Optimal Values of Fines Particle Content on the Mechanical Properties of Granular Material

Abstract

With the rapid development of the economy in the southwest China, more and more large projects are built in such areas. However, how to fill and cut well has been frequent problem because the western region is mostly mountainous areas. Especially for filling, in order to protect the stability of constructions, mechanical properties of granular materials used to fill are quite important. Particle size distribution, fines content and characteristic particle size values are main factors that affects mechanical properties. Under different confining pressure, the changes in fine particle content can lead to change granular materials’ mechanical properties. In this study, three sets of granular materials with different fine particle contents (PSD-1: 20%, PSD-2: 30%, PSD-3: 40%) and three samples (fine particle content of 20%) with different characteristic particle size values are considered. Simulation results indicate that the mechanical properties of granular materials are better when fines content is 40% under low confining pressure. However, when confining pressure is more than 400 kPa, mechanical property of granular materials with fines content of 20% is better.