A Micro-mechanical Modelling of the Pressure Dependence of the Void Index of a Granular Assembly:

TL;DR

This paper develops a micro-mechanical model to describe how the void index of granular materials increases with pressure during compression, aligning well with experimental observations.

Contribution

It introduces a statistical mechanics-based model for the pressure dependence of the void index in granular assemblies, extending previous approaches.

Findings

Model accurately predicts void index variation with pressure

Agreement with experimental data on density increase

Provides insights into void destruction during compression

Abstract

This paper models the increase of density of a virgin loose granular sample submitted to a progressive axisymmetric compression (either isotropic or anisotropic) as an irreversible process which destroys the larger voids; a statistical mechanics approach similar to the one proposed by Boutreux & de Gennes is performed which leads to the equation of the density of normally consolidated states as a function of pressure; this equation is in agreement with experimental data and the typical variation of e (void index) or v (specific volume) vs. ln(p) .