Numerical study of crushable granular materials

The paper aims to develop an elasto-plastic model considering particle crushing. For this purpose, the relationship between the grain size distributions, the position of the critical state line and the plastic work is investigated using experimental results on Cambria sand. The constitutive equations describe two yield mechanisms (isotropic and deviatoric) accounting for particle crushing, which in return affects the position of the critical state line in the e – log(p') diagram. The model is then used to simulate triaxial tests under different loading conditions (drained compression and extension) with high stress levels. All comparisons between experimental results and simulations demonstrate that the model can reproduce with good accuracy the mechanical behavior of granular materials with particle crushing