Quantifying the extent of crushing in granular materials: A probability-based predictive method

Grain crushing is one of the micromechanisms that governs the stress-strain behaviour of a granular material, and also its permeability by altering the grain size distribution. It is therefore advantageous to be able to predict the point of onset of crushing and to quantify the subsequent evolution of crushing. This paper uses the data of Discrete Element Method (DEM) simulations to inform a statistical model of granular crushing. Distributions of normalised contact forces are first obtained. If the statistical distribution of the crushing strength of the grains is then known, the onset of crushing within an assembly of grains should be predictable. Two different cases, one in which grain strength was statistically independent of grain size and one showing an arbitrary trend, were used to compare with DEM results and so confirm the validity of the statistical method.