Discrete element method (DEM) simulations of planar wave propagation are used to examine the effect of particle surface roughness on the stiffness and dynamic response of granular materials. A new contact model that considers particle surface roughness is implemented in the DEM simulations.Face-centred cubic lattice packings and random configurations are used; uniform spheres are considered in both cases to isolate fabric and contact model effects from inertia effects. For the range of values considered here surface roughness caused a significant reduction in stiffness, particularly at lower confining stresses. The simulations confirm that surface roughness effects can at least partially explain the value of the exponent in the relationship between stiffness and mean confining stress for an assembly of spherical particles. Frequency domain analyses showed that the maximum frequency transmitted through the sample is reduced when surface roughness is considered. The assumption of homogeneity of stress and contacts in analytical micromechanical models is shown to lead to an overestimation of stiffness.
The nature of soil stiffness at small strains remains poorly understood. The relationship between soil stiffness (e.g. shear stiffness, G 0 ) and isotropic confining pressure ( p′) can be described using a power function with exponent (b), that is,, where A is a constant and p r is an arbitrary reference pressure. Experimentally determined values of b are usually around 0·5 and these are higher than the value of 0·33 that can be analytically determined using Hertzian theory. Hertzian theory considers contact between two smooth, elastic spheres; however, in reality, inter-particle contacts in soil are complex with particle shape and surface roughness affecting the interaction. Thus Hertzian theory is not directly applicable to predict real soil stiffness. It has, however, provided a useful basis to develop an analytical framework to consider the influence of particle surface roughness on small-strain soil stiffness. Here, earlier contributions using this framework are extended and improved by paying particular attention to roughness and the tangential contact stiffness. Stiffness values calculated using the newly derived analytical expressions were compared with the results of bender element tests on samples of borosilicate glass beads (ballotini) whose surface roughness was quantified using an optical interferometer. The analytical expression captures the experimentally observed sensitivity of the smallstrain shear modulus to surface roughness.
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