Abstract
We focus herein on the mechanical behavior of highly crushable grains. The object of our interest, named shell, is a hollow cylinder grain with ring cross-section, made of baked clay. The objective is to model the fragmentation of such shells, by means of discrete element (DE) approach. To this end, fracture modes I (opening fracture) and II (in-plane shear fracture) have to be investigated experimentally. This paper is essentially dedicated to mode I fracture. Therefore, a campaign of Brazilian-like compression tests, that result in crack opening, has been performed. The distribution of the occurrence of tensile strength is shown to obey a Weibull distribution for the studied shells, and Weibull’s modulus was quantified. Finally, an estimate of the numerical/physical parameters required in a DE model (local strength), is proposed on the basis of the energy required to fracture through a given surface in mode I or II .
Highlights
The discrete element method (DEM) is commonly used to model the response of rigid grains assemblies [1,2,3], but it has been employed by various researchers in studying the behavior of crushable particles packings [4, 5]
One final objective of this study is to explore the mechanical response of an assembly of breakable shells by using the DEM
The objective was to characterize the material resistance of tube-shaped grains made of baked clay, called shells
Summary
The discrete element method (DEM) is commonly used to model the response of rigid grains assemblies [1,2,3], but it has been employed by various researchers in studying the behavior of crushable particles packings [4, 5]. The first one takes into consideration the rigid particles that will be replaced by smaller ones, when the breakage must occur (according to the grain loading criterion) [6]. This approach has the advantage of the simplicity but may have the disadvantage of having material losses under certain conditions. In the second approach the grain is created by assembling smaller particles together [7, 8] – the assembly bonds correspond to the pre-cracks of the grain. Whereas we aim to study the micro-macro mechanical behavior of large, dense assemblies of crushable shells, we propose a strategy to model 3D grains, shaped as hollow cylinders, by means of DEM
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