Liang, Luju;
Cheng, Yi Pik;
Fan, Xiaozhen;
Ding, Zhi;
Xu, Changjie;
(2024)
Multi-Scale Research on the Mechanisms of Soil Arching Development and Degradation in Granular Materials with Different Relative Density.
Fractal and Fractional
, 8
(5)
p. 247.
10.3390/fractalfract8050247.
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Abstract
Soil arching is significantly influenced by relative density, while its mechanisms have barely been analyzed. A series of DEM numerical simulations of the classical trapdoor test were carried out to investigate the multi-scale mechanisms of arching development and degradation in granular materials with different relative density. For analysis, the granular assembly was divided into three zones according to the particle vertical displacement normalized by the trapdoor displacement δ. The results show that before the maximum arching state (corresponding to the minimum arching ratio), contact forces between particles in a specific zone (where the vertical displacement of particles is larger than 0.1δ but less than 0.9δ) increase rapidly and robust arched force chains with large particle contact forces are generated. The variation in contact forces and force chains becomes more obvious as the sample porosity decreases. As a result, soil arching generated in a denser particle assembly is stronger, and the minimum value of the arching ratio is increased with the sample porosity. After the maximum arching state, the force chains in this zone are degenerated gradually, leading to a decrease in particle contact forces in microscale and an increase in the arching ratio in macroscale. The recovery of the arching ratio after the minimum value is also more significant in simulations with a larger relative density, as the degeneration of contact force chains is more obvious in denser samples. These results indicate the importance of contact force chain stabilities in specific zones for improving soil arching in engineering practice.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Multi-Scale Research on the Mechanisms of Soil Arching Development and Degradation in Granular Materials with Different Relative Density |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.3390/fractalfract8050247 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/fractalfract8050247 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third-party material in this article are included in the Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| Keywords: | Soil arching; discrete element modeling; persistent homology; multi-scale analysis; relative density |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Civil, Environ and Geomatic Eng |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10192058 |
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