ABSTRACT
In the fields of civil and geotechnical engineering, the construction techniques are getting more and more sophisticated and often include composite systems. Particularly, many reinforcement techniques associate a granular matrix (soil, concrete) with linear or planar inclusions (geosynthetics, fibers, concrete piles, and steel rods). Modeling the mechanical behavior of such systems is generally complex since the geometry and governing mechanisms are strongly discontinuous. Traditional finite element methods, rooted in the concepts of continuum mechanics, may be unsuited in such cases (Villard et al. 2002). At the same time, significant advances in discrete modeling methods offer some opportunities for the numerical simulation of different types of composite systems (Mohammadi et al. 1998; Hentz et al. 2003). Those methods can be used
Dynamic spar element
Discrete element (disc)
to simulate soil-inclusion systems with respect to their discontinuous nature.
