Effects of internal pores on the mechanical properties of marine calcareous sand particles

Calcareous sand is a typical problematic marine sediment because of its angular and porous particles. The effects of internal pores on the mechanical properties of calcareous sand particles have rarely been investigated. In this paper, the apparent morphology and internal structure of calcareous sand particles are determined by scanning electron microscopy and computed tomography tests, finding that the superficial pores connect inside and outside of the particles, forming a well-developed network of cavities and an internal porosity of up to 40%. The effects of particle morphology and internal porosity on the mechanical responses of particle were investigated by conducting photo-related compression test and 3D numerical simulations. Two failure modes are observed for the porous calcareous sand, i.e., compressive failure indicates that the particle skeleton is continually compressed and fragmented into small detritus without obvious splitting, and tensile failure indicates that the particles are broken into several fragments when the axial force clearly peaks. Calcareous sand particles with a high internal porosity or with small and dense pores often exhibit compressive failure, and vice versa. The particle strength is considerably reduced by increasing the internal porosity, but affected by pore size in nonlinear correlation. The crushing stress-strain points can be well fitted by an exponential curve, which is supplied for discussion.