Influence of aspect ratio on crushing strength characteristics of sand and granite saw dust materials

Abstract

Evaluation of crushing strength characteristics of granular materials is essential in order to select these materials for a wide range of engineering applications. However, most of the investigations dealing with such studies have been employing only bulk samples. As such, aspect ratio, among many parameters, is one of the most important parameters influencing the stress-strain behavior of a granular material. In the present study, attempts were made to evaluate crushing strength characteristics of sand and Granite Saw Dust (GSD) materials as a function of aspect ratio. A series of tests were conducted on samples of bulk and various size fractions (i.e. fine and medium) by applying a compressive load of up to 80 kN. Results were critically analyzed to find out the effect of aspect ratio and dominant size fraction on overall mechanical behavior of these materials. The phenomenon of grain crushing was verified by comparing grain-size distribution curves established before and after a sample was subjected to loading. It has been observed that particles of fine size range found to predominantly control the crushing strength characteristics of sand and GSD materials. � 2015 Taylor & Francis Group, London.