Fabric Evolution of Granular Soils Subjected to Triaxial Loading Using X-Ray Computed Tomography

Abstract

This thesis explores fabric (arrangement of particles and voids) evolution of sands under triaxial compression using the X-ray Microscopy Facility for Imaging Geo-materials (XMFIG) established at the Department of Civil Engineering, Monash University. A number of new essential image-processing algorithms consisting of the Monash Particle Separation Method (MPSM) have been developed. All analyses clearly reveal the localisation and anisotropic behaviour of fabric parameters during shearing. The unreliability of global measurements as critical state parameters is exposed. This thesis shows the high potential of X-ray CT in studying the internal topology of soils and advanced micromechanical phenomena, which were previously speculative.