Yannick Descantes

Effect of confinement on dense packings of rigid frictionless spheres and polyhedra

We study numerically the influence of confinement on the solid fraction and on the structure of three-dimensional random close-packed granular materials subject to gravity. The effects of grain shape (spherical or polyhedral), material polydispersity, and confining wall friction on this dependence are investigated. In agreement with a simple geometrical model, the solid fraction is found to decrease linearly for increasing confinement no matter the grain shape. Furthermore, this decrease remains valid for bidisperse sphere packings, although the gradient seems to reduce significantly when the proportion of small particles reaches 40% by volume. The confinement effect on the coordination number is also captured by an extension of the aforementioned model.

Recycling of road materials into new unbound road layers - main practice in selected European countries

Most European countries are active in the field of recycling road materials, but knowledge and practice differ between countries. The European project DIsmantling and RECycling Techniques for road MATerials – Sharing knowledge and practices aims at sharing knowledge and practice in this field among the 15 participating countries, with the view of drafting European best-practice guidelines. This paper reports on the first step towards this goal, which consists of summarising documented practices within these countries concerning demolition and recycling of road materials back into new unbound road layers. Common documented practice and major differences between European countries are highlighted and put in perspective, thanks to a broader international document review.

Fracture of granular materials composed of arbitrary grain shapes: A new cohesive interaction model

Abstract Discrete Element Methods (DEM) are a useful tool to model the fracture of cohesive granular materials. For this kind of application, simple particle shapes (discs in 2D, spheres in 3D) are usually employed. However, dealing with more general particle shapes allows to account for the natural heterogeneity of grains inside real materials. We present a discrete model allowing to mimic cohesion between contacting or non-contacting particles whatever their shape in 2D and 3D. The cohesive interactions are made of cohesion points placed on interacting particles, with the aim of representing a cohesive phase lying between the grains. Contact situations are solved according to unilateral contact and Coulomb friction laws. In order to test the developed model, 2D uniaxial compression simulations are performed. Numerical results show the ability of the model to mimic the macroscopic behavior of an aggregate grain subject to axial compression, as well as fracture initiation and propagation. A study of the influence of model and sample parameters provides important information on the ability of the model to reproduce various behaviors.

Geometrical properties of rigid frictionless granular packings as a function of particle size and shape

Three-dimensional discrete numerical simulation is used to investigate the properties of close-packed frictionless granular assemblies as a function of particle polydispersity and shape. Unlike some experimental results, simulations show that disordered packings of pinacoids (eight-face convex polyhedra) achieve higher solid fraction values than amorphous packings of spherical or rounded particles, thus fulfilling the analog of Ulams conjecture stated by Jiao and co-workers for random packings [Y. Jiao and S. Torquato, Phys. Rev. E 84, 041309 (2011)PLEEE81539-375510.1103/PhysRevE.84.041309]. This seeming discrepancy between experimental and numerical results is believed to result from difficulties in overcoming inter particle friction through experimental densification processes. Moreover, solid fraction is shown to increase further with bidispersity and peak when the volume proportion of small particles reaches 30%. Contrarily, substituting up to 50% of flat pinacoids for isometric ones yields solid fraction decrease, especially when flat particles are also elongated. Nevertheless, particle shape seems to play a minor role in packing solid fraction compared to polydispersity. Additional investigations focused on the packing microstructure confirm that pinacoid packings fulfill the isostatic conjecture and that they are free of order except beyond 30% to 50% of flat or flat-elongated polyhedra in the packing. This order increase progressively takes the form of a nematic phase caused by the reorientation of flat or flat-elongated particles to minimize the packing potential energy. Simultaneously, this reorientation seems to increase the solid fraction value slightly above the maximum achieved by monodisperse isometric pinacoids, as well as the coordination number. Finally, partial substitution of elongated pinacoids for isometric ones has limited effect on packing solid fraction or order.

Confined packings of frictionless spheres and polyhedra

By means of numerical simulations, we study the influence of confinement on three-dimensional random close packed (RCP) granular materials subject to gravity. The effects of grain shape (spherical or polyhedral) and polydispersity on this dependence are investigated. In agreement with a simple geometrical model, the solid fraction is found to decrease linearly for increasing confinement no matter the grain shape. This decrease remains valid for bidisperse sphere packings although the gradient seems to reduce significantly when the proportion of small particles reaches 40% by volume. The aforementioned model is extended to capture the effect of the confinement on the coordination number.