Micromechanical mechanism-based anisotropic strength criteria for regularly arranged elliptical particle assembly.

Using the microstructural mechanics approach, the macroscopic anisotropic failure criteria expressed in closed form by the microscopic parameters are derived for regularly arranged elliptical particle assemblies. The close-packed, elliptical particle assembly is equivalent to a lattice model that is described by a lattice beam system, and the Mohr–Coulomb-like shear failure criterion is applied to describe the beam breakages. Through mechanical analysis of the instability state of the unit cell of the lattice beam system, macroscopic anisotropic strength criteria and the corresponding strength parameters, which are expressed by microscopic parameters and the tilting angle, are proposed. The macroscopic failure characteristics and strength parameters are qualitatively consistent with the results of the discrete element method (DEM), and the influences of the microscopic parameters and tilting angle on the macroscopic strength parameters are investigated in detail according to the proposed theoretical results. The applicability of the theoretical results to randomly distributed particles is explored by DEM simulation of irregularly arranged particles, and the deviation are also systematically discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]