Mechanical properties of coarse-fine particle mixtures: a laboratory investigation of the effect of fine content

Abstract

Abstract The impacts of fine content on the microstructure and mechanical behavior of five types of coarse-fine particle mixtures with different fine contents are examined based on laboratory tests. The samples used in these tests all had a void ratio of 0.6. As the fine content decreases, the pore-size distribution of the soil changes from unimodal to bimodal, and the variation rate of the initial elastic modulus with confining pressure becomes great. If the fine content is greater than 71.43%, the pore volume of the mixtures reduces progressively progressively with decreasing the fine content, resulting in the growth of peak deviator stress, cohesiveness, and internal friction angle. If the concentration of the fine grains is less than 71.43%, the pore volume of the mixtures shows an increasing trend, which causes a decrease in peak deviator stress,cohesiveness, and internal friction angle.