A numerical analysis of the equivalent skeleton void ratio for silty sand

Recent research on the behavior of silty sand tends to advocate the use of equivalent skeleton void ratio to characterize the density state of this type of soil. This paper presents an investigation to explore the physical meaning of the equivalent skeleton void ratio by means of DEM simulations for assemblies of coarse and fine particles under biaxial shear. The simulations reveal that the distribution pattern of fine particles in the soil skeleton plays a crucial role in the overall macroscopic response: The contractive response observed at the macro scale is mainly caused by the movement of fine particles out of the force chains whereas the dilative response is mainly associated with the migration of fine particles into the force chains. In an assembly of coarse and fine particles, neither all of the fine particles nor all of the coarse ones participate in the force chains to carry the external loads, and therefore a more reasonable definition for equivalent skeleton void ratio is put forward in which a new parameter d is introduced to take into account the fraction of coarse particles absent from the force chains.