Cause of the contrasting Poisson-ratio evolution

Determine whether the contrasting evolution of the Poisson ratio during debonding—an increase in the discrete-element simulations and a decrease in the Phase-Field–Fast Fourier Transform simulations—is caused by the differing numerical approaches or by the differing cementation patterns of the samples.

Background

The paper reports that the effective Poisson ratio increases with bond-surface reduction in the discrete-element simulations but decreases with cement-mass removal in the continuous Phase-Field–Fast Fourier Transform simulations. Because the two approaches use different samples and cementation mechanisms—biocementation in the discrete model and capillary bridges in the continuous model—the source of this discrepancy cannot be identified from the presented numerical data. Resolving the issue is important for determining whether the contrasting softening behavior reflects a numerical-method effect or a genuine dependence on the initial cementation architecture.