LAUSR

Abstract The carbonate sand could encounter impact loads causing particle breakage. To study the evolution of particle size distribution (PSD) in breakage state, a series of impact load tests were conducted on carbonate sands. From the results of uniformly graded samples, it is obtained that the fractal dimension and active breakage probability, which is equal to the mass percentage of new particle groups generated from crushing, are the functions of input energy as well as initial mean diameter. An “evolution function” of PSD in breakage state for the uniformly graded sample is established according to the fractal theory, with fractal dimension and active breakage probability as parameters. Based on the evolution functions of multiple uniform graded groups, an “assembly matrix” is proposed and used to describe the PSD evolution for non-uniformly graded sample in breakage state. The test results of non-uniformly graded samples show that this method is feasible.