Method for evaluating modulus evolution of granular materials under dynamic loading

The softening effect has been widely accepted as the fundamental mechanical property of the granular materials, which underlies some specific phenomena such as fluidization during vibration. In this paper, a series of resonance column experiments are performed to observe the modulus softening of granular materials. A statistical softening model is subsequently proposed and its applicability is verified through a quantitative analysis of the variation of the normalized modulus by changing the external confining pressure. The average potential energy in grain contact has been found to be a power-law scaling with grain size. An evolution model is further implemented to account for the experimental findings on the evolution of modulus of the granular system subjected to different confining pressures. The modulus evolution, including softening and recovery, can be captured by the unified evolution model.Graphical AbstractShear modulus evolution