Numerical simulations of mechanical characteristics of coarse grained soil with different aspect ratios of tri-axial test

The influences of mechanical characteristics and particle breakage with different aspect ratios were analysed based on DEM software PFC3D, and cluster element considering of particle breakage was developed. Meanwhile, the aspect ratio suitables to coarse grained soil was discussed by means of strength and deformation parameter. The results show that the smaller the aspect ratio, the bigger the friction angle, and that the bigger the pressure, the smaller the friction angle as a result of particle breakage. The minimum aspect ratio that satisfies Mohr-Coulomb criterion decreases with the increase of pressure, but each of them is larger than existing laboratory test aspect ratio. The peak strength decreases with the increase of aspect ratio, and so does relative error of the peak strength. The relationship between secant modulus and aspect ratio shows that the differences of secant modulus vary from aspect ratio to aspect ratio, and that there exists significant difference between the minimum aspect ratio and existing one. So, for the coarse grained soil, the aspect ratio should be larger than 2.5.