Particle shape dependence in 2D granular media

TL;DR

This study investigates how particle shape, quantified by a parameter η, influences the shear strength and packing density of 2D granular media, revealing that shape distortion significantly affects these properties.

Contribution

The paper introduces a generic shape parameter η to systematically analyze shape effects on granular packings, demonstrating its primary influence on shear strength and packing fraction.

Findings

Shear strength increases with η across all shapes.

Packing fraction peaks at a certain η, higher than for disks.

Shape effects are primarily captured by the η parameter.

Abstract

Particle shape is a key to the space-filling and strength properties of granular matter. We consider a shape parameter $\eta$ describing the degree of distortion from a perfectly spherical shape. Encompassing most specific shape characteristics such as elongation, angularity and nonconvexity, $\eta$ is a low-order but generic parameter that we used in a numerical benchmark test for a systematic investigation of shape-dependence in sheared granular packings composed of particles of different shapes. We find that the shear strength is an increasing function of $\eta$ with nearly the same trend for all shapes, the differences appearing thus to be of second order compared to $\eta$. We also observe a nontrivial behavior of packing fraction which, for all our simulated shapes, increases with $\eta$ from the random close packing fraction for disks, reaches a peak considerably higher than that for disks, and subsequently declines as $\eta$ is further increased. These findings suggest that a low-order description of particle shape accounts for the principal trends of packing fraction and shear strength. Hence, the effect of second-order shape parameters may be investigated by considering different shapes at the same level of $\eta$.