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Related Concept Videos

Shearing Strain01:20

Shearing Strain

1.1K
The shearing strain represents a cubic element's angular change when subjected to shearing stress. This type of stress can transform a cube into an oblique parallelepiped without influencing normal strains. The cubic element experiences a significant transformation when exposed solely to shearing stress. Its shape alters from a perfect cube into a rhomboid, clearly demonstrating the effect of shearing strain. The degree of this strain is considered positive if it reduces the angle between the...
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Three-Dimensional Analysis of Strain01:29

Three-Dimensional Analysis of Strain

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Three-dimensional strain analysis is crucial for understanding how materials deform under stress, particularly in elastic, homogeneous materials. This method employs principal stress axes to simplify complex stress states into more understandable forms. Subjected to stress, a small cubic element within a material either expands or contracts along these axes, transforming into a rectangular parallelepiped. This transformation effectively illustrates the material's deformation. The principal...
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Mohr's Circle for Plane Strain01:18

Mohr's Circle for Plane Strain

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Mohr's circle is a crucial graphical method used to analyze plane strain by plotting strain on a set of cartesian coordinates, where the abscissa is normal strain ∈ and the ordinate is shear strain γ. Similarly to Mohr’s circle for plane stress, two points X and Y are plotted. Their coordinates are (∈x, -γXY) and (∈Y, γXY), respectively.
Mohr's circle visually represents the strain states under various conditions, which is essential for...
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Components of Stress01:23

Components of Stress

430
Stress analysis under multiple loading conditions is intricate, necessitating a comprehensive grasp of normal and shearing stresses. Consider a small cube at point O, subjected to stress on all six faces, visible or not. Normal stress components σx, σy, σz act perpendicularly to the x, y, and z axes. Shearing stress components τxy and τxz are exerted on faces perpendicular to these axes.
Interestingly, the hidden cube faces also experience these stresses, equal and...
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Shearing Stress01:19

Shearing Stress

1.5K
Shearing stress, denoted by the Greek letter tau (τ), is stress caused by forces acting transversely on an object. These forces create internal ones within the entity in the plane where the external forces are applied. The resultant of these internal forces is the shear in the section.
The average shearing stress can be calculated by dividing the shear by the area of the cross-section.
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Dec 14, 2025

Visualization of Failure and the Associated Grain-Scale Mechanical Behavior of Granular Soils under Shear using Synchrotron X-Ray Micro-Tomography
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Visualization of Failure and the Associated Grain-Scale Mechanical Behavior of Granular Soils under Shear using Synchrotron X-Ray Micro-Tomography

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Microstructural analysis of sheared polydisperse polyhedral grains.

David Cantor1, Emilien Azéma2,3, Itthichai Preechawuttipong1

  • 1Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chiang Mai University, 239 Huay Kaew Road, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Physical Review. E
|July 22, 2020
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Shear strength in granular materials remains constant despite changes in packing density, even with varied grain sizes and shapes. Microstructural factors like fabric and force transmission explain this consistent macroscopic behavior.

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Area of Science:

  • Geophysics
  • Materials Science
  • Computational Mechanics

Background:

  • Granular materials exhibit constant shear resistance irrespective of packing fraction, a phenomenon observed in previous studies with simple grain shapes.
  • Microstructural properties, including fabric and force transmission, are key to understanding the mechanical behavior of granular media.
  • Broader grain-size distributions can significantly alter packing fraction while maintaining shear strength.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the shear strength of numerical samples composed of polyhedral grains with grain size dispersion.
  • To extend the understanding of shear strength independence to more complex grain shapes (3D regular polyhedra).
  • To analyze the role of different contact types in granular connectivity and overall sample strength.

Main Methods:

  • Utilizing the discrete element method (DEM) for numerical simulations.
  • Creating polydisperse samples of polyhedral grains to mimic real-world granular materials.
  • Analyzing contact networks and force transmission within the simulated assemblies.

Main Results:

  • The shear strength independence phenomenon was confirmed for 3D regular polyhedra, despite more complex contact networks and force transmission.
  • Different contact types were found to play a crucial role in the granular connectivity and the overall strength of the samples.
  • Microstructural compensations, involving geometrical and force anisotropies, were identified as the underlying cause for macroscopic shear strength invariance.

Conclusions:

  • The study validates the invariance of shear strength at the macroscopic level for granular materials with polyhedral grains and size dispersion.
  • Microstructural details, specifically the interplay of geometrical and force anisotropies at contact levels, are critical for this macroscopic behavior.
  • The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the mechanical properties of granular media with complex microstructures.