Stress transmission in wet granular materials

Abstract

We analyze stress transmission in wet granular media in the pendular state by means of three-dimensional molecular dynamics simulations. We show that the tensile action of capillary bonds induces a self-stressed particle network organized in two percolating "phases" of positive and negative particle pressures. Various statistical descriptors of the microstructure and bond force network are used to characterize this partition. Two basic properties emerge: 1) The highest particle pressure is located in the bulk of each phase; 2) The lowest pressure level occurs at the interface between the two phases, involving also the largest connectivity of the particles via tensile and compressive bonds. When a confining pressure is applied, the number of tensile bonds falls off and the negative phase breaks into aggregates and isolated sites.

References in corpus (5)

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• Pre-avalanche instabilities in a granular pile
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Cited by in corpus (6)

• Flow of wet granular materials: a numerical study
• Computer simulation of model cohesive powders: Plastic consolidation, structural changes and elasticity under isotropic loads
• From liquid to solid bonding in cohesive granular media
• Simple Model for Wet Granular Materials with Liquid Clusters
• Particle dynamics simulation of wet granulation in a rotating drum
• Micro-mechanical insights into the stress transmission in strongly aggregating colloidal gel