Rapid compaction of granular material: characterizing two- and three-dimensional mesoscale simulations

There have been a variety of numeric and experimental studies investigating the dynamic compaction behavior of heterogeneous materials, including loose dry granular materials. Mesoscale simulations have been used to determine averaged state variables such as particle velocity or stress, where multiple simulations are capable of mapping out a shock Hugoniot. Due to the computational expense of these simulations, most investigators have limited their approach to two-dimensional formulations. In this work we explore the differences between two- and three-dimensional simulations, as well as investigating the effect of stiction and sliding grain-on-grain contact laws on the dynamic compaction of loose dry granular materials. This work presents both averaged quantities as well as distributions of stress, velocity and temperature. The overarching results indicate that, with careful consideration, two- and three-dimensional simulations do result in similar averaged quantities, though differences in their distributions exist. These include differences in the extreme states achieved in the materials.