Numerical Investigation of Particle Crushing Effect on Pore Structure Evolution and Unsaturated Soil Characteristics

Abstract The behavior of soil under various conditions, including its water retention capacity and hydraulic conductivity, is crucial for understanding numerous geotechnical and environmental processes. One significant factor influencing these properties is grain crushing, which refers to the process by which soil particles undergo deformation or breakage under applied stress. In the present study, the hydro-mechanical behavior of uncrushed and crushed Qrock sand is analyzed using pore network modeling. The soil water retention curve (SWRC) is given as an input, which is optimized using a genetic algorithm to get a pore network. The drainage process is then simulated in the obtained synthetic pore network to get the drying branch of SWRC and hydraulic conductivity function (HCF). The obtained network reveals the impact of crushing on pore characteristics and HCF.