ABSTRACT
The nature of stress distribution for a large size particle in a dense granular medium of smaller particles subjected to quasi-static shearing is presented using Distinct Element Analysis (DEA). The particles were generated in a three dimensional periodic cell in which a large solid spherical particle was submerged at the centre of a bed of monodispersed spherical particles. The granular systems prepared in this way were subjected to quasi-static shearing under constant mean stress condition. The evolution of stress tensor in the submerged particle during shearing is presented here for several ratios of the diameter of submerged particle to that of the surrounding monodispersed particles (size ratio). The stress tensor is divided into two components, viz., (i) hydrostatic and (ii) deviatoric components. It has been shown that, for size ratio greater than c.a. 10, the nature of stress in the submerged particle is dominantly hydrostatic.
