Examination of particle shape on the shear behaviours of granules using 3D printed soil

Abstract

This study aims to advance the understanding of particle shape effects on the mechanical behaviours of granular materials by using 3D printed soil. A holistic particle geometry parameter (S_h), which integrated the 3D information of a particle (i.e. volume, surface area, and size) was developed to describe the particle shape and correlate with the granule’s shear behaviours. Test results revealed that higher S_h had positive correlations with the shear strength and dilation angle but exhibited negative correlations with packing densities. Under a constant relative density, particle shape showed coupled effects on the mechanical and volumetric behaviours of granular materials. The Regular Hexahedron (RH) granules exhibited the highest shear strength with the optimal shape parameter. In addition, an empirical correlation between S_h and maximum mobilised friction angle (ϕ_max) was established, which provided insights for discrete element method (DEM) simulations in considering the influences of particle shape.

Keywords:

• 3D printing
• granular materials
• holistic particle geometry parameter
• shear behaviour

Acknowledgments

The present work was carried out with the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51808207).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).