Evolution of the mechanical and hydraulic properties of geomaterials may be strongly influenced by the interaction of chemical and mechanical processes in various environmental circumstances. This paper presents a numerical study of the evolution of mechanical and transport properties enhanced by mineral dissolution across scales. Numerical models are developed at the discrete element level to involve the chemo-mechanical couplings and lead to the evaluation of material behavior at the macro-scale. Discrete element modeling of a biaxial test was performed to simulate the strain development enhanced by chemo-mechanical coupling effects. The results show the important role of the kinetic rate characteristics of the dissolution process in the behavior of geomaterials. The presented analysis demonstrates the effectiveness of DEM as a useful tool to model coupled chemo-mechanical phenomena.
展开▼
