Interplay between the inclusions of different sizes and their proximity to the wall boundaries on the nature of their stress distribution within the inclusions inside particulate packing

Micromechanical responses of granular materials are complex to understand when their behaviour is viewed in a single grain-scale. Experimental sensing of stresses within a grain-scale inside three dimensional particulate packing is still difficult to perform. In this work, photo stress analysis tomography (PSAT) is used to sense the fundamental nature of the stress experienced by different sizes of optically-sensitive inclusions inside granular packing (quasi-three dimensional) under an external axial-compression loading. The distribution of the maximum shear stress and the direction of the major principal stress experienced by the inclusions are analysed to understand the interplay between the size of the inclusions and their proximity to the wall boundary. The outcomes of this study provide a new understanding on the dual nature of stress transmission experienced by the inclusions, as a result of the combined size and wall effects. Relatively large inclusions experience dominantly shear stress close to the wall boundaries while this nature tends towards hydrostatic away from the wall boundaries. Smaller size inclusions could experience shear at both close to and away from wall boundaries of the granular assembly. Computer simulations using three-dimensional discrete element method (DEM) are also performed to compare the qualitative nature of stress experienced by inclusions inside particulate media. Qualitatively, the simulation results also agree with the experimental outcomes, that an increase in the relative size of the inclusion decreases its ability to experience shear. Using DEM simulations, the fabric structure of the inclusions is examined in depth under mechanical loading. An increase in the size of the inclusions tends to decrease the fabric anisotropy of the contacts and in particular the strong contacts, surrounding them. Hence the microscale origin of the weak mobilisation of shear in the large inclusions could be attributed to their relatively weak fabric anisotropy of the strong contacts surrounding them. These findings help to advance our understanding of the micromechanics of particulate systems, due to their size and proximity to wall boundaries: different sizes of the particles could sustain different nature of stresses within single-particle scale depending on their proximity to the wall boundaries.