Fast shear behavior of granular materials in ring-shear tests and implications for rapid landslides

The high mobility of rapid landslides is one of the most important subjects of both theoretical and practical interest to engineers and scientists. The idea that ultralow resistance could explain the high mobility inspires researchers to examine the shear behavior of granular materials under a wide range of conditions, but the response of granular materials to fast loading rates is largely unknown. The motivation for this study was to examine several fundamental issues of particle properties and mechanical conditions on the fast shear behavior of granular materials. Two granular materials were studied in the oven-dried state and were sheared by employing a ring-shear apparatus. Results indicated that angular particles (silica sand) had higher shear strength parameters than spherical particles (glass beads). In addition, the dilative process was observed during shearing, which depended on normal stress and particle shape. A slightly negative shear-rate effect on shear strength was observed for both granular materials under a certain range of shear rates. Furthermore, cumulative shear displacement had a significant effect on the degree of particle crushing. Fast ring-shear tests also revealed that shear rate had a slightly negative effect on particle crushing. Based on these experimental results, the possible applications of dynamic grain fragmentation theory to assess the high mobility of rapid landsliding phenomena were discussed. It was indicated that the magnitude and release rate of elastic strain energy generated by grain fragmentation played important roles on the dynamic process of landslide mobility.