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Wave velocity and attenuation are two of the most important attributes of geomaterials under seismic loads. To understand how they are influenced by particle and microstructural characteristics, Discrete Elements Method simulations are carried out to simulate the propagation of linear and nonlinear waves in isotropic, frictional granular packings. The focus is on the effects of confining pressure and source characteristics (i.e., input strain and frequency) on wave velocity and attenuation. Three different approaches are used to quantify the seismic quality factor Q or damping in time and frequency domain. Our simulation results verify previous findings on the scaling of wave velocity with respect to confining pressure and coordination number. Quality factors measured both in time and frequency domains increase with confining pressure and show an interesting non-monotonic behavior with input frequency. As expected, wave velocity and quality factor for S-waves decrease with an increasing input shear strain amplitude, while for P-waves they first decrease and then increase at input strain amplitude of 6×10-4. Change of participation number shows that the inhomogeneity of the system increases with the increase of the input strain.

Powders &amp; Grains 2021

Elastic wave velocity and attenuation in granular material

The 2020 AAPT Virtual Summer Meeting brought together physics educators from around the globe to learn about the latest in physics theory, research methodology and education from leaders in their field. The program featured plenary speakers, sessions, workshops and many special activities.

For more information please visit the 2020 AAPT Virtual Summer Meeting page at: https://www.aapt.org/Conferences/SM2020/index.cfm.


AAPT SM 20

The 2020 AAPT Virtual Summer Meeting brought together physics educators from around the globe to learn about the latest in physics theory, research methodology and education from leaders in their field. 

technical paper

[EPJ Web of Conferences, Volume 249 (2021)](https://www.epj-conferences.org/articles/epjconf/abs/2021/03/contents/contents.html)

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Powders & Grains 2021

Powders & Grains 2021 will be held in Buenos Aires (Argentina, VIRTUAL) July 5, 13, 21, 29 and Aug 6, 2021. The aim of the conference is to give an up-to-date picture of the broad research field of granular media, powders and grains. Contributions from experts around the world will focus on research topics that cover a wide range of open problems in the field.

Viscoelastic granular materials are present in several disciplines. One example is asphalt mixture employed in road construction. In the last three decades, discrete element modeling has been positioned as a valid tool for the analysis of this multiphase material at the grain-scale. All this despite the simplification of the
shape of the particles used in these studies. In this work, it is proposed a simplified procedure for the generation of viscoelastic granular samples composed of irregular polyhedra. The numerical aggregates were generated by a Poisson-Voronoi tessellation based on the particle size distribution (PSD) and statistic data of aggregates, without using complex imaging technics. This procedure set the porosity of the packing, while controlling the PSD. Using this procedure implies a significant computational-time reduction by skipping several preparation stages for polyhedral samples, such as deposition by gravity and compaction. This approach can be used for the study granular materials as inclusion in a solid matrix as concrete or asphalt mixtures, particle breaking, and fatigue damage of viscoelastic materials.

Contact Dynamics modeling of viscoelastic granular materials using irregular polyhedral particles

Three-dimensional simulations of cone penetration tests (CPT) in cemented sandstone have been investigated using the Discrete Element Method (DEM). We generated the realistic grain size distribution of sandstone in the numerical simulations using the Ustyurt-Buzachi Sedimentary Basin samples. Numbers of numerical CPT tests at different bond strength values were performed with the penetrometer vertically moved down at a constant rate. The results of the real-world particle size distribution show that the cone penetration resistance and side friction increase with increasing depths; and with increase in bond strength the cone resistance and side friction decrease, while the friction ratio increases. The result of numerical CPT tests in cemented sandstone was found to be in good agreement with the Soil Behaviour Type (SBT) classification system from CPT data.

Numerical simulations of cone penetration in cemented sandstone

Granular materials can segregate spontaneously due to differences in particle properties when subjected to vibrations, shear strain or because of the equipment geometries. Although the difference in particle size is the most critical factor that drives segregation, the effects of large density difference may also be detrimental for a lot of industries. In this work, we experimentally investigate density-driven segregation in bi-disperse mixtures of particles having the same size but different density when subjected to non-uniform shear rates. We found that the features of the segregation process are related to the density ratio as well as to the dimensionless loaded mass. The experimental outcomes are then compared with the solution of a simple density-driven segregation model. The model can successfully capture the main features of segregation driven by density for a range of density ratios.

Shear-driven density segregation: an experimental study

The formation of shear bands is one of the most remarkable phenomena in the dynamics of granular matter. Several parameters have been so far identified to influence the behavior of the shear bands. We carried out experiments to investigate the evolution of the shear bands in the split-bottom Couette cell in the presence of confining pressure. We employed the Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) to characterize the shear band both in the absence and presence of external pressure. Our results show that the location and width of the shear band are affected by both the confining pressure and the filling height. The shear zone evolves towards the middle of the cylinder and expands to a broader region with increasing applied pressure or filling height; also the angular velocity decreases relative to the rotation rate of the bottom disk. Our findings are consistent with prior empirical observations on the formation of wide shear bands at free surfaces.

Shearing of granular materials in a confined split-bottom Couette cell

Poroelasticity theory predicts wave velocities in a saturated porous medium through a coupling between the bulk deformation of the solid skeleton and porous fluid flow. The challenge emerges below the characteristic wavelengths at which hydrodynamic interactions between grains and pore fluid become important. We investigate the pressure and volume fraction dependence of compressional- and shear-wave velocities in fluid-saturated, random, isotropic, frictional granular packings. The lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) and discrete element method (DEM) are two-way coupled to capture the particle-pore fluid interactions; an acoustic source is implemented to insert a traveling wave from the fluid reservoir to the saturated medium. We extract wave velocities from the acoustic branches in the wavenumber-frequency space, for a range of confining pressures and volume fractions. For random isotropic granular media, the pressure-wave velocity data collapse on a single curve when scaled properly by the volume fraction.

Direct numerical simulation of wave propagation in saturated random granular packings using coupled LBM-DEM

Granular matter transported by hydraulic conveying behaves under several transport regimes. The techncal challenge is to predict the dilute or dense regime of transport as well as the pressure drop required in order to design properly a granular hydraulic conveying system. We address this problem with a laboratory scale experimental setup able to reproduce the key features of hydraulic conveying f grains. Pressure drop measurements as well as image analysis have been used to characterize a slug transport regime and its crossover towards a moving bed transport regime. A dimensionless characteristic curves diagram has been established and a reasonably good pressure drop prediction with a generic power law is explained in details. This preliminary work has the potential to open perspectives for the design of a predictive tool for pressure drops in hydraulic conveying systems.

Hydraulic transport regimes of grains in a millifluidic confinement

We present the results of both experimental and numerical investigations of the silo discharge for a cohesive granular material. In our study, thanks to a cohesion-controlled granular material (CCGM) we propose to investigate the effect of the cohesive length lc, on the discharge of a silo for two different configurations, one axisymmetric, and one quasi-2D rectangular silo. In both configurations, an adjustable bottom is used to control the size of the orifice. As observed for cohesionless granular material by previous studies, the mass flow rate and the density through an orifice are mostly controlled by the diameter of the orifice D. The experimental results of the quasi-2D silo are compared with continuum numerical simulations.

The effect of cohesion on the discharge of a granular material through the orifice of a silo

Numerical models of granular materials are useful in tribology, and can be used to predict wear and friction in contacts. DEM-like simulations are used to model particles of third-body, which are partly wear debris from rubbing bodies. It has been shown that the third-body particles can have different flow regimes, depending on their mechanical properties. Among the different characteristics of flow regimes, agglomerate size seems to be crucial. A method based on vortex analysis used in fluid mechanics allows characterizing this cluster size. The results show that different vortex sizes can be observed during the simulation. In particular, it is observed that some vortexes of a characteristic size persist over time, and could be representative of agglomerates. These results pave the way for a better characterisation of the different flow regimes.

Detecting vorticity in cohesive deformable granular material

Structural characteristics of two-dimensional elliptic granular packs with various aspect ratios and intergranular friction coeffcients were studied using the Discrete Element Method (DEM). Isotropic compaction from random unjammed state leads to a jammed state with polycrystals of orientationally ordered clusters (OOC). The OOCs were identified using a cluster labelling algorithm, based on the relative angle \Delta\theta between the major axes of two contacting particles. The threshold value of \Delta\theta was optimised to give the strongest correlation between OOCs and the force chain network. We found that the resulting OOC size distribution decays algebraically with an exponent of -2, independently of grain aspect ratio and material properties.

Structural characteristics of ordered clusters in packs of ellipses

We analyse the different morphologies induced by an oscillating plate above an erodible bed. We present some data describing how the shape and the stiffness of the plate affect the main features of the generated heap. We investigate several configurations with different geometries, frequencies and the amplitudes. Some
preliminary results are available, in which the role of the flexibility of the plate is taken in account. Unlike the rigid plate in which a proper oscillation induces the formation of one heap, the morphology of the bed is now characterized by more than one heap due to a different pressure profile induced by a flexible plate.

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