Acta Geotechnica (2008) 3:314

DOI 10.1007/s11440-007-0041-0

RESEARCH PAPER

Changing grading of soil: effect on critical states

David Muir Wood Kenichi Maeda

Received: 1 April 2007 / Accepted: 7 September 2007 / Published online: 27 October 2007
Springer-Verlag 2007

Abstract Examples of situations are presented where the

grading of a soil changes during its lifetime either by
crushing of particles leading to an increase of fine material
or by slow transport of fine particles with seepage leading
to a decrease of fine material. Such grading changes
influence the basic constitutive properties of the soil, in
particular properties such as critical states which are
dependent on the available range of densities of packing.
Discrete element modelling is used to show the dependence
of critical state conditions on grading and the way in which
the particle assembly seeks out new critical state conditions
as the grading changes.
Keywords Discrete element modelling
Critical states

Non-plastic soil
Particle size distribution
Fractals

State parameter

1 Introduction
Laboratory testing of soils and development of constitutive models for soils tend to assume that the soil that is
being prepared or studied at the start of a test is the same

D. Muir Wood (&)

Department of Civil Engineering, University of Bristol,
Queens Building, University Walk, Bristol BS8 1TR, UK
e-mail: d.muir-wood@bristol.ac.uk
K. Maeda
Department of Civil Engineering and Management,
Nagoya Institute of Technology, 16th Building, Room 232,
Gokiso-cho Showa-ku, Nagoya City 466-8555, Japan
e-mail: maeda.kenichi@nitech.ac.jp

as the soil that emerges at the end of the test and that, in
principle, the emerging soil could be used to repeat the
test and obtain essentially identical response. Such a
description is of course a caricature: it has long been the
custom in research laboratories to discard the soil at the
end of a test because of potential damage to individual
particles; and over recent years there has been increasing
study of soils such as carbonate sands in which particle
breakage is an inescapable feature even at relatively
modest stress levels. But if the particles are breaking at
lower or higher stresses, then there is a change of material
during the test and we could certainly not expect the same
response if the damaged particles were used to create a
new sample. From a modelling point of view too we
should recognise that the material is changing: particle
breakage represents an irreversible change to the material
with the proportion of fine material in the soil monotonically increasing.
The opposite transition is also possible and this will be
briefly described in the context of a dam in British
Columbia where there is evidence that fine particles have
been slowly washed out of the originally well-graded core
material. Again the soil is changing during its life and the
mechanical response of the original material may not be
the same as that of the material today.
From the point of view of constitutive modelling, there
is a need for a simple parameter to provide some indication of the nature of the current particle size
distribution of a soil and then assumptions are needed
concerning the way in which variation of this parameter
actually influences the mechanical behaviour of the soil.
This paper presents some numerical results concerning
one aspect of this influence: the nature of critical states.
For many soils, constitutive models which incorporate
some description of asymptotic volumetric states

123

critical stateshave met with some success. However,

such asymptotic relationships between density or volume
packing and stress are expected to be particularly sensitive to changes in particle sizes. While one might propose
that soils with parallel gradings that differ only in the
size of the particles, the shape and the strength of the
particles being maintained, might have similar mechanical response, if the grading actually changes by leaching
of fine particles or by crushing then one would anticipate
an evolving response. Discrete element modelling of
assemblies of circular particles in which the grading is
made progressively narrower as fine particles are
removed has been used to study the dependence of the
critical state line on the extra dimensionsome scalar
description of grading.

Acta Geotechnica (2008) 3:314

Fig. 1 Particle size distributions for samples from core of WAC

Bennett Dam as constructed and as tested after sinkhole incident
(Stewart and Watts [29], Stewart and Garner [28], Sobkowicz and
Garner [27])

2 Loss of fines: WAC Bennett Dam, British Columbia

3 Grading state index

The information concerning this dam is taken from several

sources: Stewart and Watts [29], Stewart and Garner [28],
Sobkowicz and Garner [27] under the aegis of BCHydro.
The link of the removal of fine material with the constitutive modelling challenge that that poses is discussed by
Muir Wood [19].
The WAC Bennett Dam in British Columbia (completed
in 1968) is 183 m high and is used to generate some
2.73 GW of electricity for BCHydro. In 1996 two sinkholes appeared in the dam. A general investigation of the
condition of the dam was carried out in order to try to
understand the nature and cause of the sinkhole event.
WAC Bennett Dam is a zoned earthfill dam with a core
formed of broadly graded, non-plastic, silty sand with some
gravel, originating from glacial outwash deposits, designed
according to the filter rules then generally accepted.
Analysis of all borehole data produced evidence apparently
consistent with a hypothesis that slow movement of fine
material from the core into the downstream parts of the
dam has been occurring for some years. Particle size distributions indicated increased presence of fine material in
the transition zone and reduced fines content in parts of the
core by comparison with the gradings of the original construction materials (Fig. 1). This hypothesis of fines
migration is consistent with analysis of the history of pore
pressures measured since the dam was constructed. The
presence of fine material influences the local permeability
of the core and transition zones, thus controlling the relationship between seepage velocity and hydraulic gradient.
The influence of the movement of fine material on the
mechanical response of the dam requires a coupled analysis
for seepage and fines transport combined with a constitutive model incorporating the evolution of particle size
distribution.

When triaxial tests are performed on sand at high pressure it

is found that the proportion of fine particles in the soil
increases both as a result of isotropic compression and as a
result of subsequent shearing (Fig 2; Vesic and Clough
[31]). The definition of high obviously depends on the
mineral characteristics of the sand. The lower the strength
of the sand particles the lower the pressure at which particle
crushing will start to have an influence. Carbonate sands
crush at modest stress levelsfor example, Cheng et al. [6]
show crushing beginning at 0.20.6 MPa for Dogs Bay
sandso that high stress definitely refers to stresses of
interest in general engineering application (see also [7]). By
contrast, silica sands are much more resistant: note the
stress level of 62 MPa for the grading changes in Fig. 2.
Fines removal by seepage transport and fines addition by
particle crushing are two complementary effects with the

123

Fig. 2 Grading changes from particle crushing in high pressure

compression and shearing of Chattahoochee River sand. Gradings:
1 before testing; 2 after isotropic compression to 62.1 MPa; 3 after
triaxial compression to failure with confiing pressure 62.1 MPa (after
Vesic and Clough [31])

Acta Geotechnica (2008) 3:314

characteristics of the current grading becoming narrower

and broader, respectively. In both cases the particle size
distribution is changing while we are using or testing the
soil. We expect this change in grading to have an influence
on the mechanical behaviour. In order to be able to model
the effect of change in grading there are three requirements:
the definition of some grading state index which can be used
to describe the current changing grading of the soil; an
evolution law which describes the way in which this grading
state index changes with compression or shearing; and some
rules which describe the influence that the changing grading
state index has on the mechanical properties of the soil. We
will here discuss the first of these requirements and present
numerical results linked with the third.
A single grading state index provides a first order, scalar, indication of the contribution of the distribution of
particle sizes to the current fabric of the soilin the same
way that void ratio or specific volume provides a scalar
indication of the geometric fabric of the soil. We consider
only non-plastic, coarse grained soils for some slight simplicity, so that clay minerals do not play a major part. An
aesthetically pleasing characteristic of such a grading index
would be for it to vary over the range 01 as the grading
changes between clear limits. The index will need to reflect
the way in which gradings actually change.
It does not seem surprising that the slow removal of
particles by seepage picks preferentially on the smallest
particles. The comparison of gradings of Chattahoochee
River sand at various stages through a shear test at high
pressure (Fig. 2) shows that the predominant effect of
particle crushing is to increase the proportion of fine
material without particularly changing the size of the
largest particles. Studies of data for crushable granular
materials, and supporting numerical analyses of analogue
granular materials using considerations of the probability
of particle failure, reported by McDowell et al. [15] and
results of discrete element analyses using breakable
agglomerated particles (e.g., [5]) confirm this tendency of
the coarsest particles to survive.
The explanation for this observation can be found in the
way in which the stresses are carried through a granular
assembly through contacts between adjacent particles.
Inspection of the results of discrete element analyses of
particulate assemblies containing a range of particle sizes
(e.g., Fig. 3a) suggests that the coordination number is
higher for larger particles. We are familiar with the Brazilian test which is used to estimate the tensile strength of
concrete (Fig. 3b): applying diametrally opposite line loads
a rather uniform tensile stress is generated and when this
stress reaches the tensile strength of the concrete the cylinder fails by splitting. The smaller particles in Fig. 3a are
subjected to similarly damaging loading whereas the
greater number of contacts for the larger particles makes

Fig. 3 a Force chains in DEM analysis of particle assembly;

b diametral loading in Brazil cylinder test for tensile strength of
concrete

them less susceptible to such tensile fracture. Thus,

although one would expect the crushing strength (under
diametral loading, Fig. 3b) to fall as the particle size
increases, because of the increased probability of defects
within a particle, once contained in the granular assembly
the stress state in individual particles becomes increasingly
benign as the particle size increases.
This proposal follows the observations of McDowell and
others that the coordination number effect can outweigh the
effect of reducing strength with increasing particle size.
Their suggestion is that the primary mechanism of particle
crushing is from tensile splitting (though evidently there
may also be some local attainment of a limiting compression strength). So it is the ratio of the particle strength and
the stress state within the particle (rather than between the
particles) that is relevant and the increasingly isotropic
stress state within a particle with a high coordination
number will reduce the probability of failure of that particle.

123

The results of DEM analyses (for example, Fig. 3a) show

that the coordination number increases with particle size.
The Chattahoochee River sand gradings in Fig. 2 seem to
confirm this possibility. But anyway, given the suggestion
that it is the shape of the grading that is important rather
than the actual grain size, a grading state index which is
defined as proposed here does not actually demand that the
maximum particle size remains unchanged.
An intuitive finding from DEM and from tests on natural
soils is that, with continued shearing in a regime of stresses
which encourages crushing, there is a tendency for the
grading to become increasingly self-similar or fractal
as crushing continues [15]. In other words the proportion of
particles between sizes which have a particular ratio is
independent of the value of the particle sizes for which that
ratio is calculated. McDowell et al. quote fractal dimensions of around 2.5 for the description of the distributions
of numbers of particles of different sizes: the conversion to
the more usual mass distribution assumes a correlation of
mass of particle with the cube of its equivalent diameter.
On a loglog plot of the particle size distribution the
grading curve then becomes a straight linewith the
implication that the grading continues indefinitely to finer
and finer particles (Fig. 4b). In fact there may well be some
comminution limit below which particles do not break. The
linear loglog grading can be redrawn in terms of the usual
log-linear particle size distribution chart (AD in Fig. 4a).
Such a fractal, self-similar, limiting grading has an aesthetic attraction and a physically reasonable feel: however,
the proposal is that there could exist limiting gradings to
which a soil might aspire as its particles crushthis limiting grading does not have to be fractal.
The other natural limit to the grading is a precisely
single size distribution (AB in Fig. 4a). A logical definition
of grading state index, IG, is obtained by comparing areas
ABC under the current particle size distribution and ABD
under the limiting (fractal) distribution. The grading index
has the value zero for single size material and the value 1 at
the fractal limit. Any given soil will have a grading which
can be characterised by a value of IG such that 0 \ IG \ 1.

Fig. 4 Fractal limiting distribution a log-linear plot; b loglog plot

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Acta Geotechnica (2008) 3:314

Other scalar measures of grading can be defined in terms

of particular fractions of the gradingcoefficient of uniformity (D60/D10) is a rather crude familiar measure.
Measures which involve the area under the grading curve
such as the breakage potential proposed by Hardin [10, 11]
have used the initial grading of the soil rather than the single
particle size as one boundary and have not limited the
eventual grading. Nevertheless there is general link between
such different measures. An advantage of the recognition
that there is a limit for IG = 1 is that an evolution law for IG
will be expected to indicate that the potential for further
change in grading will decrease as IG approaches 1.
The gradings of two natural well graded soils are shown
in Fig. 5: a glacial till and a residual weathered granitic
soil. If the largest particles are ignored then it seems that a
fractal distribution provides a reasonable description of the
particle size distribution: the curves in Fig. 5 are plotted
using a fractal dimension of around 2.6. One would expect
natural processes to be rather effective in generating
mathematically elegant limiting distributions. On the other
hand, F. Altuhafi (2007, personal communication, forthcoming PhD thesis, University College London) has shown
that glacial soils from Iceland show continued broadening
of grading when sheared in the laboratory even though they
might have been expected to have reached a limiting
grading as a result of the extensive damage that the glacier
has inflicted on them. One would, however, expect that a
reconstituted sample of a soil which has naturally reached
its limiting grading would be unlikely to have the identical
fabric to that present in situ and also that laboratory
shearing in a mode different from that occurring under the
glacier would lead the soil to wish to develop a different
limiting fabric. The grading state index provides only a first
order, scalar, indication of the fabric.

4 DEM analysis of changing grading

If the grading state index, however defined, is indeed an
indication of state of the soil then one should expect that

Acta Geotechnica (2008) 3:314

7
100
90

before removal
after removal
for RD=10

80

W (%)

70
60
50

RD(=Dmax /Dmin)=20

40
30

RD=10
RD=5

20
10

Fig. 5 Particle size distributions for natural well-graded soils compared with fractal distributions

it should be treated alongside other elements of the

description of the state of the soil. We are used to the
description of the state of a soil in terms of specific volume
(or density), mean effective stress p0 and distortional stress
q in order to apply ideas of critical state soil mechanics
[23, 26] but it is really only our inability to visualise
information in more than three-dimensions that has led us
to stop there in our characterisation of asymptotic critical
states. Specific volume is another scalar indicator of
fabrica complete description of fabric requires at least a
tensorial description which includes orientations and
distributions of particle contacts but this can only be
discovered in numerical experiments. Two stress variables
provide a limited description of the six-dimensions of
general stress spacebut most laboratory element tests are
unable to explore reliably more than two or three of these
dimensions (four in the torsional hollow cylinder, with
some reservations about inevitable inhomogeneities of
stresses and strains). There are reports of DEM analyses of
assemblies of circular particles [30] and angular twodimensional particles [20] which show that ultimate critical
states are asymptotically reached in numerical shear tests in
which not only stresses and void ratio but also fabric,
defined by appropriate measures, reach a steady asymptotic
limit. Those are tests in which the grading does not change.
We report here the results of some DEM analyses in which
grading differences are introduced.
The analyses were performed using a two-dimensional
program [1618] which permits analysis of interaction
between circular discs. The contact law for particle interaction is a simple combination of linear springs and
limiting friction. The distributions of particle sizes that
have been used for analysis are Gaussian distributions in
weight proportion as shown in Fig. 6. In presenting the
results of these analyses, gradings are characterised by the
ratio of maximum to minimum particle size, RD = D100/D0.
Drawing a straight line on the grading diagram from the
maximum particle size, D100, for which 100% of particles
are smaller, to the minimum particle size, D0, for which

0
5

10

50

RD=2
100

Grain size, D (mm)

Fig. 6 Particle size distributions for various gradings of circular discs
for DEM analysis

100% of particles are larger (this has been done for RD =

10 in Fig. 6), it is evident that the area under this line,
defining a triangle in the particle size distribution chart, is
(ln RD)/2 and this is rather close to the area under the
corresponding RD = 10 grading curve: the underestimate of
area for D [ D50 is balanced by the overestimate of area
for D \ D50. The link with grading state index is then
simply and approximately:
IG / ln RD =2
and the two measures of grading are essentially
interchangeable.
Two sets of analyses have been performed: both combine isotropic compression with subsequent shearing. A
first set of shear tests has been performed on samples with
constant grading, RD. However, a subsequent set of analyses has allowed the grading to evolve by progressive
removal of the finest particles so that the value of RD
becomes progressively smaller.
The sample preparation procedure [1618] is a numerical device which provides the possibility to produce
samples of different initial density at the start of shearing
by controlling the initial porosity of the assembly of particles before any stresses are imposed and the interparticle
friction (Fig. 7). The analysis involved approximately
4,000 particles in a rectangular container enclosed by four
wall boundary elements. The external stress and strain were
controlled by the movement of the walls. The tests were
simulated under conditions of zero gravity in order to
investigate the initial and changing fabric due only to the
change in macro stresses.
Specimens were prepared as follows. First, discs with
interparticle friction coefficient tan /lg were generated such
that the porosity was equal to a specified average porosity ng
in the container. The required number of discs for the chosen
size distribution were placed randomly in the container. If
this specified porosity is high then the particles will be out of

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Acta Geotechnica (2008) 3:314

generation
generationofof
particles
particles

stress
stress
regulation
regulation

change
changeinin
interparticle
interparticlefriction
friction

initial
initial
packing
packing

emax

ng=30-40%

tang=1.0

m=0.0
e

tan=0.25
e

tang=0.1

ng=30-40%

m=0.0

tan=0.25

emin
tan=0.25

ng=10%

tang=0.0

m
m

Isotropic comp.
up to 0.05(MPa)

Isotropic comp.
& shearing

0.05 (MPa)

m0

Fig. 7 Method of preparation of DEM samples: varying generation porosity, ng, and interparticle friction, tan /l to produce different eventual
packings

contact; if this porosity is low then the particles will initially

overlap. With high porosity ng = 0.40, there are no contact
points and initial packing is loose; with low porosity ng =
0.10, and initial packing is dense. Overlapping particles are
subject immediately to movement as out-of-balance contact
forces equilibrate. The specimen in its container was then
subjected to a steadily increasing isotropic plane strain stress
by slowly moving inwards or outwards the walls of the
container. The initial isotropic stress was regulated to the
required value of mean normal stress rm0 = kn 9 10@4
(50 kPa). The interparticle friction coefficient was then
changed instantaneously from tan /lg to tan /l and equilibrium under the applied isotropic stress was re-established.
The resulting assembly of particles has an initial void ratio
e0 corresponding to the stress rm0. Stresses were then
applied in addition to the prescribed compression stress in
order to shear the sample. The interparticle friction is kept
constant at tan /l throughout the shear test.
The two variables that have been used in this numerical
procedure to control the density of the granular material at
the end of this compression stage are thus the porosity in
the original randomly generated distribution, and the
interparticle friction. While the interparticle friction in the
eventual shear stage has been set at 0.25 in all analyses,
different values have been used during the generation and
compression stages. Table 1 illustrates how the choice of
these parameters can provide some control of the void ratio
at the start of the shearing stage [1618]: in this way
notional maximum and minimum void ratios can be
obtained and the relative density of a sample can be calculated. The route described from initially dispersed

123

Table 1 DEM control of void ratio

Generation
porosity ng

Friction during
initial compression
tan /lg

Friction during
shearing tan /l

Final void
ratio
emax

0.30.4

0.25

0.30.4

0.1

0.25

0.1

0.25

emin

particles with interparticle friction reduced after isotropic

compression has been used as a standard route to generate
samples with maximum porosity, minimum density. Conversely, using initially overlapping particles and an
interparticle friction increased from zero provides a standard route to generate samples with minimum porosity,
maximum density. It is found, as expected, that both
maximum and minimum porosity fall as the grading ratio
RD rises: as the grading becomes increasingly broad and
fractal the smaller particles fit into the gaps between the
larger particles.
Both stress and strain require three components for their
description in plane strain. The stress rm is the plane strain
mean normal stress, which is the centre of the Mohr circle
of stress; and sm is the maximum shear stress which is the
radius of the Mohr circle of stress. The stress ratio
sm/rm = sin /m where /m is the mobilised angle of friction. The normal strains eyy and exx are, respectively, the
vertical and horizontal strains in Fig. 3a, whose directions
are coincident with the directions of major and minor
principal stresses r1 and r2. The strain ev = eyy + exx is the
two-dimensional volumetric strain.

Acta Geotechnica (2008) 3:314

0.4
-5
0.2

most dense for each material

c=0.1MPa

-0.2
0

RD
2
5
10
20

4
6
8
10 12
Normal strain, yy (%)

Stress ratio, m / m

0.6

0.4
-5
0.2

most loose for each material

c=0.1MPa

-0.2
0

4
6
8
Normal strain, yy (%)

1.25

RD=Dmax/Dmin=20
isotropic compression
shearing
origin of shearing
critical state

1.20

Critical State Line

1.15
0

1.0
2.0
3.0
Mean normal stress, m (MPa)
v=a0+a1m

RD=Dmax/Dmin

-10

RD
2
5
10
20

we can conclude that C changes to first order and k changes

to second order as RD increases. Neither of these trends is

5
14

m C  k ln p0

5
10

Fig. 8 Stressstrain response of DEM analyses of assemblies with

different gradings: a densest samples; b loosest samples

Specific volume, v=1+e

Volumetric strain, v (%)

-10

Volumetric strain, v (%)

Stress ratio, m / m

0.6

experiments, assemblies of circular particles were analysed

with all particle rotation prevented. With this constraint,
both /f and /cv increased remarkably with /l. We conclude that although increasing /l certainly has some effect
on /f and /cv, the collapse of fabric due to particle rotation
(the buckling of columns of particles) reduces the available
strength: particle rotation provides a key mechanism of
dissipation.
Comparison of the stressstrain relationships (Fig. 8)
shows that the grading has surprisingly little effect on
either the stiffness or the strength or the dilatancy of the
samples provided the relative density of the samples is the
same. Plotting the asymptotic conditions for these tests it is
possible to define a family of critical state lines in the
conventional semi-logarithmic compression plane (specific
volume and logarithm of mean stress) (Fig. 9a, b). The
location of this line varies steadily with RD (Fig. 9b). Over
the range of stresses explored the critical state line appears
to get slightly flatter as RD increases and to be located
lower in the compression plane. Thus if we propose that the
critical state line can be locally described in the traditional
form:

Specific volume, v=1+e

Having created and compressed the assembly of particles it is then sheared to large straintypically around 10%
which seems to be sufficient to reach reasonably asymptotic conditions which might be interpreted as critical states
(Fig. 8). (The inevitable scatter in the response in these
numerical experiments can be smoothed visually when
numerical limiting values are extracted.)
Here, the mobilised friction angle at the critical state
/cv & 16 (sin /cv = sm/rm = 0.275) is only slightly larger than the interparticle friction angle /l = 14
(tan /l = 0.25). Some results indicate that the mobilised
friction angle at the critical state /cv should always be
larger than /l (e.g., [3, 4]). The contrasting result found
here suggests that there is little energy dissipation in the
granular assemblies arising from the geometric arrangement of the particles. Other DEM simulations have been
performed to examine the influence of /l in the wide range
from 0 to 90 on the mobilised friction angles at peak /f
and critical state /cv (e.g., [17, 18, 24]). Maeda and
Hirabayashi observed that /f was greater than /l when /l
was less than about 30 for samples formed of circular
particles. However, when /l was greater than 30, the
value of /f was found to be less than /l. Further, /f
converged to a limit value of about 30 for values of /l
greater than 1520, even for /l close to 90. The value of
the critical state angle /cv showed the same tendencies as
/f, as /l was varied and was, if anything, less sensitive to
the value of /l. As a further group of numerical

1.25

RD= 2
RD= 5
RD=10
RD=20

:
:
:
:

a0
1.239
1.230
1.211
1.189

a1
-0.015
-0.015
-0.013
-0.011

|r|
0.968
0.976
0.986
0.993

critical state lines by

least-square method
|r|: coefficient of correlatio

1.20

1.15
0

1.0
2.0
3.0
Mean normal stress, m (MPa)

Fig. 9 Critical states of DEM samples with different gradings: a path

in semi-logarithmic compression plane for compression test on
sample with grading RD = 20; b critical state lines for different values
of RD

123

10

Acta Geotechnica (2008) 3:314

4.5

Coordination Number, Nc

counter-intuitional: the broader the grading the more efficient the particle packing, the lower the limiting values of
specific volume or void ratio (lower C), and the higher the
stiffness (lower k). Thus this accords with the experimental
result of Lade et al. [13] that the presence of fine particles
lowers the void ratio for reference states such as the critical
state line.
The coordination number provides some indication of
the current fabric of the material. The spread of coordination number in samples with different gradings at the
start of shearing is shown in Fig. 10. While the infrequent
occurrence of coordination numbers as high as 16 is
observed for the broadest grading studied (RD = 20) the
dominant elements of the distribution of number of contacts are (surprisingly?) insensitive to the grading. The
most frequent number of contacts is generally four. There
is a hint of a reduction towards three for the broadest
grading and a slight increase in the number of particles
with one contact or fewer. A partial view of the evolution
of fabric during the tests is then shown in a plot of average
coordination number with mean stress (Fig. 11). A reasonably unique relationship emerges corresponding to the
findings of Thornton and Zhang [30] and Nougier-Lehon
et al. [20]. Thus, with coordination number and a measure
of grading together we now have two extra dimensions to
feed into the description of the asymptotic state of the
granular material.
The next series of tests were started as before. A sample
with a given grading was compressed isotropically and
sheared to a certain mobilised friction. The process of
changing the grading by removal of particles was then
performed as follows. From a state of equilibrium, the
smallest disc in the sample was located and removed from
the assembly. The removal of this particle leaves some
unequilibrated interparticle forces in the assembly: external
stresses were controlled and kept constant until deformations induced by these unequilibrated forces had

RD=Dmax/Dmin=2
4.0

isotropic compression
shearing
origin of shearing
critical state
Critical State Line

3.5

3.0

1.0

2.0

Mean normal stress, m (MPa)

3.0

Fig. 11 Critical states of DEM samples with different mean stress

levels: evolution of coordination number towards critical state

converged. This process of particle removal was then

repeated. Two criteria have been defined for terminating
this repeated process of particle removal: when the normal
strain exceeds 10%; or when the size of the particle proposed for removal is equal to the 5% grain size (D5) of the
original sample. Under isotropic stresses, particle removal
for all samples was limited by the latter condition; when
particles were removed while the sample was subject to
shear stresses, the process was limited by the former
condition.
These tests are actually testing a changing material for
which the value of the ratio of maximum to minimum
particle sizes RD or grading state index IG is falling during
the numerical test. If we plot results in a two-dimensional
diagram then we know that we are hiding some of the
relevant information. Concentrating on tests at constant
mean stress, the results in Fig. 12 illustrate the way in
which void ratio changes in tests with constant grading
(which track from open circle initial state to a final state
indicated by an x): all these tests have been performed with
the same mean stress. Still at constant mean stress, the

0.5
RD= 2
RD= 5
RD=10
RD=20

0.3

0.350
0.300
V o id ra tio , e

Frequency

0.4

0.2
max. coordination number 16
for RD=20

0.1

0.250
0.200

emin

0.150

0
0

10

15

20

Coordination number, Ncp

Fig. 10 Frequency of occurrence of coordination number in DEM
analyses with different gradings

123

removal underm/m
0 (i.c.)
: start point for shearing (i.c.)
0.27
: critical state point
0.32
points
emax critical
estimated by C.S.lines

RD=Dmax / Dmin
Fig. 12 Paths followed in void ratio: grading plane in particle
removal analyses

Acta Geotechnica (2008) 3:314

paths of tests with progressive particle removal show a

combination of reducing grading state index (IG or RD)
with increasing void ratio. It is hypothesised from inspection of these results that these paths are heading towards
the critical state line at a void ratio consistent with the new
evolving grading, and higher than that associated with the
initial grading. It is thus hypothesised that the critical state
condition is unique in terms of stresses, density and
grading.

5 Grading state index and critical states

The results of DEM analyses demonstrate, as expected, that
the current grading influences the critical state conditions
that are attained. The self-similarity of the postulated
fractal limiting particle size distributions suggests that as
crushing occurs so the voids in the soil become increasingly more efficiently filled. Crushing of itself does not
produce any change in void ratiothe volume of the
material present does not change.
However, subsequent mechanical perturbations will be
influenced by the change in constitutive properties of the
crushed soil and may lead to volume changes. Any constitutive property of the soil which directly involves the
particle packing will naturally be affected by the change in
grading. The location of the critical state line in the compression plane (void ratio: mean stress) is part of the
constitutive description of the soilit describes the
asymptotic conditions that the soil seeks when it is sheared.
In the crushed state, the packing of the particles in these
asymptotic states can be more efficient than it was in the
uncrushed state and the void ratio associated with
the asymptotic state will be correspondingly lower. The
occurrence of crushing does not place the soil in a critical
state but changes the critical state to which the soil will
head as it is subsequently sheared.
The DEM analyses reported here confirm the intuition
that the critical state line should become lowerin the
compression plane of specific volume and mean stress
as the grading state index increases. Lade et al. [13]
investigate the effect of adding fine particles to a sand and
show that, while the fine particles are merely filling the
voids in the coarse material reference densities for the
materialsuch as maximum and minimum densitiesrise
because the space is filled more efficiently (volumetric
measures such as void ratio correspondingly fall). In any
test in which the stress conditions are such that significant
crushing occurs [10, 11] as a result of the combination of
stress level and mobilised friction the grading state index
will change and the critical state line with it. Constitutive
models such as Severn-Trent sand [8, 9] and Norsand [12]
which include a critical state line as a basic feature

11

controlling strength and dilatancy as a function of state

parameter [1, 2] will be particularly affected by the possibility of a dynamically changing critical state line but will
also be easily able to incorporate such evolution.
As stated, the grading state index encapsulates just a
single scalar characteristic of the fabric but this already
provides an extra dimension to the presentation of the
critical state line. The DEM analyses have shown the way
in which the location of the critical state line changes in the
compression plane as the grading changes. For the crushable material we can link this changing position to the
current value of the grading state index and to an evolution
law for this index. The critical state line in the compression
plane of specific volume v and mean stress p0 becomes a
critical state surface when the extra dimension of grading is
added. Critical state lines for individual soils over a large
range of pressures have been described by a three part
mathematical formulation (Fig. 13) [22]. But we can propose that this is actually a two-dimensional projection of
the three-dimensional information. Diagrams showing the
three-dimensional interaction of current grading and the
critical state conditions are shown in Fig. 14. For the two
cases considered a three-dimensional surface (mean stress,
specific volume, and grading state parameter) is shown
together with projections onto the three separate planes.
There are two separate cases to consider, depending on
whether the particles are likely to be crushable or not.
Where grading changes purely as a result of removal of
fine material the nature of the three-dimensional picture
seems straightforward. Drawing on the DEM analyses we
can propose that the critical state surface in the compression-grading space of specific volume v, mean effective
stress p0 , and grading state index IG might be extended
from the rather traditional semi-logarithmic form
(Fig. 14a):
m CIG  kIG ln p0
where both C, to first order, and k, to second order
(Fig. 9b) decrease as IG increases towards one. This defines

Fig. 13 Three-part critical state line (inspired by Russell and Khalili

[22])

123

12

Fig. 14 Critical state surface in compression-grading space: a change

of grading without particle crushing; b change of grading resulting
from particle crushing

a surface of indefinite extent along the mean stress direction: at least for the stress range of relevance to a particular
application, mean stress is assumed not to lead to particle
crushing.
Where the dominant phenomenon leading to change of
grading is particle crushing then the surface is limited by
the interaction of mean stress and grading index. As the
stress level increases then this will induce crushing and
hence change in grading. We may still suppose (for simplicity and in the absence of experimental data) that the
change in slope of the critical state line is small as IG
increases. However, as mean stress increases (beyond some
threshold) the smaller particles will crush and IG will
increase. The critical state surface thus cannot exist for
stress levels above some limit which will depend on the
current value of IG. An attempt to show the three-dimensional nature of this critical state surface is shown in
Fig. 14b. The three-part critical state line in Fig. 13 is then
understood to be a track across this surface. The distinction
is important because the presentation of a three-stage single

123

Acta Geotechnica (2008) 3:314

line in Fig. 13 suggests that the upper section can be

retrieved and will again influence behaviour when the
stress level is reduced. In contrast, Fig. 14b makes it clear
that the irreversibility of the change of grading will have a
lasting effect on the mechanical response.
Projections of the three-dimensional critical state surface of Fig. 14b (for the crushable soil) onto the three
coordinate planes are shown in Fig. 15. The conventional
compression plane of specific volume or void ratio and
mean stress is shown in Fig. 15a: the critical state lines fall
as crushing increases (IG goes from 0 to 1). They are drawn
with constant slope but are limited at higher stresses as a
result of the occurrence of crushing: if the mean stress were
to be increased beyond the dashed line then crushing would
inevitably occur and the operational critical state line
would drop.
Contours of constant mean stress in the plane of specific
volume and grading state index are shown in Fig. 15b. The
contours are longest at the lowest stress level; the dashed
line indicates the limiting combinations of specific volume
and grading state index. Finally, Fig. 15c shows contours
of specific volume in the plane of mean stress and grading
state index. For any value of IG there is a limit to the mean
stress that can be sustained indicated by the dashed line.
The gathering of data to support the hypothesis concerning the influence of grading on critical states has its
own subtlety. There is an importance in allowing the
change of grading to occur naturally (rather than by mixing
up different batches of particles of different sizes) so that
the fabric that is generated is able to maintain a natural
feel. The nature of the evolution law which describes the
change of IG is inferred but not known: does IG ? 1 under
all circumstancesor are there (practically) limiting
intermediate values for shearing at lower stress levels?
How much does the detail of the grading matter if the area
under the curve (Fig. 4) is the same? We expect particle
shape to play a major role but, for soils with essentially the
same particle shape, how much influence does the maximum particle size D100 have on the mechanical response?

6 Conclusion
The recognition that in some circumstances the soils that
we are using or encountering are changing in their nature
during their use is obviously important for the development
of constitutive models. An analogy could be drawn with the
modelling of the effects of cementation or bonding
between soil particles which may have been created by
chemical effects over the geological history of the hard
soil/weak rock but which can be destroyed by mechanical
or chemical means. A number of models have been
developed to incorporate these destructuring phenomena

Acta Geotechnica (2008) 3:314

13

be significant. It would be convenient if we were able to

characterise the behaviour of any soil with the same value
of IG using variants of the same model.
We have looked at the effect of changing grading on the
critical state conditions attained in DEM analyses of twodimensional assemblies of circular particles. These seem to
show that changing the grading leads the granular material
to seek the asymptotic state appropriate to the current
grading. Experimental support from tests on real soils
requires subtle procedures in order to be usefulthe other
elements of the fabric that cannot be included in these
scalar quantities but which will be created by deposition or
by natural processes must be preserved.
Grading certainly has a first order influence on the
critical state parameters; its effect on friction is probably
less [14]; its effect on elastic properties is uncertain.
Incorporation of such influences can be achieved relatively
simply in order to add grading as an additional variable to
existing soil models such as Severn-Trent sand [8, 9] in the
same hierarchical way as effects of structure.
Acknowledgments The stimulus for embarking on this study came
from BCHydro and the contribution of Steve Garner and Mike
Jefferies is particularly acknowledged. These ideas were subsequently
developed in the 20th Bjerrum Lecture [19], thanks to the invitation
of the Norwegian Geotechnical Society. The support of the University
of Bristol and Nagoya Institute of Technology has been invaluable for
the performance of the work described here. Discussions with Adrian
Russell and Mamoru Kikumoto have helped to focus the concepts
being implemented in constitutive models.
Fig. 15 Projections of critical state surface for material with change
of grading resulting from particle crushing (Fig. 14b): a specific
volume and mean stress; b specific volume and grading state
parameter; c mean stress and grading state parameter. Dashed line
corresponds to dashed line in Fig. 14b

(e.g., [21, 25]): a common feature of these models is that

the effect of bonding or structure is added to an existing
commonly used modelCam clay.
Grading, like structure, is an effect which may be
changing irreversibly and uncontrollably but will certainly
influence the mechanical response. If its effect and evolution are deemed to be important then we must include this
aspect of the fabric of the soil as part of its state. The
grading state index, IG, defined in terms of limiting gradings provides a first order description of the current
grading and an intermediate means by which the evolution
of mechanical propertiesparticularly those which are
concerned with the available range of soil densitiescan
be proposed. Just as specific volume (or void ratio or
porosity) can give only a first order description of fabric so
a grading index cannot be expected to provide a complete
description of the nature of the distribution of particle
sizesbut they are both quantities which we will expect to

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