Investigation of particle size effect on particle breakage of carbonate sand under one-dimensional compression

Previous studies on the particle-size effect have indicated that larger particles tend to exhibit lower strength under equivalent loading conditions; however, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. This study investigated the influence of particle size on the macrocompression behavior of carbonate sand by performing one-dimensional compression tests on various uniformly graded samples. The variations in particle size and shape resulting from particle breakage during compression were quantitatively analyzed. In addition, X-ray micro-tomography (μCT) is employed to obtain microstructural insights into the intra-particle porosity of carbonate sand particles, and its role in the particle size effect was further discussed.