Rate Effects On Particle Breakage in Plane Strain Pile Sand Interaction

Abstract

The rate of penetration plays a significant role in governing the behaviour of piles installed in crushable granular soils, although the underlying mechanisms are not yet fully understood. This study aims to investigate the influence of quasi-static penetration rates on the mechanical response of crushable sand using a rate-dependent constitutive modelling framework. A two-dimensional finite element approach is employed to simulate pile–soil interaction under controlled penetration velocities, incorporating viscoelastic behaviour along with particle breakage mechanics. The coupled response of stress/deformation/breakage has been studied utilizing calibrated model parameters derived from existing experimental data. Results show that higher penetration rates decrease the amount of fragmentation during penetration while producing a stiffer soil response; on the other hand, lower penetration rates will increase the amount of grain crushing and increase the compressibility of the soil. The stress and breakage distributions proved to be highly non-linear, exhibiting a concentration of stresses and breakages at the vicinity of the pile tip edges. The results of this research indicate that crushing can cause a reorganization of the particles and significantly affect how the pile and the soil are in contact with each other (i.e., alter the stress distributions and deformation patterns). These findings emphasise the importance of considering both rate effects and grain breakage mechanisms to better understand the complex multi-scale response of crushable soils during pile penetration.