Evolution of grain grading and characteristics in repeatedly reconstituted assemblages subject to one-dimensional compression Available to Purchase

One-dimensional compression tests were carried out on repeatedly reconstituted assemblages that were uniformly graded prior to the first compression. Four stress levels were adapted to observe the interplay among grain shapes and grading, overburden stress and the number of remouldings. It was found that a stable limiting grading can be obtained after several loadings on repeatedly remoulded specimens. The position of this limiting grading is a function of the stress level. The evolution of grain shape with remoulding was found to depend on the magnitude of the applied stress. The grading with a fractal dimension of 2·65 can only be achieved by loading the repeatedly reconstituted specimen at an elevated stress. Stable shape characteristics of the grains were observed at the fractal grading. The amount of breakage of an assemblage is described by the relative breakage B_r and the evolution of B_r of the virgin compressed and repeatedly compressed specimens with stress is discussed.