Quantifying the Evolution of Soil Fabric Under Different Stress Paths

Abstract

It is well recognized that the macro-scale response of soils is anisotropic in terms of strength, stiffness, permeability, etc. The source of this anisotropy is thought to be an anisotropy of the material itself. This anisotropy can be quantified using statistical methods if DEM numerical simulations or advanced experimental techniques are used. The anisotropic response of soil has been analyzed by many researchers in terms of the fabric tensor, which provides a measure of the orientation of the contacts between particles. Although many approaches for the quantification of the evolution of soil fabric have been used, they have not been previously compared to assess their effectiveness to describe fabric changes. A direct comparison of different methods of fabric quantification is presented in this paper based on the results from DEM simulations under different stress paths and the suitability of each of these methods is discussed. The results highlight the need for more accurate methods and/or approaches to accurately describe the evolution of fabric anisotropy in granular materials

Citation

Barreto, D., O’Sullivan, C., & Zdravkovic, L. (2009). Quantifying the Evolution of Soil Fabric Under Different Stress Paths. In POWDERS AND GRAINS 2009: PROCEEDINGS OF THE 6TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MICROMECHANICS OF GRANULAR MEDIA (181-184). https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3179881

• Conference Name: AIP Conference Proceedings
• Start Date: Jul 13, 2009
• End Date: Jul 17, 2009
• Publication Date: 2009
• Deposit Date: Nov 30, 2011
• Publisher: AIP Publishing
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 1145
• Pages: 181-184
• Book Title: POWDERS AND GRAINS 2009: PROCEEDINGS OF THE 6TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MICROMECHANICS OF GRANULAR MEDIA
• ISBN: 978-0-7354-0682-7
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3179881
• Keywords: molecular biophysics; finite difference methods; structural engineering computing
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/4798
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3179881