Effects of particle asphericity on the macro- and micro-mechanical behaviors of granular assemblies

Abstract

Particle shape has been regarded as a key factor affecting mechanical behaviors of granular assemblies. The present work proposes a shape descriptor, i.e., asphericity, to isolate the effect of aspect ratio and angularity. A series of numerical triaxial compression tests are conducted on mono-disperse assemblies with different asphericities using a superball-based discrete element model. The corresponding mechanical behaviors are investigated from both macroscopic and microscopic points of view. Effects of particle asphericity are examined as well. It demonstrates that particle asphericity is able to enhance the particle–particle inter-locking with higher locked-in forces, showing an increasing proportion of sliding contacts, thereby making a granular assembly stiffer and stronger. In addition, weak contacts have a dominant proportion in the overall contact networks, positively correlated with asphericity. However, asphericity has an insignificant effect on the mean coordination number at the critical state. Furthermore, an established analytical stress–force–fabric relationship is verified using the present data. Anisotropy within an assembly is quantified in terms of several measures, i.e., contact normals, normal and tangential branch vectors, and normal and tangential contact forces. It is found that anisotropy of granular fabric is strongly determined by anisotropy sources in strong contact networks, where a larger asphericity results in a more anisotropic granular fabric.