An investigation of the effect of shearing velocity on the inter-particle behavior of granular and composite materials with a new micromechanical dynamic testing apparatus

The study of rate and shearing effects is of major interest in geomechanics and petroleum engineering research. In this paper, a new micromechanical apparatus is presented along with calibration and reliability tests, which is designed in a way that the interface behavior of granular materials can be examined for a broad range of shearing velocities of five-orders of magnitude utilizing a dynamic data-logger and high-resolution sensors. The results showed that the shearing velocity between 0.4 and 1,340 mm/h did not influence the response of dry grain-grain interfaces including engineered and natural grains, but it significantly affected the frictional behavior of composite grain-rubber interfaces.