ABSTRACT
Discrete element modelling (DEM) is a numerical modelling or computer simulation approach that can simulate soil and other granular materials. The unique feature of this approach is that it explicitly considers the individual particles in a granular material and their interactions. DEM presents an alternative to the typical approach adopted when simulating the mechanical behaviour of granular materials (soils in particular), which uses a continuum mechanics framework. In a continuum model soil is assumed to behave as a continuous material and the relative movements and rotations of the particles inside the material are not considered. Sophisticated constitutive models (i.e. equations relating the stress and strain in the soil) are then needed to capture the complexity of the material behaviour that arises owing to the particulate nature of the material. In DEM, even if simple numerical models are used to simulate the inter-particle contacts, and ideal, approximate, particle geometries are used, many of the mechanical response features associated with soil can be captured. Simplifying the particle shapes (e.g. using spheres) and adopting very basic models of the contact response reduces the computational cost of the simulation and thus allows systems involving relatively
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large numbers of particles to be analysed while still capturing the salient response characteristics of soil behaviour.
