X-Ray 3D Imaging–Based Microunderstanding of Granular Mixtures: Stiffness Enhancement by Adding Small Fractions of Soft Particles

X-Ray 3D Imaging–Based Microunderstanding of Granular Mixtures: Stiffness Enhancement by Adding Small Fractions of Soft Particles

K. Taghizadeh, M. Ruf, S. Luding, H. Steeb

Granular media consisting of equally sized stiff glass spheres and soft rubber spheres are investigated for different mixing ratios. At different stress states, the sphere packings were mechanically characterized using low-frequency ultrasound in combination with X-ray Computed Tomography (XRCT). It turned out that adding up to 20 % (soft) rubber spheres has not reduced the effective stiffness of the packings, but improved it. However, when the fraction of the rubber spheres is more than 30 %, the stiffness begins to decrease. X-ray images have shown that the stiffness evolution can be explained by the length of force chains of glass particles.

PNAS Vol. 120, No. 26
Corresponding Author: Kianoosh Taghizadeh

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