Abstract
The anisotropy of a granular material’s structure will influence its response to applied loads and deformations. Anisotropy can be either inherent (e.g. due to depositional process) or induced as a consequence of the applied stresses or strains. Discrete element simulations allow the interactions between individual particles to be explicitly simulated and the fabric can be quantified using a fabric tensor. The eigenvalues of this fabric tensor then give a measure of the anisotropy of the fabric. The coordination number is a particle scale scalar measure of the packing density of the material. The current study examines the evolution of the fabric of a granular material subject to cyclic loading, using two-dimensional discrete element method (DEM) simulations. Isotropic consolidation modifies and reduces the inherent anisotropy, but anisotropic consolidation can accentuate anisotropy. The ratio of the normal to shear spring stiffness at the particle contacts in the DEM model affects the evolution of anisotropy. Higher ratios reduce the degree of anisotropy induced by anisotropic consolidation. The anisotropy induced by cyclic loading depends on the amplitude of the loading cycles and the initial anisotropy.
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Acknowledgements
The authors appreciate the support from the Geotechnical Laboratory of Imperial College London. The work is financially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China with Grant No. 10922158 and No. 50978231, and by Open fund from Key Laboratory of Geotechnical and Underground Engineering of Ministry of Education, Tongji University, No. KLE-TJGE-0803
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Open Access This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0), which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
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Hu, M., O’Sullivan, C., Jardine, R.R. et al. Stress-induced anisotropy in sand under cyclic loading. Granular Matter 12, 469–476 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10035-010-0206-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10035-010-0206-7