Abstract
The mechanical properties of granular materials change significantly in the presence of a wetting liquid which creates capillary bridges between the particles. This results e.g. in a reduced value of the volume fraction when a packing is prepared with added liquid. Here we use x-ray tomography to demonstrate that this change in mechanical properties is not accompanied by structural differences between dry and wet sphere packings when compared at the same volume fraction. We characterize the structure of the packings by the average numbers of contacts of each sphere and the shape isotropy of the Voronoi cells of the particles. Additionally, we show that the number of liquid bridges per sphere is approximately equal to , independent of the volume fraction of the packing. These findings will be helpful in guiding the development of both particle-based models and continuum mechanical descriptions of wet granular matter.
Highlights
Everyone who has ever built a sand castle at the beach is familiar with the different mechanical properties of wet and dry granular media
Part of the problem is that while x-ray tomography studies [27,28,29,30] have provided a more detailed picture of the liquid morphologies inside wet packings, it is still unclear how much these additional tensile forces lead to geometrical rearrangements of the particles by drawing close-by particles together
In contrast,we could not prepare dry packings at fg below 0.61; vertical tapping (10–160 000 sinusoidal taps with a maximal acceleration of 2 g) increases fg up to 0.64 [40, 41]. These non-overlapping fg ranges of wet and dry packings are a clear testimonial to the influence of liquid bridges on the mechanical properties, even at a Eötvös number larger one
Summary
Any further distribution of which creates capillary bridges between the particles. This results e.g. in a reduced value of the volume this work must maintain attribution to the fraction when a packing is prepared with added liquid. We show that the number of liquid bridges per sphere áBñis approximately equal to áZñ + 2, independent of the volume fraction of the packing. These findings will be helpful in guiding the development of both particle-based models and continuum mechanical descriptions of wet granular matter
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