Modelling crushing of granular materials as a poly-disperse mixture

This paper presents a new model to assess the evolution of the grain size distribution of granular materials during loading. This model is based on the theory of poly-disperse mixtures proposed by De Larrard, 2000. Using this model it is possible to evaluate the compacity of the mixture depending on the grain size distribution, the shape of the particles and the compaction energy. Markov processes are used to assess the evolution of the grain size distribution, Markovian transition probabilities for each grain size are evaluated experimentally using gyratory compaction. Finally the experimental results are compared with the results of the model showing a very good agreement.