Elastic‐plastic solutions for expanding cavities embedded in two different cohesive‐frictional materials

An analytical solution of cavity expansion in two different concentric regions of soil is developed and investigated in this paper. The cavity is embedded within a soil with finite radial dimension and surrounded by a second soil, which extends to infinity. Large‐strain quasi‐static expansion of both spherical and cylindrical cavities in elastic‐plastic soils is considered. A non‐associated Mohr–Coulomb yield criterion is used for both soils. Closed‐form solutions are derived, which provide the stress and strain fields during the expansion of the cavity from an initial to a final radius. The analytical solution is validated against finite element simulations, and the effect of varying geometric and material parameters is studied. The influence of the two different soils during cavity expansion is discussed by using pressure–expansion curves and by studying the development of plastic regions within the soils. The analytical method may be applied to various geotechnical problems, which involve aspects of soil layering, such as cone penetration test interpretation, ground‐freezing around shafts, tunnelling, and mining. © 2014 The Authors. International Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Elastic–plastic analysis of geotechnical problems by mathematical programming

A numerical technique, based on a mathematical programming algorithm, is presented for the solution of geotechnical problems where elastic-plastic material behaviour is considered. The proposed approach can be adopted for geotechnical media characterized by any suitable yield condition, accounting, if necessary, for workhardening behaviour. The loading process is subdivided into a series of steps applied to a finite element mesh with geometry and material properties constant along each step, but with possible changes between subsequent steps. As an application some typical geotechnical problems are analysed by means of the proposed algorithm and a comparison is made between the available in situ measurements and the numerical results.     

A visco‐elasto‐plastic model for granular materials under simple shear conditions

The numerical simulation of rapid landslides is quite complex mainly because constitutive models capable of simulating the mechanical behaviour of granular materials in the pre‐collapse and post‐collapse regimes are still missing. The goal of this paper is to introduce a constitutive model capable of capturing the response of dry granular flows from quasi‐static to dynamic conditions, in particular when the material experiences a sort of solid‐to‐fluid phase transition. An ideal assembly of identical spheres under simple shear conditions is considered. In the constitutive model, void ratio and granular temperature have been chosen as state variables, and both shear and normal stresses are computed as the sum of two contributions: the quasi‐static one and the collisional one. The former is determined by using a perfect elasto‐plastic model including the critical state concept, while the latter is derived from the kinetic theory of granular gases. The evolution of the granular temperature, fundamentally governing the material phase transition, is obtained by imposing the kinetic fluctuating energy balance. The constitutive relationship has been integrated, under both constant pressure and constant volume conditions, and the influence of shear strain rate, initial void ratio and normal pressure on the mechanical response has been investigated. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experimental investigation on the deformation characteristics of granular materials under drained rotational shear

Rotational shear is the type of loading path where samples are subjected to cyclic rotation of principal stress directions while the magnitudes of principal stresses are maintained constant. This paper presents results from an experimental investigation on the drained deformation behaviour of saturated sand in rotational shear conducted in a hollow cylinder apparatus. Two types of granular materials, Leighton Buzzard sand and glass beads are tested. A range of influential factors are investigated including the material density, the deviatoric stress level, and the intermediate principal stress. It is observed that the volumetric strain during rotational shear is mainly contractive and most of strains are generated during the first 20 cycles. The mechanical behaviour of sand under rotational shear is generally non-coaxial, i.e., there is no coincidence between the principal axes of stress and incremental strain, and the variation of the non-coaxiality shows a periodic trend during the tests. The stress ratio has a significant effect on soil response in rotational shear. The larger the stress ratio, the more contractive behaviour and the lower degree of non-coaxiality are induced. The test also demonstrates that the effect of the intermediate principal stress, material density and particle shape on the results is pronounced.     

Micromechanical analysis of failure propagation in frictional granular materials

The extent to which the evolution of instabilities and failure across multiple length scales can be reproduced with the aid of a bifurcation analysis is examined. We adopt an elastoplastic micropolar constitutive model, recently developed for dense cohesionless granular materials within the framework of thermomicromechanics. The internal variables and their evolution laws are conceived from a direct consideration of the dissipative mechanism of force chain buckling. The resulting constitutive law is cast entirely in terms of the particle scale properties. It thus presents a unique opportunity to test the potential of micromechanical continuum formulations to reproduce key stages in the deformation history: the development of material instabilities and failure following an initially homogeneous deformation. Progression of failure, initiating from frictional sliding and rolling at contacts, followed by the buckling of force chains, through to macroscopic strain softening and shear banding, is reproduced. Bifurcation point, marking the onset of shear banding, occurred shortly after the peak stress ratio. A wide range of material parameters was examined to show the effect of particle scale properties on the progression of failure. Model predictions on the thickness and angle of inclination of the shear band and the structural evolution inside the band, namely the latitudinal distribution of particle rotations and the angular distributions of contacts and the normal contact forces, are consistent with observations from numerical simulations and experiments. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Simple shear of isotropic elasto–plastic soil

The implications of assuming isotropic elasto–plasticity to model the behaviour of soil under simple shear conditions are considered. For small strains, use of such a model implies the following three consequences: (1) strains and strain increments at any stage of shearing may be expressed as the sum of elastic and plastic components; (2) principal directions of stress and of plastic strain increment are collinear; (3) principal directions of stress increment and of elastic strain increment are collinear. These consequences are used in order to establish relationships between the stresses, stress increments and strains which develop in a simple shear test. No additional assumptions with regards the form of the yield function, the flow rule or the hardening function are required for this development. By defining the ratio of the plastic to the total shear strain increment on the horizontal plane (the plane of zero extension) as λ, it is possible to define the horizontal normal stress σ_x in terms of λ and other stresses and strains which are normally known during simple shear loading. As a result, all components of the stress tensor in the simple shear plane may be defined. Results of some direct simple shear tests on soft clay have been interpreted using the model and found to be generally consistent with some of the observations reported in the literature from tests in which boundary stresses were measured.     

光弹颗粒材料的直剪实验研究

对颗粒材料中的力链分布特征的了解,有助于从根本上了解颗粒材料基本性质。借助光弹实验,对两种直径混合的颗粒材料在二维直剪作用下的平均强度力链分布和几何结构变化进行了初步的探索。光弹实验方法是目前能够直观观察到力链分布的唯一有效的实验方法,在进行光弹实验前,设计研制了光弹直剪仪并进行了多次光弹圆盘颗粒材料退火实验。利用数字图像技术对光弹实验结果进行处理,并尝试用彩色梯度算法表征颗粒材料的平均受力情况,并获得平均强度力链。结果表明,二元颗粒材料集合体的几何结构具有各向异性。对力链方向统计分析表明,平均强度力链出现了局部化。     

Scratch hardness–strength solutions for cohesive‐frictional materials

In this paper we develop analytical solutions for scratch hardness–strength relations for cohesive‐frictional materials of the Mohr–Coulomb and Drucker–Prager type. Based on the lower bound yield design approach, closed‐form solutions are derived for frictionless scratch devices, and validated against computational upper bound and elastoplastic finite element solutions. The influence of friction at the blade–material interface is also investigated, for which a simple computational optimization is proposed. Illustrated for scratch tests on cement paste, we show that the proposed solutions provide a convenient way to determine estimates of cohesion and friction parameters from scratch data, and may serve as a benchmark to identify the relevance of strength models for scratch test analysis. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

粒状材料的强度与变形

颗粒破碎的特征表明,颗粒破碎具有分形特征,是影响粒状材料变形与强度的主要因素,根据颗粒破碎的分形模型可以建立粒状材料的变形与强度理论。假定粒状材料是均匀的D维分形体,由此导出粒状材料的抗张强度公式,并用来估算颗粒在给定压力下的破碎几率。颗粒破碎增加了单位体积颗粒的表面积,即颗粒的比表面能量增加,根据颗粒破碎过程中的能量守恒导出粒状材料一维压缩变形的表达式。     

Breakage and deformation mechanisms of crushable granular materials

Biaxial compressional tests with two types of stress paths were carried out on an assembly of round bars, which can be crushed to investigate the breakage and deformation mechanisms of granular materials at the mesoscale. The following was found experimentally: (1) upon loading, the crushable rods slide, rotate and break, and finally the breakage band forms for the two types of stress paths and different stress states; and (2) for the axial loading stress path, the round rods mainly fail in the vertically split mode and laterally crushed mode. However, for the lateral unloading stress path, the round rods fail with the combination mode of locally crushed and vertically split.     

Elastic—plastic response of a circular hole to repeated loading

A closed-form analysis for elastic—plastic response of a circular hole in an infinite Mohr—Coulomb medium under axisymmetric loading shows the effect of repeated loading on the stress and displacement fields around the hole. Examples show how repeat-load closure increment is affected by working load, internal pressure, material compressive strength and internal friction. The solution is used to predict results of a laboratory test performed on a rock simulant specimen that contained a reinforced hole. Analytical and laboratory results are similar: at small closures (a few per cent, but well into the plastic response range), the closure increment from an unload—reload cycle is small compared with the initial closure. Closure increments for each of several cycles are comparable and cumulative.     

Instability and ill-posedness in the deformation of granular materials

A linear stability analysis of the partial differential equations of granular flow is performed. The constitutive relations include (i) elastic effects, (ii) non-associated flow rules and (iii) shear-strain hardening. Conditions for the equations to be well-posed and to be stable are derived. It turns out that there are two qualitatively different kinds of instability; which appears first depends on the parameters of the constitutive relations. If one kind appears first, then in a constitutive test a period of inhomogeneous deformation is predicted to occur before the formation of shear bands. If the other kind appears first, then shear bands are predicted to form in an approximately homogeneous sample. Some constitutive experiments are analysed from this viewpoint, and the analysis suggests some new experimental work.     

Description of deformation process in inherently anisotropic granular materials

The main focus in this work is on modeling of mechanical response of granular materials that display inherent anisotropy. Both the experimental and numerical investigations are described. First, the results of direct shear as well as drained/undrained triaxial tests that involve crushed limestone with elongated angular‐shaped particles are reviewed. Afterward, a mathematical framework is presented for modeling of elastic/ inelastic deformation that incorporates the multi‐laminate approach. The deformation is monitored on a set of randomly oriented planes, and the formulation incorporates the thickness of the shear band that is associated with sliding/separation process. A systematic procedure for identification of material functions/ parameters is outlined that is based on the results of direct shear tests, and the framework is later applied to simulate the behavior under triaxial conditions. The results of numerical simulations are compared with the experimental data. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Diffuse bifurcations engraving diverse shear bands in granular materials

Shear bands with characteristic spatial patterns observed in an experiment for a cubic or parallelepiped specimen of dry dense sand were simulated by numerical bifurcation analysis using the Cam‐clay plasticity model. By incorporating the subloading surface concept into the plasticity model, the model became capable of reproducing hardening/softening and contractive/dilative behavior observed in the experiment. The model was reformulated to be compatible with the multiplicative hyperelasto‐plasticity for finite strains. This enhanced constitutive model was implemented into a finite‐element code reinforced by a stress updating algorithm based on the return‐mapping scheme, and by an efficient numerical procedure to compute critical eigenvectors of elastoplastic tangent stiffness matrix at bifurcation points. The emergence of diamond‐ and column‐like diffuse bifurcation modes breaking uniformity of the materials, followed by the evolution of shear bands through strain localization, was observed in the analysis. In the bifurcation analysis of plane strain compression test, unexpected bifurcation modes, which broke out‐of‐plane uniformity and led to 3‐dimensional diamond‐like patterns, were detected. Diffuse bifurcations, which were difficult to observe by experiments, have thus been found as a catalyst creating diverse shear band patterns.     

Microscopic origin of shape-dependent shear strength of granular materials: a granular dynamics perspective

Acta Geotechnica - The shear strength of granular materials has been found to increase nonlinearly with particle asphericity before reaching a steady value independent of particle asphericity....     

Measured kinematic fields in the biaxial shear of granular materials

Biaxial experiments are performed with rod assemblies to study the micro-mechanical deformation behavior of granular materials. The focus of these experiments is upon the micromechanical behavior under mixed boundary conditions, with stress-controlled lateral boundaries and displacement-controlled axial boundaries. Particle motions, i.e. displacements and rotations, are measured during the test. The particle motions are analyzed to study deformation patterns, including shear localization. Deformation patterns in a number of rod assemblies with random packing structures are investigated.     

Generalized plastic ordinary state-based peridynamic model with shear deformation of geomaterials

Acta Geotechnica - This article aims to propose a generalized plastic model in the ordinary state-based peridynamic framework to study the elastoplastic behaviors of geomaterials, in which the...     

散粒体间接触面单剪试验及数值模拟

完成了两种散粒体间接触面的单剪试验,对试验过程进行了有限元数值模拟,对比了刚塑性、理想弹塑性和Clough-Duncan接触面本构模型对计算结果的影响,并分析了计算模型的破坏过程。计算取得了与试验基本一致的接触面破坏规律。结果表明,用刚塑性模型描述两种散粒体间接触面的本构关系是合理的。     

Failure criteria for cohesive‐frictional materials based on Mohr–Coulomb failure function

This study presents two three‐parameter failure criteria for cohesive‐frictional materials based on the Mohr–Coulomb failure function. One proposed failure criterion can be linked to Mogi's empirical formula and incorporates the well‐known Von‐Mises, Drucker–Prager, and Linear Mogi criteria as special cases. Another one with smooth and convex cross sections contains a general Lode dependence in the deviatoric plane and includes the Matsuoka–Nakai and Lade–Duncan Lode dependences as special cases. The effect of the intermediate principal stress on the strength of the material can be taken into account in both criteria. The proposed criteria are numerically calibrated against polyaxial data sets of many different types of rocks and concrete_. The comparison results show that the performance of the proposed criteria is excellent, and the failure criterion with a general Lode dependence performs better than the other one for concrete. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.