Experimental behaviour of granular materials (Q4215057)

We present the main features of experimental behaviour of granular materials tested along various stress and strain path. Having compared results on different typs of grains, such as sands and gravels, metal and organic powders, cereal grains, we can at first say that all these materials have a common behaviour when tested in the same conditions. Two parameters have a major importance in such materials, the void ratio of the assembly and the mean stress. If we consider tests in which the grains can be considered as elastic (small grain deformations), the notion of perfect plastic state allows us to define contractant or dilatant material according to their initial void ratio and state of stress. The volume changes during a deviatoric stress path, which is a typical behaviour of granular media, affect the stress-strain relationship: higher stiffness and maximum strength for initial dense states. The maximum strength is a function of the mean stress, corresponding to a frictional behaviour of the granular materials. Nonlinear elasticity is also a consequence of the effect of the mean stress on the mechanical properties. Inelastic deformations or ruptures of the grains, caused by increases in stresses, lead to variations in the mechanical behaviour of granular media. They mainly affect the volume changes and, as a consequence, the stress-strain relationships along isotropic and deviatoric stress paths. When the void ratio becomes very small, one can observe a transition in the behaviour from a frictional one to one independent of the mean stress (with no plastic volume change). For the entire collection see [Zbl 0896.00015].