Effect Of Mean Grain Diameter On Vortices, Force Chains And Local Volume Changes In Granular Shear Zones

The effect of the mean grain diameter on vortices, force chains and local volume changes within shear zones in initially dense cohesionless sand for quasi-static earth pressure problems of a retaining wall was analyzed with a Discrete Element Method DEM. The passive sand failure for a very rough retaining wall undergoing horizontal translation towards the sand backfill was discussed. To simulate the behaviour of sand, the three-dimensional spherical discrete model YADE developed at University of Grenoble was used. The material parameters were calibrated with the aid of a typical homogeneous triaxial compression test without shear localization. The relationships between vortices, local void ratio changes and force chains in shear zones were carefully investigated.