous Rockfill Using a Large Triaxial Cell

Granular materials with large particles have been widely used to construct embankments or rockfills dams. However, due to limitations in the size of experimental set-ups, their behavior remains relatively less investigated than the behavior of sands for instance. A new large triaxial apparatus, with a maximum specimen diameter of 1000mm, has been designed to study the behavior of such coarse granular materials. This device is described in this paper. The results of a triaxial test on calcareous particles with a maximum particle size of 160 mm are presented. Special attention has been paid on grain crushing under shear loading.

A Two Yielding Surface Elasto-Plastic Model with Consideration of Grain Breakage

An elasto-plastic model with two yield surfaces has been developed for the simulation of granular materials with consideration of grain ruptures. Grain breakage is induced by deviatoric as well as isotropic stresses. One yield function is based on a Mohr-Coulomb criterion with a hyperbolic hardening function of the plastic deviatoric strain. A second yield function is introduced to describe the plastic behavior under compression, in which a hardening function of the plastic volumetric strain is introduced. The main assumption of this model is that, upon loading, the position of the critical state changes as a consequence of grain breakage. The effect of the grain size distribution is introduced in the relationship between the void ratio at critical state and the mean effective stress. Triaxial and oedometer tests have been performed on crushable granular materials. Comparison of experimental results and numerical simulations shows that the new model can reproduce with good accuracy the behavior of granular materials subjected to grain ruptures during mechanical loading.