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Modeling soft granular materials

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Abstract

Soft-grain materials such as clays and other colloidal pastes share the common feature of being composed of grains that can undergo large deformations without rupture. For the simulation of such materials, we present two alternative methods: (1) an implicit formulation of the material point method (MPM), in which each grain is discretized as a collection of material points, and (2) the bonded particle model (BPM), in which each soft grain is modeled as an aggregate of rigid particles using the contact dynamics method. In the MPM, a linear elastic behavior is used for the grains. In order to allow the aggregates in the BPM to deform without breaking, we use long-range center-to-center attraction forces between the primary particles belonging to each grain together with steric repulsion at their contact points. We show that these interactions lead to a plastic behavior of the grains. Using both methods, we analyze the uniaxial compaction of 2D soft granular packings. This process is nonlinear and involves both grain rearrangements and large deformations. High packing fractions beyond the jamming state are reached as a result of grain shape change for both methods. We discuss the stress-strain and volume change behavior as well as the evolution of the connectivity of the grains. Similar textures are observed at large deformations although the BPM requires higher stress than the MPM to reach the same level of packing fraction.

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Acknowledgements

Farhang Radjai would like to acknowledge the support of the ICoME2 Labex (ANR-11-LABX-0053) and the A*MIDEX projects (ANR-11-IDEX-0001-02) cofunded by the French program Investissements d’Avenir, managed by the ANR, the French National Research Agency.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Mécanique et Génie Civil (LMGC), Université de Montpellier, CNRS, Montpellier, France

    Saeid Nezamabadi, Thanh Hai Nguyen & Farhang Radjai

  2. IATE, UMR1208 INRA - CIRAD - Université de Montpellier - SupAgro, 34060, Montpellier, France

    Jean-Yves Delenne

  3. Water Resources Engineering Department, University of Science and Technology, 54 Nguyen Luong Bang St, LienChieu Dist, Da Nang, Vietnam

    Thanh Hai Nguyen

  4. <MSE>², UMI 3466 CNRS-MIT, CEE, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA

    Farhang Radjai

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  1. Saeid Nezamabadi
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Correspondence to Saeid Nezamabadi.

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Saeid Nezamabadi, Thanh Hai Nguyen, Jean-Yves Delenne and Farhang Radjai state that there are no conflicts of interest.

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Nezamabadi, S., Nguyen, T.H., Delenne, JY. et al. Modeling soft granular materials. Granular Matter 19, 8 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10035-016-0689-y

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