Abstract：The specimens of rubber bonded particulate material with regular square particle arrangement and hexagonal arrangement are fabricated, and the stress relaxation curves and stress-strain curves under different strain rates are tested for the specimens under the uniaxial tensile loads. The Burger’s viscoelastic model is used to characterize the mechanical properties of the tested rubber bonded particulate material, and the model parameters are determinedthrough curve-fitting to the stress relaxation curve. The discreteelement model (DEM) with the same particle arrangement as the tested specimens are used to simulate the viscoelastic behaviour of the rubber bonded particulate material under uniaxial tensile loads. The rubber binder is represented by the micro Burger’s viscoelastic bond model at contacts between the elements, and the parameters of the micro Burger’s viscoelastic bond model are obtained from the macro Burger’s viscoelastic model of the tested specimens. The stress relaxation and tensile stress-strain curves are calculated by the DEM models, and the DEM predictions are compared with the experiment results. The simulation results show that the DEM predictions are consistent with the experiment results for the specimens with regular particle arrangements. But theBurger’s model parameters fitted from the stress relaxation curve can notaccurately represent the strain rate dependence of the rubber binder under high strain rate deformation.
2017, Vol. 38 
