DEM investigation of particle anti-rotation effects on the micromechanical response of granular materials

The importance of particle rotation to the mechanical behavior of granular materials subject to quasi-static shearing has been well recognized in the literature. Although the physical source of the resistance to particle rotation is known to lie in the particle surface topography, it has been conveniently studied using the rolling resistance model installed typically on spherical particles within the DEM community. However, there has been little effort on assessing the capability of the rolling resistance model to produce more realistic particle rotation behavior as exhibited by irregular-shaped particles. This paper aims to eliminate this deficiency by making a comprehensive comparison study on the micromechanical behavior of assemblies of irregular-shaped particles and spherical particles installed with the rolling resistance model. A variety of DEM analysis techniques have been applied to elucidate the full picture of micromechanical processes occurring in the two types of granular materials with different particle-level anti-rotation mechanisms. Simulation results show that the conventional rheology-type rolling resistance models cannot reproduce the particle rotation and strain localization behavior as displayed by irregular-shaped materials, although they demonstrate clear effects on the macroscopic strength and dilatancy behavior, as have been adequately documented in the literature. More insights into the effects of particle-level anti-rotation mechanism are gained from an in-depth inter-particle energy dissipation analysis. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.