Experiments and DEM Simulations of Granular Ratcheting

In this work we studied the effect of cyclic loading on a granular packing by means of numerical simulations and experiments. A confined packing of glass beads was prepared and one of the walls was moved cyclically with a prescribed amplitude of the order of the particle diameter. Different amplitudes were tested, and their effect on the free surface evolution, the force transmitted to the moving wall and the displacement patterns in the material was characterized. Discrete numerical simulations were also carried out with the specific purpose of evaluating the effect of the particle shape on the dynamics of the system. The displacement amplitude of the moving wall was shown to increase the maximum force experienced at the end of the compressive phase of the wall movement; the angularity of the particles had a similar effect. Force-wall displacement curves displayed a peculiar hysteretic behavior. The evolution of the system towards an asymptotic state was shown to be faster for spheres than for angular particles; the latter displayed an interesting long-time evolution of the force-displacement paths which deserves deeper investigations.