Discrete element method analysis of non‐coaxial flow under rotational shear |
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| Authors: | Zhaoxia Tong Pengcheng Fu Yannis F Dafalias Yangping Yao |
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| Institution: | 1. School of Transportation Science and Engineering, Beihang University, , Beijing, 100191 China;2. Atmospheric, Earth, and Energy Division, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, , Livermore, CA, 94550 U.S.A.;3. Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, , Davis, CA, 95616 U.S.A.;4. Dept. of Mechanics, School of Applied Mathematical and Physical Sciences, National Technical University of Athens, , Athens, 15773 Greece |
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| Abstract: | This study focuses on non‐coaxial flow behavior of cohesionless soil undergoing cyclic rotational shear, with a special interest in the effects of particle‐scale characteristics. To this end, we perform a series of 2D discrete element simulations with various particle shapes, inter‐particle coefficient of friction, initial density, and stress ratios. The validity and efficacy of the numerical model is established by systematically comparing numerical simulation results with existing laboratory testing results. Such comparison shows that the numerical simulations are capable of capturing mechanical behavior observed in laboratory testing under rotational shear. We further demonstrate and quantify a strong yet simple relationship between the deviatoric part of the normalized strain increment and the non‐coaxial angle, denoted by  and ψ, respectively. This quantitative correlation between ψ and  is independent of applied stress ratio, initial and current void ratio, and the number of cycles applied, but dependent on the principal stress orientation and particle‐scale characteristics. At the same  , specimens with higher inter‐particle friction angle or smaller particle aspect ratio show greater non‐coaxial angles. A simple model  is able to fit this ψ‐ relationship well, which provides a useful relationship that can be exploited in developing constitutive models for rotational shearing. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
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| Keywords: | non‐coaxial flow rotational shear discrete element method anisotropy cohesionless soil |
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