Effect of particle morphology on mechanical behavior of rock mass

The effects on geotechnical properties of rock mass from the constituent particle morphology have been acknowledged since long. Particle morphology is among the most important parameters affecting the mechanical characteristics of rock, such as shear strength, cohesion, friction angle, porosity, groundwater seepage, and angle of repose. This review summarizes the current advancement in numerical simulation-related particle morphology and its impact on the mechanical behavior of rock mass. Several scholars assessed the influence of particle morphology on macroscopic mechanical response using experimental and numerical simulation techniques. The clump particle approach based on discrete elements methods (DEM) reproduces mechanisms between rock particles to illustrate the correlation of mechanical performance and particle morphology. However, this approach presents the statistical limits of particle shape and size distribution of clump particles to rock particles. Particle shape has distinct effect on geotechnical properties of rock; conversely, each descriptor is case sensitive to a specific attribute of shape. The diversity of the outcomes of the conducted study in the geotechnical field revealed an ambiguity associated with the correlation of particle size distribution with the mechanical behavior of rock and granular material. Nevertheless, further research is essential to address some of the issues that have not yet been tackled, few of which are identified throughout this review article.