On the influence of inter-particle friction and dilatancy in granular materials: a numerical analysis

Mechanical behavior of granular soils is a classic research realm but still yet not completely understood as it can be influenced by a large number of factors, including confining pressure, soil density, loading conditions, and anisotropy of soil etc. Traditionally granular materials are macroscopically regarded as continua and their particulate and discrete nature has not been thoroughly considered although many researches indicate the macro mechanical behavior closely depends on the micro-scale characteristics of particles. This paper presents a DEM (discrete element method)-based micromechanical investigation of inter-particle friction effects on the behavior of granular materials. In this study, biaxial DEM simulations are carried out under both ‘drained’ and ‘undrained’ (constant volume) conditions. The numerical experiments employ samples having similar initial isotropic fabric and density, and the same confining pressure, but with different inter-particle friction coefficient. Test results show that the inter-particle friction has a substantial effect on the stress-strain curve, peak strength and dilatancy characteristics of the granular assembly. Clearly, it is noted that apart from the inter-particle friction, the shear resistance is also contributed to the dilation and the particle packing and arrangements. The corresponding microstructure evolutions and variations in contact properties in the particulate level are also elaborated, to interpret the origin of the different macro-scale response due to variations in the inter-particle friction.