Compression of an Assembly of Bi-Dispersed Particles

Abstract

A compression model that elucidates the compressibility of a granular soil assembly is useful for engineering and mechanical applications. While the literature offers numerous compressibility models for granular soils, a significant limitation arises because these models overlook the impact of soil composition. Typically, soils consist of a blend of sand and silt as a result of geological processes. Moreover, empirical observations indicate a substantial influence of silt content on the compressional behavior of bi-dispersed granular soils. This study introduces an approach grounded in a more rigorous theoretical foundation for predicting the compression of bi-dispersed packings. The analytical method is based on Edwards thermodynamics, which is a realm of physics. Within this framework, the analytical method incorporates the excess free volume resulting from the dispersity of the bi-dispersed particle packing. An evaluation was conducted to validate the model’s applicability by comparing the predictions with the experimental results for Hokksund sand-silt mixtures.