Numerical Analysis of Shear and Particle Crushing Characteristics in Ring Shear System Using the PFC(2D)

The shear and particle crushing characteristics of the failure plane (or shear surface) in catastrophic mass movements are examined with a ring shear apparatus, which is generally employed owing to its suitability for large deformations. Based on results of previous experiments on waste materials from abandoned mine deposits, we employed a simple numerical model based on ring shear testing using the particle flow code (PFC(2D)). We examined drainage, normal stress, and shear velocity dependent shear characteristics of landslide materials. For shear velocities of 0.1 and 100 mm/s and normal stress (NS) of 25 kPa, the numerical results are in good agreement with those obtained from experimental results. The difference between the experimental and numerical results of the residual shear stress was approximately 0.4 kPa for NS equal to 25 kPa and 0.9 kPa for NS equal to 100 kPa for both drained and undrained condition. In addition, we examined particle crushing effect during shearing using the frictional work concept in PFC. We calculated the work done by friction at both peak and residual shear stresses, and then used the results as crushing criteria in the numerical analysis. The frictional work at peak and the residual shear stresses was ranged from 303 kPa·s to 2579 kPa·s for given drainage and normal stress conditions. These results showed that clump particles were partially crushed at peak shear stress, and further particle crushing with respect to the production of finer in shearing was recorded at residual shear stress at the shearing plane.