Abstract

RAMOS CANON, Alfonso Mariano  and  PRADA SARMIENTO, Luis Felipe. PERFORMANCE OF THE COSSERAT CONTINUUM IN ORDER TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE SCALE EFFECTS IN A SHEAR DIRECT TEST. Rev.EIA.Esc.Ing.Antioq [online]. 2015, n.23, pp.51-59. ISSN 1794-1237.

Results of the direct shear test performed both experimentally and numerical simulations using the discrete element method are affected by the scale, i.e. results depend on both, the particle size and the size of the shear box. The geotechnical engineer must use the results of tests on small-scale laboratory in solve real scale problems. This work shows the implementation in finite element method of the hypoplastic constitutive model based on the Cosserat continuum and its ability to simulate some of the effects associated with the size scale by the introduction of a characteristic length is demonstrated. The Cosserat continuum introduced the rotation as a rigid body of the elements as an additional degree of freedom to conventional continuous and presents asymmetry stress tensor. From the analysis it is found that 1. The material develops higher initial stiffness and reaches peak strength faster in small boxes or in materials whose particles are larger. 2. The residual strength does not depend on the size of the shear box and particle size 3. Peak friction angle is underestimated when calculated with the contour measures compared with those obtained in the cutting zone.

Keywords : Cosserat Continuum; Finite Element Method; Shear Direct Test; Boltzmann Continuum.

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