Modelling the material parameter distribution of expanded granules

Abstract

This work deals with the determination of material parameters for different expanded glass and clay granules. When using these materials as crash absorbers, the crushing strength and Young’s modulus are of particular interest, especially for Discrete Element Simulation. Single particle tests were performed with a uniaxial compression test, and the stress–strain curves were recorded. The Young’s modulus was determined based on a Hertzian contact model. To model the obtained results statistically, two models dependent on the particle diameter are introduced to describe the distribution of the parameters. These approaches are combined to a three-dimensional model covering the probability of a parameter tuple consisting of diameter, crushing strength, and Young’s modulus. Finally, this model is used to generate sample numbers at random, corresponding to a type of granules using an inverse transform sampling.