Frictional behavior of granular materials exposed to dynamic normal load

Abstract

Understanding the frictional characteristics of granular materials (e.g., fault gouge and sand foundations) exposed to dynamic normal load are important for investigations of engineering geology disasters and safety assessment. Direct shear tests on granular materials under dynamic normal load were performed in the laboratory using a dynamic shear box device. Experimental results showed that the shear strength and normal displacement varied with variations of normal load, identified by a phase shift and normal stress loading peak. The peak shear stress decreased with increasing normal load frequency and shear velocity, in particular, the peak shear stress changed nonlinearly with the increase of normal load amplitude, characterized by a critical point. The influence of normal load amplitude on the shear strength and normal displacement was analyzed in detail. Furthermore, the results showed that dynamic normal load can both enhance and reduce the shear strength on granular material, and the frictional behaviors were velocity-amplitude-frequency dependent, which can be well interpreted by the Rate and State Friction constitutive law. These findings provide guidance in the design of geotechnical engineering projects when dynamic normal loads are encountered (e.g., blasting, earthquakes, earth tides and reservoir effects).