Micro-scale modeling of anisotropy effects on undrained behavior of granular soils

This paper presents a micro-scale modeling of fabric anisotropy effects on the mechanical behavior of granular assembly under undrained conditions using discrete element method. The initial fabrics of the numerical samples engendered from the deposition under gravity are measured, quantified and compared, where the gravitational field can be applied in different directions to generate varying anisotropy orientations. The samples are sheared under undrained biaxial compression, and identical testing conditions are applied, with samples having nearly the same anisotropy intensities, but with different anisotropy directions. The macroscopic behaviors are discussed for the samples, such as the dilatancy characteristics and responses at the critical state. And the associated microstructure changes are further examined, in terms of the variables in the particulate scale, with the focus on the fabric evolution up to a large deformation reaching the critical state. The numerical analysis results compare reasonably well with available experimental data. It is also observed that at critical state, in addition to the requirements by classical critical state theory, a unique fabric structure has also been developed, and might be independent of its initial fabric. This observation is coincided with the recent theoretical achievement of anisotropic critical state theory. Finally, a general framework is introduced for quantifying and modeling the anisotropy effects. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg