Interplays between particle shape and particle breakage in confined continuous crushing of granular media.

This paper presents a computational study on the interactive evolution of particle shape and particle breakage for granular material under confined compression. A novel multiscale approach combining peridynamics and non-smooth contact dynamics is employed. Breakage of more than 12,700 particles with different size, shape, and loading condition are simulated with results examined statistically. It is found that, with the progress of particle breakage, the shape of fragments tends to achieve a steady state distribution. Particle shape has profound influence on the strength and crushing pattern of individual particles and such influence is best reflected by sphericity. The average particle strength appears linearly correlated with particle shape factors and sphere-like particles tend to possess higher strength and break in a major-splitting mode. The findings help to decode the intricate crushing behavior in granular media and shed lights on future development of physically informed, simplified models for predicting particle breakage. Unlabelled Image • Grain crushing modeled by a hybrid peridynamics and contact dynamics approach. • Simulations validated by macroscopic data of sand under compression. • Two-way influence between particle crushing and particle shape revealed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]