Numerical and experimental direct shear tests for coarse-grained soils

The presence of particles larger than the permissible dimensions of conventional laboratory specimens causes difficulty in the determination of shear strength of coarse-grained soils. In this research, the influence of particle size on shear strength of coarse-grained soils was investigated by resorting to experimental tests in different scale and numerical simulations based on discrete element method (DEM). Experimental tests on such soil specimens were based on using the techniques designated as "parallel" and "scalping" to prepare gradation of samples in view of the limitation of laboratory specimen size. As a second approach, the direct shear test was numerically simulated on assemblies of elliptical particles. The behaviors of samples under experimental and numerical tests are presented and compared, indicating that the modification of sample gradation has a significant influence on the mechanical properties of coarse-grained soils. It is noted that the shear strengths of samples produced by the scalping method are higher than samples by the parallel method. The scalping method for preparing specimens for direct shear test is therefore recommended. The micromechanical behavior of assemblies under direct shear test is also discussed and the effects of stress level on sample behavior are investigated.     

光通量法在SHPSB剪切应变测量中的应用

利用光通量方法对分离式霍普金森压剪杆实验技术中的剪切应变测量进行了实验研究。实验装 置主要包括:准直激光器、光电接收器、光学挡板。由装置性能验证实验结果以及不确定度分析结果表明:利 用基于光通量法的剪切应变测量技术能够可靠地测量SHPSB(splitHopkinsonpressurebar)试样的剪切应 变。并对比了基于光通量法测量的剪切应变值与理论近似结果,结果显示前者小于后者,分析并讨论了原因。     

921A 钢纯剪切帽状试件绝热剪切变形的数值模拟

结合相关实验,通过一系列基于921A 钢纯剪切帽状试件的SHPB数值模拟,研究试件的绝热剪 切行为,分析试件内绝热剪切带(ASB)的产生、发展以及相应的试件温度场分布。研究发现:ASB是通过剪 切区两端高温高应变的不稳定区域的扩展而形成;ASB的扩展速率与加载速率相关;在本文加载速率范围 内,ASB带宽无明显变化,均为约70m,基本与所设计的试件剪切区宽度一致;且对应所有加载速率,ASB 均为形变带。     

Mechanical behaviour of the upper layers of a sandy loam soil under shear loading

The mechanical behaviour of the upper layers of a sandy loam soil was studied under standard triaxial compression and direct shear box tests. Variations of soil material properties were investigated at four different initial dry bulk densities of 1410, 1520, 1610 and 1670 kg/m³. Soil deformation and volume change under the triaxial compression loading were also studied at these bulk densities. Results from the two tests showed increases in the soil mechanical properties with the initial dry bulk density. The internal friction angle values measured with the triaxial compression apparatus exceeded those measured with the direct shear box. In contrast, the soil cohesion values measured with the direct shear box exceeded those measured with the triaxial compression apparatus. Under the triaxial compression test, the loose soil samples underwent contraction and volume reduction, whereas the dense samples swelled and failure cracks appeared clearly at various planes. The soil contraction for the former case characterizes the occurrence of soil compaction, whereas the cracks propagation and volume increase in the latter case characterizes the breaking up and loosening of soil during tillage operations. For the loose and moderately compacted states, the engineering Poisson's ratio increased with the axial strain until loading was completed. It also increased at the compacted and very compacted states until reaching given loading stages, after which its value started to decrease. This shifting in the engineering Poisson's ratio during loading may provide another identification of the moment of soil failure occurrence, in addition to that of the maximum shear stress.     

Instabilities in shear and simple shear deformations of gold crystals

We use the tight-binding potential and molecular mechanics simulations to study local and global instabilities in shear and simple shear deformations of three initially defect-free finite cubes of gold single crystal containing 3480, 7813, and 58,825 atoms. Displacements on all bounding surfaces are prescribed while studying simple shear deformations, but displacements on only two opposite surfaces are assigned during simulations of shear deformations with the remaining four surfaces kept free of external forces. The criteria used to delineate local instabilities in the system include the following: (i) a component of the second-order spatial gradients of the displacement field having large values relative to its average value in the body, (ii) the minimum eigenvalue of the Hessian of the energy of an atom becoming non-positive, and (iii) structural changes represented by a high value of the common neighborhood parameter. It is found that these criteria are met essentially simultaneously at the same atomic position. Effects of free surfaces are evidenced by different deformation patterns for the same specimen deformed in shear and simple shear. The shear strength of a specimen deformed in simple shear is more than three times that of the same specimen deformed in shear. It is found that for each cubic specimen deformed in simple shear the evolution with the shear strain of the average shear stress, prior to the onset of instabilities, is almost identical to that in an equivalent hyperelastic material with strain energy density derived from the tight-binding potential and the assumption that it obeys the Cauchy-Born rule. Even though the material response of the hyperelastic body predicted from the strain energy density is stable over the range of the shear strain simulated in this work, the molecular mechanics simulations predict local and global instabilities in the three specimens.     

In-plane shear testing of graphite-woven fabric composites

The losipescu shear test method was used to determine the in-plane shear response of AS4 and Celion carbon fiber/epoxy fabric composite materials. Several weave architectures were studied: AS4 uniweave, AS4 and Celion plain weaves, Celion 5-harness and 8-harness satin weaves. Specimens were tested using traditional strain gage techniques and full-field moiré interferometry. A full-node localized hybrid analysis is introduced to perform efficient reduction of moiré data, producing whole-field strain distributions in the specimen test section. It was found that the fabric yarn size greatly influenced the uniformity of the shear field in the specimen test section. However, consistent shear moduli still can be obtained using the modified losipescu specimen and Wyoming fixture except for fabrics with large fiber yarns.     

A dynamic model for soil cutting by blade and tine

A dynamic model for soil cutting resistance prediction by blade and tine was developed, taking account of shear rate effects both on soil shear strength and soil-metal friction, besides the conventional soil slice inertia, for both brittle and flow failure of soil. The model was verified with a series of tests in a soil bin with a blade and a tine, and the results were acceptable.     

Modeling interface shear behavior of granular materials using micro-polar continuum approach

Recently, the authors have focused on the shear behavior of interface between granular soil body and very rough surface of moving bounding structure. For this purpose, they have used finite element method and a micro-polar elasto-plastic continuum model. They have shown that the boundary conditions assumed along the interface have strong influences on the soil behavior. While in the previous studies, only very rough bounding interfaces have been taken into account, the present investigation focuses on the rough, medium rough and relatively smooth interfaces. In this regard, plane monotonic shearing of an infinite extended narrow granular soil layer is simulated under constant vertical pressure and free dilatancy. The soil layer is located between two parallel rigid boundaries of different surface roughness values. Particular attention is paid to the effect of surface roughness of top and bottom boundaries on the shear behavior of granular soil layer. It is shown that the interaction between roughness of bounding structure surface and the rotation resistance of bounding grains can be modeled in a reasonable manner through considered Cosserat boundary conditions. The influence of surface roughness is investigated on the soil shear strength mobilized along the interface as well as on the location and evolution of shear localization formed within the layer. The obtained numerical results have been qualitatively compared with experimental observations as well as DEM simulations, and acceptable agreement is shown.     

Critical state shear behavior of the soil-structure interface determined by discrete element modeling

The interface between soil and structure can be referred to as a soil-structure system, and its behavior plays an important role in many geotechnical engineering practices. In this study, results are presented from a series of monotonic direct shear tests performed on a sand-structure interface under constant normal stiffness using the discrete element method (DEM). Strain localization and dilatancy behavior of the interface is carefully examined at both macroscopic and microscopic scales. The effects of soil initial relative density and normal stress on the interface shear behavior are also investigated. The results show that a shear band progressively develops along the structural surface as shear displacement increases. At large shear displacement a unique relationship between stress ratio and void ratio is reached in the shear band for a certain normal stress, indicating that a critical state exists in the shear band. It is also found that the thickness and void ratio of the shear band at the critical state decreases with increasing normal stress. Comparison of the DEM simulation results with experimental results provides insight into the shear behavior of a sand-structure interface and offers a means for quantitative modeling of such interfaces based on the critical state soil mechanics.     

剪切和扭转工况下微纳米薄壁蜂窝的等效剪切模量计算

分别针对剪切和扭转两种工况给出了微纳米薄壁蜂窝等效剪切模量的解析计算方法.该方法综合考虑了由面板对芯层的约束导致的高度效应和当蜂窝胞壁厚度进入微纳米量级时引起的尺度效应.首先对蜂窝各胞壁选取了可反映面板约束以及受力状态的三角级数位移场,然后在本构关系中引入修正偶应力理论以描述尺度效应,最后应用能量均匀化方法求得蜂窝的等效剪切模量.以典型六边形蜂窝为例,给出了完整的计算过程和结果.与文献中的等效剪切模量结果进行对比,讨论了不同工况下等效剪切模量随芯层高度和胞壁厚度的变化趋势,以及高度效应和尺度效应之间的相互影响.     

Modeling adiabatic shear failure from energy considerations

The numerical simulation of dynamic structural failure by localized shear is quite complex in terms of constitutive models and choice of adequate failure criteria, along with a pronounced mesh-sensitivity. As a result, the existing numerical procedures are usually quite sophisticated, so that their application for design purposes is still limited. This study is based on the implementation of a simple energy-based criterion, which was developed on experimental considerations (Rittel et al., 2006), and uses a minimal number of adjustable parameters. According to this criterion, a material point starts to fail when the total strain energy density reaches a critical value. Thereafter, the strength of the element decreases gradually to zero to mimic the actual structural behavior. The criterion was embedded into commercial finite element software and tested by simulating numerically four typical high-rate experiments. The first is the dynamic torsion test of a tubular specimen. The second concerns the failure mode transition in mode II fracture of an edge crack in plain strain. The last two involve dynamic shear localization under high rate compression of a cylindrical and a shear compression specimen. A very good adequation was found both qualitatively and quantitatively. Qualitatively, in terms of failure path selection, and quantitatively, in terms of local strains, temperatures and critical impact velocity. The proposed approach is enticing from an engineering perspective aimed at predicting the onset and propagation of dynamic shear localization in actual structures.     

Analytical and experimental evaluation of double-notch shear specimens of orthotropic materials

A finite-difference analysis of the state of stress in a double-notch interlaminar shear strength specimen is developed. The effects of geometry and material parameters on the stress distributions are investigated. It has been found that, in agreement with previous determinations,^1–7 a uniform distribution of shear stress on the fracture plane does not exist. The shear stress distribution becomes more uniform for increased material anisotropy and for small (L/T) ratios, whereL is the distance between the notches andT is the specimen thickness. Also, it has been determined that the notch size (W) and the distance from the notches to the loaded ends of the specimen (h) do not influence the stress distributions significantly. The effects of variations in the (L/T) ratio, the notch size (W), and the length (h) were investigated experimentally. For a graphite/epoxy laminate of 0/90-deg square wave it has been found that the apparent shear strength determined by double-notch shear tests decreases significantly with an increase in (L/T) ratio. The decrease in the apparent shear strength with an increase inh, however, is very small. Also, the apparent shear strength is not affected significantly by increasing the notch sizeW.     

Adiabatic shear localization in the impact of edge-notched specimens

Impact experiments are performed on edgenotched specimens in the two-dimensional punch geometry. Materials tested include 18Ni(350) maraging steel; S7 tool steel; 4340, 300M, HP 9-4-20 and D-6ac ultra high-strength steels; and Ti6Al4V alloy. These materials have shown a high susceptibility to dynamic shear failure in previous studies. Impact velocity ranged from 25 m/s to 45 m/s, and shear bands were found to form at the notch tip and at the die corner on the back side of the specimen for all materials tested. Metallurgical analysis confirms the existence of adiabatic shear bands followed by a crack propagating through the fully developed shear band. High-speed photography was used to observe the initiation of adiabatic shear bands shortly after impact. Laser-etched lines on the specimen surfaces allowed the determination of the time of impact and the initiation time of shear failure. The elapsed time between the two was used to estimate the stress intensity factor at the time of shear band initiation. Comparisons of shear band initiation stress intensity factors at the notch tip and die corner are made. It is seen that the shear bands initiate at approximately the same stress intensity factor at both the notch tip and die corner. Finite element simulations support the use of a square root singularity for the stress in the plate near the corners of a deformable punch or die.     

无腹筋RC悬臂梁抗剪强度及尺寸效应理论研究

不同于混凝土材料,钢筋混凝土(RC)构件的破坏模式与机制更为复杂,采用混凝土材料尺寸效应理论难以描述构件的尺寸效应行为。我国相关规范中并没有系统考虑构件尺寸及纵筋率对RC梁抗剪承载力的影响。为研究剪跨比及纵筋率对无腹筋RC梁剪切破坏及抗剪强度尺寸效应的影响,采用三维细观数值模拟方法,建立了RC梁剪切破坏力学分析模型,研究了剪跨比及纵筋率对RC梁剪切破坏及抗剪强度尺寸效应的影响机制与规律。研究结果表明,RC梁抗剪强度表现出极为显著的尺寸效应现象;RC梁抗剪强度随剪跨比的增大而减小,随纵筋率的增大而增大;剪跨比较小时,纵筋率对抗剪强度的影响尤为显著。此外,基于Ba■ant材料层次尺寸效应律,提出了考虑剪跨比及纵筋率影响的RC梁抗剪强度尺寸效应理论公式。对比试验结果,验证了所提公式的准确性与合理性。     

Interlaminar shear strength of cloth-reinforced composites

A test specimen to define the interlaminar shear strength of cloth-reinforced composite materials is developed. The specimen is a hollow circular cylinder which is subjected to torsion. The experiment is employed for the determination of the warp-normal shear strength of a graphite-fiber carbon-matrix composite material. It is demonstrated that the proper failure mode takes place, while the problems associated with the use of strain gages on this porous material, nonlinearity, difference in tension and compression properties, and the influence of clamping effects are all discussed. The proposed experiment appears to be ideally suited to study the interlaminar shear response of cloth-reinforced composites.     

Composite specimen bearing failure reduction in iosipescu shear tests

ASTM losipescu sheart test fixtures often crush the loaded edges of high shear strength specimens before shear failure occurs between the notches. To alleviate this problem, two new shear test fixtures were designed and built. The first uses a pivoting load surface to track the specimen shape as it changes under load. The second uses a rounded load surface optimized to produce a uniform bearing pressure along the loaded edge of a quasi-isotropic sheet-molding compound (SMC) specimen at shear failure. Finite element analyses and strain gage data are presented that describe the behavior of the baseline ASTM, pivoting load surface and rounded load surface fixtures. A substantial reduction in bearing stress and edge crushing was obtained with the rounded load surface fixture. Additionally, the modified surface optimized to test SMC specimens showed no tendency to change the shear strength measured in other composite specimens.     

The shear gage: For reliable shear modulus measurements of composite materials

A special strain gage called the shear gage was developed for composite materials testing with notched shear specimens. The shear-gage records the average shear strain across the entire test section between the notches of the losipescu and compact shear specimens rather than just sampling the shear strain over a small region in the center of the test section. Hence, the shear stress/strain response is obtained by dividing the average shear stress (load divided by the cross-sectional area between the notches) by the average shear strain. By placing gages on both faces of the specimen, accurate and repeatable shear-modulus measurements can be made without prior knowledge of the shear strain or stress distributions. This scheme essentially integrates the shear strain through the entire test section. Knowledge of other material properties is not required to accurately determine shear modulus values. The shear gage was tested on a variety of composite and isotropic materials resulting in more reliable shear modulus determination and less scatter than previously possible.     

A parameter investigation of shear-induced coalescence in semidilute PIB–PDMS polymer blends: effects of shear rate, shear stress volume fraction, and viscosity

In this work, drop coalescence of polymer blends under shear flow in a parallel flow apparatus was investigated by optical sectioning microscopy. In each experiment, shear rate was set at values low enough to avoid any break-up phenomena. The time evolution of the drop size distribution was determined by motorized sample scanning and iterative acquisition of stacks of images along sample depth. Drop size and location in the acquired images was found by automated image analysis techniques. A systematic experimental campaign to investigate the effects of shear rate (in the range 0.1–0.5 s⁻¹), volume fraction (2.5–10%), and viscosity of the two phases (3–63 Pa s) at different viscosity ratio (0.1–2.3) was carried out. By comparing data from different experiments, it was found that at any strain value, the average drop size decreases monotonically with the shear stress, calculated as the product of shear rate and matrix viscosity. Furthermore, the coalescence rate slowed down with increasing viscosity ratio. Overall, these results provide an extensive set of data, which can be used as a benchmark for modeling shear-induced coalescence in polymer blends.Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the European Society of Rheology, Grenoble, April 2005.     

Sensitivity of the shear gage to normal strains

This paper documents an experimental study that was conducted to demonstrate the sensitivity of the shear gage to the presence of normal strains. The shear gage is a specially designed strain gage rosette that measures the average shear strain in the test section of notched specimens such as the losipescu, Arcan and compact shear specimens. These specimens can have complicated stress states with high shear and normal strain gradients. To evaluate the sensitivity of the shear gage to normal strains, shear gages were tested on an Arcan specimen. The Arcan specimen is a notched specimen that can be loaded in pure shear (90 deg), pure tension (0 deg) and at intermediate 15- deg increments. The shear modulus for an aluminum specimen was determined at each of these loading angles. It was found that the gages display nearly zero sensitivity to normal strains ( _x, _y). Moiré interferometry was used to document the shear and normal strain distributions in the test section and to provide an independent method for determining the average shear strain. These results reinforce the robust nature of testing with the shear gage.     

Sliding of fine particles on the slip surface of rising gas bubbles: Resistance of liquid shear flows

In this paper a model was developed to describe the shear flow resistance force and torque acting on a fine particle as it slides on the slip surface of a rising gas bubble. The shear flow close to the bubble surface was predicted using a Taylor series and the numerical data obtained from the Navier–Stokes equations as a function of the polar coordinates at the bubble surface, the bubble Reynolds number, and the gas hold-up. The particle size was considered to be sufficiently small relative to the bubble size that the bubble surface could be locally approximated to a planar interface. The Stokes equation for the disturbance shear flows was solved for the velocity components and pressure using series of bispherical coordinates and the boundary conditions at the no-slip particle surface and the slip bubble surface. The solutions for the disturbance flows were then used to calculate the flow resistance force and torque on the particle as a function of the separation distance between the bubble and particle surfaces. The resistance functions were determined by dividing the actual force and torque by the corresponding (Stokes) force and torque in the bulk phase. Finally, numerical and simplified analytical rational approximate solutions for force correction factors for sliding particles as a function of the (whole range of the) separation distance are presented, which are in good agreement with the exact numerical result and can be readily applied to more general modelling of the bubble–particle interactions.