Abstract
A large amount of research has been done on conforming surfaces in rock joints as well as on the contact between individual grains; however, not much exist in nonconforming contact surfaces subjected to friction, such as flat contacts between ballast particles, stone columns, or riprap; applications that involve the use of coarse gravel subjected to low vertical stresses. Therefore, this article aims to study changes in contact properties between nonconforming flat contacts between large geo-material particles that have been subjected to cyclic shearing under a constant low vertical force, using a direct shear apparatus. Two different silica carbide sandpapers that do not loose particles were used, to simulate different morphologies, a nominally fine and a coarse surface texture. The results show a passivation of the shear strength where a constant value of friction coefficient is reached after around 15 to 17 cycles for all tests, except the tests at the lowest vertical force. For the tests at the highest vertical force, similar friction coefficients were determined for the coarse and fine surfaces. The mass broken during the 10th and 20th cycles was collected at the end of the tests and seemed to show a linear relationship with the vertical force used in the test. Particle analysis, determined via microscopy, shows that the grading is dependent on the initial topography of the surfaces. Despite being subjected to 10 and 20 cycles of shearing, the broken particles look similar in shape with sharp, jagged edges and having different shapes and roundness values with a large variation, indicating that the breakage was not enough to fill in the space between the particles.
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs12517-021-08351-1/MediaObjects/12517_2021_8351_Fig1_HTML.png)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs12517-021-08351-1/MediaObjects/12517_2021_8351_Fig2_HTML.png)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs12517-021-08351-1/MediaObjects/12517_2021_8351_Fig3_HTML.png)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs12517-021-08351-1/MediaObjects/12517_2021_8351_Fig4_HTML.png)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs12517-021-08351-1/MediaObjects/12517_2021_8351_Fig5_HTML.png)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs12517-021-08351-1/MediaObjects/12517_2021_8351_Fig6_HTML.png)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs12517-021-08351-1/MediaObjects/12517_2021_8351_Fig7_HTML.png)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs12517-021-08351-1/MediaObjects/12517_2021_8351_Fig8_HTML.png)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs12517-021-08351-1/MediaObjects/12517_2021_8351_Fig9_HTML.png)
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on request.
Abbreviations
- μ c :
-
is the friction coefficient
- F h :
-
is the shear force
- N :
-
is the normal force
- ML :
-
is the mass loss
- PSD :
-
is the particle size distribution
References
ASTM-D7971-20 (2020) Standard guide for measuring roundness of glass spheres using a flowing stream digital image analyzer. West Conshohocken, PA; ASTM Int
Barton N (1973) Review of a new shear-strength criterion for rock joints. Eng Geol 7:287–332
Bian G, Wu H (2015) Friction and surface fracture of a silicon carbide ceramic brake disc tested against a steel pad. J Eur Ceram Soc 36:3797–3807
Cavarretta I, Coop M, O’Sullivan C (2010) The influence of particle characteristics on the behaviour of coarse grained soils. Geotechnique. 60:413–423. https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.2010.60.6.413
Cavarretta I, Rocchi I, Coop MR (2011) A new interparticle friction apparatus for granular materials. Can Geotech J 48:1829–1840
Cole DM, Hopkins MA (2017) The contact properties of naturally occurring geologic materials: contact law development. Granul Matter 19:1–17
Cole DM, Mathisen LU, Hopkins MA, Knapp BR (2010) Normal and sliding contact experiments on gneiss. Granul Matter 12:69–86
Cole DM, Peters JF (2007) A physically based approach to granular media mechanics: grain-scale experiments, initial results and implications to numerical modeling. Granul Matter 9:309–321
Collettini C, Niemeijer A, Viti C, Marone C (2009) Fault zone fabric and fault weakness. Nature 462:907–910
Ferreira PMV, Coop MR (2020) Factors that influence the terminal grading of sands. Géotechnique Letters 10(4):518–523
Han G, Jing H, Jiang Y, Liu R, Wu J (2020) Effect of cyclic loading on the shear behaviours of both unfilled and infilled rough rock joints under constant normal stiffness conditions. Rock Mech Rock Eng 53:31–57
Hanaor DA, Gan Y, Einav I (2013) Effects of surface structure deformation on static friction at fractal interfaces. Géotechnique Letters 3(2):52–58
Im K, Saffer D, Marone C, Avouac JP (2020) Slip-rate-dependent friction as a universal mechanism for slow slip events. Nat Geosci 13:705–710
Indraratna B, Haque A, Aziz N (1999) Shear behaviour of idealized infilled joints under constant normal stiffness. Geotechnique 49:331–355
Jaeger JC (1971) Friction of rocks and stability of rock slopes. Geotechnique 21:97–134
Jiang Q, Yang B, Yan F, Liu C, Shi Y, Li L (2020) New method for characterizing the shear damage of natural rock joint based on 3D engraving and 3D scanning. Int J Geomech 20:06019022. https://doi.org/10.1061/(asce)gm.1943-5622.0001575
Kazerani T, Zhao J (2010) Micromechanical parameters in bonded particle method for modelling of brittle material failure. Int J Numer Anal Methods Geomech 34:1877–1895
Kulatilake PH, Shreedharan S, Sherizadeh T et al (2016) Laboratory estimation of rock joint stiffness and frictional parameters. Geotech Geol Eng 34:1723–1735
Liu R, Han G, Jiang Y, Yu L, He M (2019) Shear behaviour of multi-joint specimens: role of surface roughness and spacing of joints. Geotech Lett 10:113–118. https://doi.org/10.1680/jgele.19.00044
Maciejewski J, Bąk S, Ciężkowski P (2020) Modelling of rock joints interface under cyclic loading. Stud Geotech Mech 42
Marone C (1998) Laboratory-derived friction laws and their application to seismic faulting. Annu Rev Earth Planet Sci 26:643–696
Nardelli V, Coop MR, Andrade JE, Paccagnella F (2017) An experimental investigation of the micromechanics of Eglin sand. Powder Technol 312:166–174
Niktabar SM, Rao KS, Shrivastava AK (2017) Effect of rock joint roughness on its cyclic shear behavior. J Rock Mech Geotech Eng 9:1071–1084
Plesha ME (1987) Constitutive models for rock discontinuities with dilatancy and surface degradation. Int J Numer Anal Methods Geomech 11:345–362
Sandeep CS, He H, Senetakis K (2018) An experimental micromechanical study of sand grain contacts behavior from different geological environments. Eng Geol 246:176–186
Sandeep CS, Senetakis K (2018) Effect of Young’s modulus and surface roughness on the inter-particle friction of granular materials. Materials (Basel) 11:217
Sandeep CS, Li S, Senetakis K (2021) Scale and surface morphology effects on the micromechanical contact behavior of granular materials. Tribol Int 159:106929
Senetakis K, Coop M (2014) The development of a new micro-mechanical inter-particle loading apparatus. Geotech Test J 37:1028–1039
Trugman DT, McBrearty IW, Bolton DC et al (2020) The spatiotemporal evolution of granular microslip precursors to laboratory earthquakes. Geophys Res Lett 47
Wang Y, Tonon F (2009) Modeling Lac du Bonnet granite using a discrete element model. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 46:1124–1135
Xiao Y, Desai CS, Daouadji A, Stuedlein AW, Liu H, Abuel-Naga H (2020) Xiao, Grain crushing in geoscience materials—key issues on crushing response, measurement and modeling: review and preface. Geosci Front 11:363–374
Yang L, Wang D, Guo Y, Liu S (2016) Tribological behaviors of quartz sand particles for hydraulic fracturing. Tribol Int 102:485–469
Zhang X, Jiang Q, Kulatilake PHSW, Xiong F, Yao C, Tang Z (2019) Influence of asperity morphology on failure characteristics and shear strength properties of rock joints under direct shear tests. Int J Geomech 19:04018196. https://doi.org/10.1061/(asce)gm.1943-5622.0001347
Zoet LK, Ikari MJ, Alley RB, Marone C, Anandakrishnan S, Carpenter BM, Scuderi MM (2020) Application of constitutive friction laws to glacier seismicity. Geophys Res Lett 47
Funding
The authors express their appreciation to Office of Research Coordination and Support, Middle East Technical University, Northern Cyprus Campus for funding this research group. Scientific Research Project Code FEN-20-YG-4.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.
Additional information
Responsible Editor: Zeynal Abiddin Erguler
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ferreira, P., Muturi, T. & Ekinci, A. Effect of cyclic shearing on contact surfaces of geo-materials under constant normal force. Arab J Geosci 14, 1930 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-021-08351-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-021-08351-1