Penetration strength of coarse granular materials from DEM simulations

Abstract

Field tests are widely used for soil characterization in geotechnical applications in spite of implementation difficulties. The light penetrometer test is a well-known testing tool for fine soils, but the physical interpretation of the output data in the case of coarse granular materials is far less evident. In fact, the data are considerably more sensitive to various parameters such as fabric structure, particles shape or the applied impact energy. In order to achieve a better understanding of the underlying phenomena, we performed a numerical study by means contact dynamics DEM simulations. We consider the penetration of a moving tip into a sample composed of irregular grain shapes and we analyze the influence of the driving velocity and applied energy on the penetration strength. We find that the latter grows with both the penetration rate and energy. Force fluctuations on the tip involve a jamming-unjamming process. The typology of contact network and inter-granular friction play a major role in the fluctuations and measured values of the cone penetration strength. © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.