THE DEFORMATION OF GRANULAR MASSES WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO PARTIALLY-MELTED GRANITE

Abstract

Experiments on a granite at 300 MPa confining pressure and 800°C with added water indicate that at relatively low melt fractions the specimen becomes effectively disaggregated and behaves as an assemblage of crushable particles with fluid filling the interstices. The behaviour of such specimens is discussed in terms of compaction, dilatancy hardening and cataclastic flow, comparing the observations with the theoretical behaviour of close-packed spheres.