ABSTRACT
Metallic cortical wire meshes are extensively used to protect slopes and infrastructures in mountain regions. These structures are constituted by periodic patterns of steel wires and have a ductile non-linear behaviour. The installed mesh panels generally experience non-trivial boundary conditions which combined with their high deformability and the chance of local ruptures make these structures difficult to be modelled as a continuum. The Discrete Element Method (DEM) is particularly well suited for modelling the soil-mesh interaction problem, taking advantage of its potentials in handling large deformation, contact-detachment and interlocking between particles and the mesh. The mesh is modelled with two approaches and a puncture test on a single mesh panel is used for calibration. After that a simplified soil-mesh problem with a single mesh panel is considered and compared with the results of a punch-mesh problem. The force-displacement behaviour experienced by anchors and edges of the panels are also discussed.
