Effects of particle breakage on the mechanical characteristics of geogrid-reinforced granular soils under triaxial shear: A DEM investigation

Abstract

A series of numerically triaxial shear tests on crushable and uncrushable granular soils reinforced by geogrid were conducted using 3-Dimension Particle Flow Code. The macroscopic behaviors of crushable and uncrushable granular soil during shearing were compared. Also, the underlying macro–micro linkages were explored. The main findings are as follows: Particle breakage decreases the contact forces between soil particles to reduce the shear strength of granular soils; The reinforcement effect of geogrids on the shear strength of granular soils can be attributed to the increase in fabric and force anisotropies; The particle displacement distribution of crushable soil samples is more uniform than that of uncrushable samples, and the shear band of crushable samples is not obvious; The reinforcement effect of geogrid with the aperture size ratio of 4.4 is the highest among the samples because the number of crushed particles and the deformation of geogrids reaches a balance.