Material Point Method Simulation of Sand in Split-Hopkinson Pressure Bar Compression

Jay Appleton, Michael A Homel, Richard Regueiro, Henry Tufo

Keywords: Material Point Method, Periodic Packing, Sand, Split-Hopkinson Pressure Bar

Abstract: The material point method is well-suited to identifying the features of grain-scale comminution that occur in split-Hopkinson pressure bar experiments, and similar high strain rate events. One approach to simulating these experiments includes the use of idealized grain geometries such as spheres or ellipsoids. However, it has been demonstrated for single quartz sand grain failure that not only the number of contact points, but grain morphology, and local roundness at the points of contact also play important roles. In this study, we use quartz sand grain geometries obtained via micro computed tomography in a periodically packed domain subjected to high strain-rate dynamic loading to recreate experimental results from literature. The goal is twofold: to highlight a new brittle damage/fracture material model within the opensource GEOS simulation framework, and to make an argument for the use of the bulk response from split-Hopkinson pressure bar experiments to inform calibration of material models for grain-scale simulations.

Submission Number: 7