Particle breakage of artificially crushable materials subject to drained cyclic triaxial loading: Fid-Bau Portal

Particle breakage of artificially crushable materials subject to drained cyclic triaxial loading

Liu, En-Long / Chen, Shengshui / Lai, Yuanming / Wei, Wei / Fu, Zhongzhi

Abstract Upon cyclic loading, particle breakage of constituent granular materials occurs when the resulting local stresses exceed their strength, which has a significant influence on the deformation of the embankment, foundation and pavement structures. In this study, the artificially crushable materials were tested to investigate the particle breakage properties of these structures when subjected to drained cyclic triaxial loading. Twelve sets of samples were tested at the confining pressures of 100, 125, 150 and 175kPa and a frequency of 1.0Hz using a GCTS triaxial system. The cyclic test results indicate that at the same confining pressure, the residual volumetric strain increases with decreasing maximal deviatoric stress q max at a given ratio of the number of cycles (N) to the number of cycles of failure (N f). The cumulative crushing ratio R cc decreases with increasing q max, leading to a reduction in N f. The internal frictional angle decreases with increasing R cc, and R cc increases with increasing N f. Furthermore, the confining pressure, maximal cyclic deviatoric stress and N have significant influences on the degree of particle breakage, which leads to volumetric contraction during the cyclic loading process. Finally, the resilient modulus at failure increases linearly with increasing R cc.

Highlights • Cyclic triaxial tests were tested on crushable materials at a frequency of 1.0Hz. • The factors affecting particle breakage upon cyclic loading were analyzed in detail. • The cumulative crushing ratio (R cc) was used to quantify the particle breakage. • The evolution of R cc with the internal frictional angle at failure was analyzed. • The evolution of R cc with N f was analyzed.