Effective elastic properties and pressure distribution in bidisperse granular packings: DEM simulations and experiment

The effective elastic properties and pressure distribution in granular mixtures depend on both, material and geometric properties of particles. Using the discrete element method, the effect of geometric and statistical factors on the mechanical response of binary packings of steel beads under uniaxial confined compression was studied. The ratio of the diameter of small and large spheres in bidisperse mixtures was chosen to prevent small particles from percolating through bedding. The study addressed lateral-to-vertical pressure ratio and effective elastic modulus of particulate beds. The bimodality of mixtures was found to have a strong effect on the packing density of samples with the ratio between large and small particles larger than 1.3; however, no effect of particle size ratio and contribution of particle size fractions on the distribution of pressure and elasticity of bidisperse packings was observed. Regardless on the composition of mixtures, the lateral-to-vertical pressure ratio followed the same paths with increasing contribution of small particles in mixtures. The effective elastic modulus of granular packings increased with increasing compressive load and was slightly affected by geometric and statistical factors. The experimental data followed the same trend of the DEM predictions; however, only qualitative agreement between numerical and experimental results was obtained. The discrete element method generated packings with smaller density and overpredicted pressure ratios and elastic parameters of mixtures.