Abstract
Granular soil can be considered as a composition of two fractions of particles; an immobile part called the primary fabric, and loose particles located in the voids formed by the immobile part considered to be potentially mobile. The primary fabric transfers momentum through force chains formed by interconnected force chains. These force chains form pores where loose particles are located. As a consequence, loose particles can be mobilised very easily under the influence of seepage flow and transported away if the geometrical conditions of the pore structure allows it. Therefore, the determination of the primary fabric fraction, as well as loose particle fraction, is of vital importance especially in soil suffusion predictions, which must be thoroughly considered in the design of hydraulic structures or their risk assessment. This paper presents a new method to simulate the behaviour of soils under stress and introduces a numerical analysis to define the primary fabric fraction. To achieve this, soil specimens are built by a new sequential packing method, which employs trilateration equations for packing. Later, specimens are compacted under oedometric conditions using the discrete element method to observe how the loading force is distributed across the solid matrix and to identify the fraction of the soil sustaining the external force. The primary fabric fraction analysis is conducted on two types of soil particle arrangements with several grain size distributions. A striking finding of this study is that the portion of the soil belonging to the primary fabric greatly depends on the structural packing of the granular particles. This finding should be used as evidence for the formulation of more accurate criteria for the prediction of suffusion and erosion in the future.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bagi K (2005) An algorithm to generate random dense arrangements for discrete element simulations of granular assemblies. Granul Matter 7(1):31–43
Belheine N et al (2009) Numerical simulation of drained triaxial test using 3D discrete element modeling. Comput Geotech 36(1):320–331
Bezrukov A, Bargieł M, Stoyan D (2002) Statistical analysis of simulated random packings of spheres. Part Part Syst Charact 19(2):111–118
Buechler S, Johnson S (2013) Efficient generation of densely packed convex polyhedra for 3D discrete and finite-discrete element methods. Int J Numer Methods Eng 94(1):1–19
Burenkova V (1993) Assessment of suffusion in non-cohesive and graded soils. In: Brauns J, Schuler U (eds) Filters in geotechnical and hydraulic engineering. Balkema, Rotterdam
Cundall PA, Strack OD (1979) A discrete numerical model for granular assemblies. Geotechnique 29(1):47–65
Cundall PA, Strack ODL (1979) Discrete numerical model for granular assemblies. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci Geomech Abstr 16(4):77
D’Addetta GA (2004) Discrete models for cohesive frictional materials. D93-Dissertation an der Universität Stuttgart, p 202. ISBN 2-00-014015-8
Foster M, Fell R, Spannagle M (2000) The statistics of embankment dam failures and accidents. Can Geotech J 37:25
Galindo-Torres S, Muñoz J, Alonso-Marroquin F (2010) Minkowski-Voronoi diagrams as a method to generate random packings of spheropolygons for the simulation of soils. Phys Rev E 82(5):056713
Galindo-Torres S, Pedroso D, Williams D, Li L (2012) Breaking processes in three-dimensional bonded granular materials with general shapes. Comput Phys Commun 183(2):266–277
Galindo-Torres S et al (2012) Breaking processes in three-dimensional bonded granular materials with general shapes. Comput Phys Commun 183(2):266–277
Galindo-Torres S et al (2013) A micro-mechanical approach for the study of contact erosion. Acta Geotech 1–12. doi:10.1007/s11440-013-0282-z
Indraratna B, Nguyen VT, Rujikiatkamjorn C (2011) Assessing the Potential of Internal Erosion and Suffusion of Granular Soils. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng 137:550
Indraratna B, Raut AK, Khabbaz H (2007) Constriction-based retention criterion for granular filter design. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng 133(3):266–276
Kenney T et al (1985) Controlling constriction sizes of granular filters. Can Geotech J 22(1):32–43
Kenney T, Lau D (1985) Internal stability of granular filters. Can Geotech J 22(2):215–225
Lind PG, Baram RM, Herrmann HJ (2008) Obtaining the size distribution of fault gouges with polydisperse bearings. Phys Rev E 77(2):021304
Locke M, Indraratna B, Adikari G (2001) Time-dependent particle transport through granular filters. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng 127(6):521–529
Luding S (2008) Cohesive, frictional powders: contact models for tension. Granul Matter 10(4):235–246
Mechsys homepage. Available from: http://mechsys.nongnu.org/index.shtml
Oñate E et al (2011) Advances in the particle finite element method (PFEM) for solving coupled problems in engineering. In: Oñate E, Owen R (eds) Particle-based methods. Springer, Berlin, pp 1–49
Reboul N, Vincens E, Cambou B (2010) A computational procedure to assess the distribution of constriction sizes for an assembly of spheres. Comput Geotech 37(1):195–206
Reboul N, Vincens E, Cambou B (2010) A computational procedure to assess the distribution of constriction sizes for an assembly of spheres. Comput Geotech 37:12
Sadaghiani MS, Witt K (2011) Variability of the grain size distribution of a soil related to suffusion. In: Vogt, Schuppener, Straub, Bräu (eds) Paper presented at the 3rd international symposium on geotechnical risk and safety (ISGSR) 2011, Bundesanstalt für Wasserbau. ISBN 978-3-939230-01-4
Scholtès L, Hicher P-Y, Sibille L (2010) Multiscale approaches to describe mechanical responses induced by particle removal in granular materials. Comptes Rendus Mécanique 338(10):627–638
Sherard JL (1979) Sinkholes in dams of coarse, broadly graded soils. In: 13th congress on large dams. New Delhi, India
Shire T, O’Sullivan C (2013) Micromechanical assessment of an internal stability criterion. Acta Geotech 8(1):81–90
Sjah J, Vincens E (2011) A comparison of different methods to compute the constriction size distribution for granular filters. In: 13th international conference of the IACMAG. Melbourne
Skempton AW, Brogan JM (1994) Experiments on pi** in sandy gravels. Géotechnique 44(3):12
To HD, Scheuermann A, Williams DJ (2012) A new simple model for the determination of the pore constriction size distribution. In: 6th international conference on scour and erosion. Societe Hydrotechnique de France, Paris, pp 60–68
To HD, Scheuermann A, Williams DJ (2012) A new simple model for the determination of the pore constriction size distribution. In: 6th international conference on scour and erosion (ICSE-6). Société Hydrotechnique de France (SHF)
Vincens E, Witt KJ, Homberg U (2014) Approaches to determine the constriction size distribution for understanding filtration phenomena in granular materials. Acta Geotech 1–13. doi:10.1007/s11440-014-0308-1
Wan CF, Fell R (2008) Assessing the potential of internal instability and suffusion in embankment dams and their foundations. J Geotechn Geoenviron Eng 134:401
Acknowledgments
The first author was granted a scholarship from the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) and a top-up scholarship from the Graduate School of The University of Queensland (UQ). The presented research is part of the Discovery Project (DP120102188) Hydraulic erosion of granular structures: experiments and computational simulations were funded by the Australian Research Council. The simulations were based on Mechsys, an open source library and carried out using the Macondo Cluster from the School of Civil Engineering at The University of Queensland. The first author also obtained benefit from the GSITA of UQ.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
To, H.D., Galindo Torres, S.A. & Scheuermann, A. Primary fabric fraction analysis of granular soils. Acta Geotech. 10, 375–387 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-014-0353-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-014-0353-9