A numerical investigation for computing effective elastic stiffness of bonded geomaterials

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4. A numerical investigation for computing effective elastic stiffness of bonded geomaterials

Rocks and concretes are large particle-reinforced composites where a hardened cementitious matrix bonds the grains. Analytical or numerical homogenisation is often performed on a representative unit cell to estimate the effective elastic constants of such particle-reinforced composites. In this work, we have proposed a framework to analyse the effect of variation of gradation on the effective elastic modulus of large particle-reinforced composites. In this work, we aim to examine the accuracy of the various analytical homogenization schemes for estimating the elastic modulus of bonded geomaterial. Accuracies of the various analytical homogenization schemes are ascertained by comparing the analytical estimates with the results obtained from crushing tests simulated by finite element analysis. Multiple finite element analyses were performed on various representative volume elements with different particle volume fractions and arrangements. From the crushing tests, force deformation curves are obtained from which the effective elastic constants of the aggregates are estimated. The estimated effective elastic constants are then used for determining the upper-bound and lower-bound values of the effective elastic constants of the particle-reinforced composites. It is observed that homogenisation based on equal stress, i.e. the Reuss model, gives the best estimate of elastic constant for composite with uniformly graded particulate reinforcement.

10th European Conference on Numerical Methods in Geotechnical Engineering (NUMGE2023)

2. Finite element, finite difference, discrete element, material point and other methods