砂土颗粒形状量化及其对力学指标的影响分析

砂作为一种特殊的散体材料,其宏观物理力学性质,如密实度、剪切特性（临界状态角,剪胀角）、压缩性及颗粒破碎特征等均受到颗粒形状的影响,目前为止,对于砂粒土颗粒形状的量化工作,未到达成熟阶段。试验采用普通光学显微镜获取3种不同砂颗粒及一种相似材料（玻璃球）数字图像,利用ImageJ图形软件对其进行黑白二值化处理,获取颗粒形状轮廓边界;从3个层次定义颗粒形状参数,并利用java语言编制形状量化插件程序,计算砂粒各形状参数值,最后通过相对密度试验、直剪试验测试不同砂样的极限孔隙比、剪切强度指标。试验结果表明：整体轮廓系数、球形度、棱角度3项形状参数可作为不同砂粒形状鉴别和量化的关键参数,且与剪胀角、临界状态摩擦角均具有良好的相关性,试验提供了一种量化砂颗粒形状的有效方法,并可将得到的关键量化参数应用到宏观力学性质分析与数值模拟工作中     

An enhanced constitutive model for crushable granular materials

Studies in the past have tried to reproduce the mechanical behaviour of granular materials by proposing constitutive relations based on a common assumption that model parameters and parameters describing the properties, including gradation of individual grains are inevitably linked. However successful these models have proved to be, they cannot account for the changes in granular assembly behaviour if the grains start to break during mechanical loading. This paper proposes to analyse the relation between grading change and the mechanical behaviour of granular assembly. A way to model the influence of grain breakage is to use a critical state‐based model. The influence of the amount of grain breakage during loading, depending on the individual grain strength and size distribution, can be introduced into constitutive relations by means of a new parameter that controls the evolution of critical state with changes in grain size distribution. Experimental data from a calcareous sand, a quartz sand, and a rockfill material were compared with numerical results and good‐quality simulations were obtained. The main consequences of grain breakage are increased compressibility and a gradual dilatancy disappearance in the granular material. The critical state concept is also enriched by considering its overall relation to the evolution of the granular material. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

高应力下颗粒材料一维力学特性研究(Ⅱ):蠕变性质

现场和试验观测表明,高应力下砂土的蠕变过程伴随着颗粒破碎现象。通过开展砂土的一维蠕变试验发现,试样的颗粒破碎量随时间增加而增加,且蠕变速率与颗粒破碎速率成正比。在此基础上,分析了蠕变过程中能量转化关系,利用表面物理学和分形几何学理论,得到了一维蠕变条件下颗粒破碎速率与宏观蠕变速率之间的关系表达式。研究结果表明,高应力一维蠕变条件下颗粒材料的宏观蠕变速率与颗粒破碎速率成正比。最后,对该研究采用的等效化方法进行了讨论。     

Quantitative characterization of grain shape: Implications for textural maturity analysis and discrimination between depositional environments

Grain shape plays an important role in textural analysis of sedimentary grains. Textural analysis helps to determine the formation, transportation and deposition processes of sedimentary rocks. However, there is a lack of standardized methodology for quantitative characterization of grain shapes. The utility of fully automated image analysis for grain shape measurement is assessed in this paper. This research aimed to identify the most useful shape parameters for textural characterization of populations of grains and determine the relative importance of the parameters. A key aspect of this study is to determine whether, in a particular sedimentary environment, textural maturity of the samples can be ranked based on their grain shape data. Furthermore, discrimination of sedimentary depositional environments is explored on the basis of grain shape. In this study, 20 loose sediment samples from four known depositional environments (beach, aeolian, glacial and fluvial) were analysed using newly implemented automatic image analysis methods. For each sample, a set of 11 shape parameters were calculated for 200 grains. The data demonstrate a progression in textural maturity in terms of roundness, angularity, irregularity, fractal dimension, convexity, solidity and rectangularity. Furthermore, statistical analysis provides strong support for significant differences between samples grouped by environment and generates a ranking consistent with trends in maturity. Based on novel application of machine learning algorithms, angularity and fractal dimension are found to be the two most important parameters in texturally classifying a grain. The results of this study indicate that textural maturity is readily categorized using automated grain shape parameter analysis. However, it is not possible to absolutely discriminate between different depositional environments on the basis of shape parameters alone. This work opens up the possibility of detailed studies of the relationship between textural maturity and sedimentary environment, which may be more complicated than previously considered.     

Comminution and fluidization of granular fault materials: implications for fault slip behavior

Whilst faulting in the shallow crust is inevitably associated with comminution of rocks, the mechanical properties of the comminuted granular materials themselves affect the slip behavior of faults. Therefore, the mechanical behavior of any fault progresses along an evolutionary path. We analyzed granular fault rocks from four faults, and deduced an evolutionary trend of fractal size frequency. Comminution of fault rocks starts at a fractal dimension close to 1.5 (2-D measurement), at which a given grain is supported by the maximum number of grains attainable and hence is at its strongest. As comminution proceeds, the fractal dimension increases, and hence comminution itself is a slip weakening mechanism. Under the appropriate conditions, comminuted granular materials may be fluidized during seismic slip events. In this paper, we develop a new method to identify the granular fault rocks that have experienced fluidization, where the detection probability of fragmented counterparts is a key parameter. This method was applied to four fault rock samples and a successful result was obtained. Knowledge from powder technology teaches us that the volume fraction of grains normalized by maximum volume fraction attainable is the most important parameter for dynamic properties of granular materials, and once granular fault materials are fluidized, the fault plane becomes nearly frictionless. A small decrease in the normalized volume fraction of grains from 1 is a necessary condition for the phase transition to fluidization from the deformation mechanism governed by grain friction and crushing by contact stresses. This condition can be realized only when shearing proceeds under unconstrained conditions, and this demands that the gap between fault walls is widened. Normal interface vibration proposed by Brune et al. [Tectonophysics 218 (1993) 59] appears to be the most appropriate cause of this, and we presented two lines of field evidence that support this mechanism to work in nature.     

高应力下颗粒材料一维力学特性研究(I):压缩性质

高水平应力作用下,砂土等颗粒材料中的颗粒将发生破碎。一方面,颗粒破碎导致材料的颗粒分布曲线发生变化：材料中的粗颗粒含量减少,细颗粒含量增加;另一方面,颗粒的破碎引起了能量的转化。由能量守恒定律,作用过程中外力所做的功一部分由粒间摩擦力转化成热能,而另一部分则消耗到颗粒破碎过程中。利用表面物理学理论,颗粒破碎能可以表达为颗粒表面张力在颗粒破碎中所作的功。由此得到了一维压缩条件下颗粒破碎量与宏观压缩量之间的关系表达式。为了验证得到的关系式,开展了砂土的一维压缩试验,并进行了试验数据的整理分析。研究结果表明,所得关系表达式能较好地反映高水平应力作用下颗粒破碎对颗粒材料压缩性的影响。     

碎石颗粒形状测量与评定的初步研究

颗粒形状是影响碎石料密实特性及力学、渗流特性的因素之一。选取粒径为2～5 mm和5～10 mm的两组灰岩碎石颗粒样本作为研究对象,采用影像测量仪和特制夹具,获取不同旋转角度下的颗粒轮廓影像;使用图形处理软件获得颗粒几何尺寸测值;计算获得各旋转角度下常用颗粒形状评定参数值,运用其平均值进行统计分析,避免了依据单一角度测值评定伴随的人为因素影响。结果表明,灰岩碎石颗粒与标准圆有较大差异, 且粒径大者差异性更明显;两组样本颗粒形状参数均服从偏态分布;长宽比、扁平度和球形度能够更敏感地反映颗粒偏离球形颗粒的程度,而长宽比和球形度便于获取,因而更具优势。     

Fast shear behavior of granular materials in ring-shear tests and implications for rapid landslides

The high mobility of rapid landslides is one of the most important subjects of both theoretical and practical interest to engineers and scientists. The idea that ultralow resistance could explain the high mobility inspires researchers to examine the shear behavior of granular materials under a wide range of conditions, but the response of granular materials to fast loading rates is largely unknown. The motivation for this study was to examine several fundamental issues of particle properties and mechanical conditions on the fast shear behavior of granular materials. Two granular materials were studied in the oven-dried state and were sheared by employing a ring-shear apparatus. Results indicated that angular particles (silica sand) had higher shear strength parameters than spherical particles (glass beads). In addition, the dilative process was observed during shearing, which depended on normal stress and particle shape. A slightly negative shear-rate effect on shear strength was observed for both granular materials under a certain range of shear rates. Furthermore, cumulative shear displacement had a significant effect on the degree of particle crushing. Fast ring-shear tests also revealed that shear rate had a slightly negative effect on particle crushing. Based on these experimental results, the possible applications of dynamic grain fragmentation theory to assess the high mobility of rapid landsliding phenomena were discussed. It was indicated that the magnitude and release rate of elastic strain energy generated by grain fragmentation played important roles on the dynamic process of landslide mobility.     

A nonlinear Lagrangian particle model for grains assemblies including grain relative rotations

We formulate a discrete Lagrangian model for a set of interacting grains, which is purely elastic. The considered degrees of freedom for each grain include placement of barycenter and rotation. Further, we limit the study to the case of planar systems. A representative grain radius is introduced to express the deformation energy to be associated to relative displacements and rotations of interacting grains. We distinguish inter-grains elongation/compression energy from inter-grains shear and rotations energies, and we consider an exact finite kinematics in which grain rotations are independent of grain displacements. The equilibrium configurations of the grain assembly are calculated by minimization of deformation energy for selected imposed displacements and rotations at the boundaries. Behaviours of grain assemblies arranged in regular patterns, without and with defects, and similar mechanical properties are simulated. The values of shear, rotation, and compression elastic moduli are varied to investigate the shapes and thicknesses of the layers where deformation energy, relative displacement, and rotations are concentrated. It is found that these concentration bands are close to the boundaries and in correspondence of grain voids. The obtained results question the possibility of introducing a first gradient continuum models for granular media and justify the development of both numerical and theoretical methods for including frictional, plasticity, and damage phenomena in the proposed model.     

Transferable wavelet method for grain‐size distribution from images of sediment surfaces and thin sections,and other natural granular patterns

In images of sedimentary or granular material, or simulations of binary (two‐phase) granular media, in which the individual grains are resolved, the complete size distribution of apparent grain axes is well‐approximated by the global power spectral density function derived using a Morlet wavelet. This approach overcomes many limitations of previous automated methods for estimating the grain‐size distribution from images, all of which rely on either: identification and segmentation of individual grains; calibration and/or relatively large sample sizes. The new method presented here is tested using: (i) various types of simulations of two‐phase media with a size distribution, with and without preferred orientation; (ii) 300 sample images drawn from 46 populations of sands and gravels from around the world, displaying a wide variability in origin (biogenic and mineralogical), size, surface texture and shape; (iii) petrographic thin section samples from nine populations of sedimentary rock; (iv) high‐resolution scans of marine sediment cores; and (v) non‐sedimentary natural granular patterns including sea ice and patterned ground. The grain‐size distribution obtained is equivalent to the distribution of apparent intermediate grain diameters, grid by number style. For images containing sufficient well‐resolved grains, root mean square errors are within tens of percent for percentiles across the entire grain‐size distribution. As such, this method is the first of its type which is completely transferable, unmodified, without calibration, for both consolidated and unconsolidated sediment, isotropic and anisotropic two‐phase media, and even non‐sedimentary granular patterns. The success of the wavelet approach is due, in part, to it quantifying both spectral and spatial information from the sediment image simultaneously, something which no previously developed technique is able to do.     

The preservation potential of microstructures during static grain growth

Grain growth simulations using the microstructure simulation system Elle have been performed in materials with a pre‐existing grain shape foliation. As might be expected, the foliation is destroyed by the end of the experiment, and grain areas have increased by a factor of seven. The area of material swept by the migrating grain boundaries was monitored, and it was found that at every stage, virtually all of the grains which survived the grain growth process contain one and only one core of ‘unswept’ material. Remarkably these remnant unswept cores preserve a useable record of the initial grain size and the orientation of the grain shape foliation. This work suggests that, even for samples where no equivalent protolith can be found, it may be possible to see past a grain growth episode to estimate the original grain shape and grain size of the rock, and perhaps even reconstruct the grain boundary kinematics. In addition the identification of unswept cores has the potential to help unravel the evolution of grain boundary chemistry in rocks during metamorphism. As an example of a natural system showing these microstructures, we describe a peridotite from Almklovdalen, Norway. This peridotite was infiltrated by aqueous fluids at several stages during late Caledonian exhumation and retrogressive metamorphism. Grain boundary migration associated with the last of these infiltration events swept off abundant intragranular fluid inclusions in the original chlorite‐peridotite. At the grain scale, microstructural mapping of the fluid inclusion rich areas shows that, as with the numerical simulations, many of the grains retain exactly one core of unswept material. Examples of other natural systems discussed include dislocation density distributions and trace element zoning.     

颗粒级配对粒状材料不排水力学特性的影响

为了研究颗粒级配对粒状材料不排水力学特性的影响,采用两种形状自相似度很高的材料（玻璃球和Hostun砂）进行了一系列传统三轴不排水压缩试验。对于每种材料,保持相近的相对密实度制作了6个不同颗粒级配（不均匀系数 1.1～20）的试样,然后进行剪切。试验结果表明,颗粒级配对粒状材料的不排水力学性能存在明显影响：两种材料试样的偏应力水平随着不均匀系数的增加而降低,抗剪强度随着材料的不均匀系数 的增加而降低,并在 5后呈现出趋稳势态。基于不排水剪切试验中颗粒集合体二阶功的演化规律,对材料受荷载过程中出现不稳定性的条件进行分析。结果表明,在相同密实度下,粒状材料的静态液化潜能随着材料不均匀系数 的提高而增强,高不均匀系数的材料变得不稳定。     

颗粒形状对粒状材料破碎演化规律及强度准则影响

为探讨颗粒形状对粒状材料的颗粒破碎演化规律及强度特征的影响,提出了一个新的粒状材料颗粒形状量化参数,设计了一种考虑三维颗粒形状的人工试样制备方法,随即进行了常规三轴压缩试验,并分析了颗粒破碎和强度特征,最终建立了一个二元介质强度准则,具体的研究成果为：建立颗粒形状量化参数——球形模量GM,在此基础上制备了5种不同形状的可破碎粒状材料三轴试样,并发现球形模量影响着粒状材料的三轴压缩强度特征;通过筛分确定试样的颗粒破碎情况,对试样的颗粒破碎演化规律和临界状态进行探讨,发现颗粒形状通过影响颗粒破碎规律而控制着宏观强度的非线性演化特征;以二元介质理论为基础,建立了考虑颗粒形状的可破碎粒状材料强度准则,并通过试验对其适用性进行了验证。     

A numerical investigation of the incremental behavior of crushable granular soils

The mechanical behavior of granular materials is characterized by strong nonlinearity and irreversibility. These properties have been differently described by a variety of constitutive models. To test any constitutive model, experimental data relative to the nature of the incremental stress–strain response of the material is desirable. However, this type of laboratory data is scarce because of being expensive and difficult to obtain. The discrete element method has been used several times as an alternative to obtain incremental responses of granular materials. Crushable grains add one extra source of irreversibility to granular materials. Crushability has been variously incorporated into different constitutive models. Again, it will be helpful to obtain incremental responses of crushable granular materials to test these models, but the experimental difficulties are increased. Making use of a recently introduced crushing model for discrete element simulation, this paper presents a new procedure to obtain incremental responses in discrete analogs of granular crushable materials. The parallel probe approach, previously used for uncrushable discrete analogs, is here extended to account for the presence of crushable grains. The contribution of grain crushing to the incremental irreversible strain is identified and separately measured. Robustness of the proposed method is examined in detail, paying particular attention to aspects such as dynamic instability or crushing localization. The proposed procedure is later applied to map incremental responses of a discrete analog of Fontainebleau sand on the triaxial plane. The effect of stress ratio and granular state on plastic flow characteristics is highlighted. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

颗粒级配对粗粒土强度与变形特性影响的研究

采用三维颗粒流软件PFC3D的内置FISH语言,进行二次开发,模拟粗粒土级配,建立一个研究高铁填方路基粗粒土变形特性的颗粒流模型。通过粗粒土三轴试验,标定了表征粗粒土细观力学性质的模型参数,并验证了模型的有效性。考虑粗粒土曲率系数和不均匀系数对颗粒级配的影响,模拟并研究了5种不同级配下粗粒土在3种不同围压下的变形特性。试验结果表明,曲率系数对粗颗粒土变形特性影响较大,当其有效粒径与中值粒径及限制粒径的差距过大时,粗粒土中颗粒填充及致密性将变差,变形增大,强度降低。以较大曲率系数与较大不均匀系数组合的粗粒土受力性能较好,但此种级配的粗粒土压缩性大。级配良好且不均匀系数较大,其应力链分布越均匀,颗粒的挤压效果越显著,力的传递和分配也越均匀。     

Practical representation of characteristic grain shape of sands: a comparison of methods

ABSTRACT A measure of grain shape is needed for incorporation in calculations of the behaviour of grain populations (for example during transport by fluids). Many shape measures have been proposed, most of them for application to single grains rather than to populations. In this paper three such shape parameters are evaluated for samples taken by size fraction from each of three parent sands. The chosen parameters are the maximum projection sphericity of Sneed & Folk (based on triaxial measurements made on the grains), the dynamic shape factor of Briggs (based on settling velocity in water), and rollability, after Winkelmolen (based on rolling behaviour in a specially mounted rotating cylinder).
It is shown that the Sneed & Folk parameter and rollability both discriminate clearly between the shape characteristics of the three sands over the size range 150-500 μm. Moreover the discrimination of the two parameters is mutually consistent. However, dynamic shape factor gives results which for sizes smaller than 300 μm are inconsistent with those of the other two methods and which do not discriminate reliably between the populations. This is inevitable because the differences between drag on spheres and on other shapes become very small at Reynolds Numbers corresponding to those which obtain in settling tests on grains smaller than 300 μm.     

Penetration test in coarse granular material using Contact Dynamics Method

Field tests are widely used for soil characterization in geotechnical applications in spite of implementation difficulties. The light penetrometer is a well-known testing tool for fine soils, but the physical interpretation of the output data in the case of coarse granular materials is far less evident. Indeed, the data are considerably more sensitive in this case to various parameters such as fabric structure, particle shapes or the applied impact energy. In order to achieve a better understanding of the penetration process into a coarse granular material, a numerical study was performed by means of contact dynamics simulations. The penetration of a moving tip in a sample composed of irregular grain shapes was studied and the influence of the driving velocity and input energy on the penetration strength was analyzed. The results show that the latter grows with both the penetration rate and energy, despite the strong fluctuations occur due to a jamming–unjamming process in which the contact network connectivity evolves intermittently in correlation with the penetration strength. This analysis suggests that the time-averaged data provided by a penetrometer is reliable information from which the bulk strength properties of coarse granular materials can be evaluated.     

脆性颗粒材料的动态多尺度模型研究

脆性颗粒材料的多尺度模型一般包含微观尺度的基本粒子、细观尺度的颗粒和宏观尺度的颗粒堆积体3个尺度。基于离散元方法（DEM）构建多尺度模型,并将该模型应用于动态加载。首先,对多尺度模型所涉及的两种接触模型和两种黏结模型的参数进行分析,详细讨论微细观模型参数与宏观材料常数之间的联系。然后,选用Hertz-Mindlin接触模型[1]和平行键黏结模型,建造石英砂的动态多尺度模型。通过选择合适的强度和局部阻尼参数发现,模型宏细观尺度上的动态压缩响应与对石英砂的相关试验结果吻合很好。利用多尺度模型和选定的参数,探讨与动态加载密切相关的局部阻尼机制对多尺度模型各个尺度上力学响应的影响。结果表明,阻尼越大则颗粒材料对波的衰减能力越强,但过高的阻尼会使团簇强度和模型的宏观压缩曲线都表现出异常的加载速度效应（后者实际是阻尼引起的微惯性效应）。另外,高阻尼会过度衰减颗粒破碎过程产生的应力波,从而阻碍颗粒破碎。最后,应用改进的动态多尺度模型,对脆性颗粒材料的动态破碎特性进行研究,发现该模型不但能给出与试验相吻合的颗粒级配曲线,还能揭示出颗粒破碎过程中微裂纹分布的空间不均匀性,即颗粒破碎过程中波的产生机制和衰减机制相互作用导致的微裂纹聚团分布的现象。