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Determination of Mechanical Properties of Sand Grains by Nanoindentation

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Abstract

Determination of the mechanical properties of individual sand grains by conventional material testing methods at the macroscale is somewhat difficult due to the sizes of the individual sand particles (a few μm to mm). In this paper, we used the nanoindentation technique with a Berkovich tip to measure the Young’s modulus, hardness, and fracture toughness. An inverse problem solving approach was adopted to determine the stress-strain relationship of sand at the granular level using the finite element method. A cube-corner indenter tip was used to generate radial cracks, the lengths of which were used to determine the fracture toughness. Scatter in the data was observed, as is common with most brittle materials. In order to consider the overall mechanical behavior of the sand grains, statistical analysis of the mechanical properties data (including the variability in the properties) was conducted using the Weibull distribution function. This data can be used in the mesoscale simulations.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by an AFOSR DEPSCoR grant (FA9550-08-1-0328) and the authors acknowledge the strong support and interest of Dr. William L Cooper of the Air Force Research Laboratory, Eglin AFB, and Dr. Victor Giurgiutiu of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR). Additionally, H.L. acknowledges the support of NSF (CMMI-0555902 and CMS-9985060) and R.K. acknowledges the A.H. Nelson, Jr. Endowed Chair in Engineering for additional financial support. The authors also thank Mrs. Sharon Green for her highly skilled editorial assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 21218, USA

    N. P. Daphalapurkar

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, 75080, USA

    F. Wang & H. Lu (SEM member)

  3. School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Oklahoma State University, 218 Engineering North, Stillwater, OK, 74078, USA

    B. Fu & R. Komanduri

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  1. N. P. Daphalapurkar
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  2. F. Wang
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  3. B. Fu
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  4. H. Lu
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  5. R. Komanduri
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Correspondence to R. Komanduri.

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Daphalapurkar, N.P., Wang, F., Fu, B. et al. Determination of Mechanical Properties of Sand Grains by Nanoindentation. Exp Mech 51, 719–728 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11340-010-9373-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11340-010-9373-z

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