Influence of aspect ratio and arrangement direction on the shear behavior of ellipsoids

This work studies the macroscopic and microscopic behaviors of ellipsoids under triaxial tests using 3D discrete element method(DEM)simulation.To avoid the boundary effect,a novel stress servo-controlled periodic boundary condition is proposed to maintain the confining pressure of samples during testing.The shape features of ellipsoids are investigated,including the aspect ratio of elongated/oblate ellipsoids and the initial arrangement directions of ellipsoids.The macroscopic properties of ellipsoidal particle samples,such as the deviatoric stress,volumetric strain,internal friction angle,as well as dilatancy angles are explored.Elongated and oblate ellipsoids with varying aspect ratios are investigated for the occurrence of stick-slips.In addition,it is demonstrated that the initial arrangement direction has a significant impact on the coordination number and contact force chains.The corresponding anisotropy coefficients of the entire contact network are analyzed to probe the microscopic roots of macroscopic behavior.

Directional arrangement of phyllite fragments in phyllite talus slopeat the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau

Phyllite fragments are essential for accumulating and generating talus slope at the toes of hillslopes,however,how they are linked to slope failure remains unknown.This paper reports the directional arrangement of phyllite fragments(DAPF)in phyllite talus slope at the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau.Field investigation,mathematical statistics and model experiments were performed in order to systematically understand the influencing factors,which include fragment shape,flat ratio,dip angle(α),and fine particle content(c).The results show that the quadrilateral fragmentgenerates a similar imbricate structure more easily than the triangular and rod fragments in the phyllite talus slope.Additionally,the flat phyllite fragments easily accumulate as imbricated structures on the phyllitetalus slope.When the dip angle(α)is in the range of 20°–30°,the minimum orientation ratio(P)is more than 50%,which means thatthe DAPF phenomenon is more obviousin the phyllite talus slope.For the fine particle content(c)at the same dip angle(α),the minimum orientation ratio(P)is 54%,and the minimum orientation ratio(P)correlates positively with the fine particle content(c).Therefore,compared with the homogeneous talusslope,the phyllite talusslopedisplays a special DAPF phenomenon.This study provides a valuable reference and presents novel knowledgefor risk assessment and engineering design against the phyllite talus slope failure mechanism.