An investigation of single sand particle fracture using X-ray micro-tomography

Particle breakage is of fundamental importance for understanding the mechanical behaviour of sands and is relevant to many geotechnical engineering problems. In order to gain new insights into the mechanism of breakage of individual sand particles under single-particle compression, this study combines mechanical tests with three-dimensional X-ray micro-computed tomography (μCT) performed ‘in situ’, that is, during loading. A novel mini-loading apparatus was developed to perform in-situ compression tests within a laboratory nanofocus X-ray CT. The tests were performed on eight particles, four Leighton Buzzard sand (LBS) particles and four highly decomposed granite (HDG) particles, to study their different fracture mechanisms. A series of image processing and analysing techniques was utilised to obtain both qualitative and quantitative results. The most important factors in determining the fracture patterns of the LBS and HDG particles were found to be particle morphology and initial microstructure, respectively. Versatile fracture patterns deviating from simple vertical splitting were observed, particularly in HDG particles. The change of morphology parameters during loading was found to depend on the fracture mechanisms and material properties, independently of their initial values. The fragments of both the LBS and HDG particles satisfy the fractal distribution, which indicates that the fragmentation is scale invariant. Different energy dissipation mechanisms were found. The energy dissipation by friction gradually prevails against the energy dissipated in generating new surfaces.