Dynamic response of dry and water-saturated sand systems

The effect of grain size and moisture content on the dynamic macroscopic response of granular geological materials was explored by performing uniaxial planar impact experiments on high purity, Oklahoma #1, sand samples composed of either fine (75–150 μm) or coarse (425–500 μm) grain sizes in either dry or fully water-saturated conditions. Oklahoma #1 sand was chosen for its smooth, quasi-spherical grain shapes, narrow grain size distributions, and nearly pure SiO2 composition (99.8 wt. %). The water-saturated samples were completely saturated ensuring a two-phase mixture with roughly 65% sand and 35% water. Sand samples were dynamically loaded to pressures between 1 and 11 GPa. Three-dimensional meso-scale simulations using an Eulerian hydrocode, CTH, were created to model the response of each sand sample. Multi-phase equations of state were used for both silicon dioxide, which comprised individual sand grains, and water, which surrounded individual grains. Particle velocity profiles measured from the rear surface of the sand, both experimentally and computationally, reveal that fine grain samples have steeper rise characteristics than coarse grain samples and water-saturated samples have an overall much stiffer response than dry samples. The experimentally determined particle velocity vs. shock velocity response of dry sand was linear over this pressure range, with little difference between the two grain sizes investigated. The experimental response for the water saturated sand exhibited a piecewise continuous response with a transition region between particle velocities of 0.6 km s−1 and 0.8 km s−1 and a pressure of 4.5–6 GPa. Hypotheses for the cause of this transition region are drawn based on results of the meso-scale simulations.