TY - GEN
T1 - 2D numerical investigation of the influence of macropore alignment on strength of cubic specimens
AU - MacLaughlin, Mary
AU - Jespersen, Colleen
AU - Hudyma, Nick
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - Macroporosity, or the presence of large voids, can have a substantial influence on the engineering properties of materials. In a previous study, the influence of void spacing was investigated using 4" cubic specimens with seven 0.5" cylindrical voids oriented in a cluster around the center of the specimens. The numerical results, verified by laboratory testing, suggest that void spacing has significant influence on unconfined compressive strength (UCS); the controlling factor appears to be the width of the solid "pillars" that are able to carry load. The current study is an expansion of this earlier work, in which the voids are placed in a line rather than in a cluster. The orientation of the line of voids is rotated from perpendicular to parallel to the loading direction. FLAC numerical models containing seven 0.5" voids and five 0.5916" voids showed the same trend: a low normalized UCS with horizontal voids (perpendicular to the loading direction), on the order of 10% of the UCS of the solid material, that decreases slightly as the line of voids is rotated through 40° from horizontal, followed by substantial increase in UCS, up to almost 90% of the UCS of the solid material, with rotation from 45° through vertical (parallel to the loading direction). This trend may also be explained by the variation in the size of the "pillars" of material that can carry load, that first decrease slightly in overall width, but then increase in width once the rotation has surpassed the 45° mark.
AB - Macroporosity, or the presence of large voids, can have a substantial influence on the engineering properties of materials. In a previous study, the influence of void spacing was investigated using 4" cubic specimens with seven 0.5" cylindrical voids oriented in a cluster around the center of the specimens. The numerical results, verified by laboratory testing, suggest that void spacing has significant influence on unconfined compressive strength (UCS); the controlling factor appears to be the width of the solid "pillars" that are able to carry load. The current study is an expansion of this earlier work, in which the voids are placed in a line rather than in a cluster. The orientation of the line of voids is rotated from perpendicular to parallel to the loading direction. FLAC numerical models containing seven 0.5" voids and five 0.5916" voids showed the same trend: a low normalized UCS with horizontal voids (perpendicular to the loading direction), on the order of 10% of the UCS of the solid material, that decreases slightly as the line of voids is rotated through 40° from horizontal, followed by substantial increase in UCS, up to almost 90% of the UCS of the solid material, with rotation from 45° through vertical (parallel to the loading direction). This trend may also be explained by the variation in the size of the "pillars" of material that can carry load, that first decrease slightly in overall width, but then increase in width once the rotation has surpassed the 45° mark.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84869053157&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84869053157
SN - 9781622762507
T3 - 42nd Engineering Geology and Geotechnical Engineering Symposium and 14th Intermountain Conf. on the Environment: Geotechnics, Environment, Energy, and Economics (GE) - The Links for Sustainability
SP - 55
EP - 62
BT - 42nd Engineering Geology and Geotechnical Engineering Symposium and 14th Intermountain Conf. on the Environment
T2 - 42nd Engineering Geology and Geotechnical Engineering Symposium and 14th Intermountain Conference on the Environment: Geotechnics, Environment, Energy, and Economics (GE) - The Links for Sustainability
Y2 - 5 November 2009 through 6 November 2009
ER -