基于B-DEM的颗粒聚合体应力计算和破碎路径模拟

结合边界元法和离散元法,提出一种可以进行计算颗粒内部应力和破碎路径的方法。该方法利用离散元法求解颗粒的相互作用和每个颗粒上的荷载。然后利用边界元法计算颗粒的应力分布,为了实现动态平衡,将颗粒的加速度视为恒定大小的体力。但体力导致边界积分方程中出现域积分,故采用直线积分法将域积分转化为边界积分,以保证边界元法降维的优势。为了提高边界元的计算效率,对于几何形状相似的颗粒,以其中一个颗粒作为模板颗粒,只需要计算模板颗粒在局部坐标系中的系数矩阵,其他相似颗粒可以通过局部和全局坐标系之间的映射获得。在得到应力后,基于Hoek-Brown准则来判断颗粒是否破碎。此外,将破坏路径简化为直线,并采用最小二乘法拟合得到破坏路径。     

Three-dimensional random network model for thermal conductivity in particulate materials

This paper describes a three-dimensional random network model to evaluate the thermal conductivity of particulate materials. The model is applied to numerical assemblies of poly-dispersed spheres generated using the discrete element method (DEM). The grain size distribution of Ottawa 20–30 sand is modeled using a logistic function in the DEM assemblies to closely reproduce the gradation of physical specimens. The packing density and inter-particle contact areas controlled by confining stress are explored as variables to underscore the effects of micro- and macro-scales on the effective thermal conductivity in particulate materials. It is assumed that skeletal structure of 3D granular system consists of the web of particle bodies interconnected by thermal resistor at contacts. The inter-particle contact condition (e.g., the degree of particle separation or overlap) and the particle radii determine the thermal conductance between adjacent particles. The Gauss–Seidel method allows evaluation of the evolution of temperature variation in the linear system. Laboratory measurements of thermal conductivity of Ottawa 20–30 sand corroborate the calculated results using the proposed network model. The model is extended to explore the evolution of thermal conduction depending on the nucleation habits of secondary solid phase as an anomalous material in the pore space. The proposed network model highlights that the coordination number, packing density and the inter-particle contact condition are integrated together to dominate the heat transfer characteristics in particulate materials, and allows fundamental understanding of particle-scale mechanism in macro-scale manifestation.     

粗粒料多边形表征及二维FEM/DEM分析

考虑到颗粒形状对粗粒料的力学特性有重大影响,提出了一种新的表征颗粒形状的方法,即在椭圆上随机选取一系列点连接成多边形颗粒,表征狭长扁平的颗粒。新方法较圆上取点的方法能代表更多类型的颗粒形状,适用范围更广。提出了一种新的粗粒料投放算法,即先缩小颗粒,然采用随机算法将缩小的颗粒投放至给定区域,对颗粒划分好网格后,将颗粒放大到原来的大小,然后采用有限元-离散元(FEM/DEM)方法计算稳定后即生成了相应的试样。通过将上述颗粒生成及投放算法与FEM/DEM结合,应用于粗粒料的数值模拟。分析表明,FEM/DEM是研究粗粒料力学性质的较好方法,对复杂的颗粒形状也可简单建模,且因在颗粒内部划分了有限元网格,复杂的接触判断及接触力计算转化为标准统一的三角形和三角形之间的接触判断及接触力计算,所有的计算均可标准化、统一化。同时因为颗粒是可以变形的,依然保留了连续介质力学中应力和应变的概念,无须像PFC那样需通过测量圆来间接表示某点的应力、应变。最后,通过粗粒料的侧限压缩试验的数值模拟,展现了文中提出的一整套解决方案在模拟粗粒料方面的巨大潜力。     

Study on the particle breakage of ballast based on a GPU accelerated discrete element method

Breakage of particles will have greatly influence on mechanical behavior of granular material(GM)under external loads,such as ballast,rockfill and sand.The discrete element method(DEM)is one of the most popular methods for simulating GM as each particle is represented on its own.To study breakage mechanism of particle breakage,a cohesive contact mode is developed based on the GPU accelerated DEM code-Blaze-DEM.A database of the 3D geometry model of rock blocks is established based on the 3D scanning method.And an agglomerate describing the rock block with a series of non-overlapping spherical particles is used to build the DEM numerical model of a railway ballast sample,which is used to the DEM oedometric test to study the particles’breakage characteristics of the sample under external load.Furthermore,to obtain the meso-mechanical parameters used in DEM,a black-analysis method is used based on the laboratory tests of the rock sample.Based on the DEM numerical tests,the particle breakage process and mechanisms of the railway ballast are studied.All results show that the developed code can better used for large scale simulation of the particle breakage analysis of granular material.     

含细粒砂土反常剪切行为的数值模拟研究

针对含细颗粒砂土的反常剪切行为,开展了双轴剪切试验的数值模拟,从宏细观角度分析了其反常剪切行为发生的内在机制。数值模拟结果表明,增加围压能提高含细颗粒砂土的抗剪切液化能力,该反常行为的根本原因在于围压上升使得粗细颗粒更有效地参与了力链传递,增加了颗粒间的接触,增强了土体的密实度。细颗粒在土骨架中的移动对砂土的液化起着至关重要的作用,而粗颗粒仅起次要作用。研究表明,细颗粒在剪切过程中会持续从有效土骨架中移出成为无效颗粒,而部分粗颗粒也因失去细颗粒的支撑作用会脱离土骨架,直至试样最终液化。细颗粒一般参与土骨架中的弱力链,而粗颗粒则一般参与强力链,导致细颗粒较粗颗粒更容易在土骨架中移动。     

On the use of discrete element modelling to simulate the viscoelastic deformation behaviour of an idealized asphalt mixture

The use of discrete-element modelling (DEM) to simulate the behaviour of a highly idealized bituminous mixture under uniaxial and triaxial compressive creep tests is investigated in this paper. The idealized mixture comprises single-sized spherical particles (sand) mixed with bitumen and was chosen so that the packing characteristics are known and the behaviour of the mixture is dominated by the bitumen. The bitumen is represented as shear and normal (tensile and compressive) contact stiffnesses. Numerical sample preparation procedures for specimens containing spherical particles or clumps have been developed to ensure that the final specimen is isotropic and has the correct volumetric proportions. An elastic contact was used for the compressive normal contact stiffness and a viscoelastic contact was used for shear and tensile normal contact stiffness. Simulation results show that the idealized mixture is found to dilate when the ratio of compressive to tensile contact stiffness increases as a function of loading time. Uniaxial and triaxial viscoelastic simulations have been performed to investigate the effect of stress ratio on dilation and the numerical results have been verified with experimental data. The effects of introducing a proportion of frictional contacts and a more complex particle shape (clump) on dilation have been examined.     

一种有限元转化为颗粒离散元的方法及其应用研究

为了充分发挥有限元与颗粒离散元各自的优势,提出了一种由有限元转化为颗粒流的方法。数值模型首先用较粗的有限元网格进行离散,并在单元上引入连续介质本构模型。力学计算开始后,实时跟踪各单元的应力状态。一旦某单元的应力满足Mohr-Coulomb准则或最大拉应力准则,删除该单元,同时创建具有一定数目、随机分布且微嵌入的颗粒簇。其后,该单元所在区域的非连续变形及失稳断裂由颗粒簇演化获得。各颗粒的质量、材料参数、速度、位移、接触力等信息根据插值从有限元单元中继承。为了实现有限元与颗粒流接触面的耦合计算,引入了点-棱（二维）及点-面（三维）接触模型,通过法向及切向弹簧实现接触力的计算。颗粒球与有限元板的碰撞分析、单轴压缩、岩石切割等案例展示了上述方法的精确性及合理性。     

A lattice type model for particulate media

In this paper, a lattice-type model to simulate the micro-mechanical behaviour of particulate/granular media is presented. In this numerical model, a particulate assembly is simulated as a lattice/truss. Nodes located at contacts between a particle and its neighbours are linked by bars to each other. Each particle is represented by a lattice within its microstructure and particle interact through load transfer at the nodes. Constraints are prescribed at the nodes to describe active, deactivated and reactivated contacts. When a particulate assembly develops into a mechanism (deformation with zero incremental load), further deformation is simulated through a framework that describes the kinematics of the particles (sliding, rolling and rotation of particles). This framework is formed by introducing nodes at the particle centroids and linking them with bars. Bars-linking particles with a non-sliding contact are assigned large stiffnesses relative to bars linking particles with a sliding contact. Numerical tests are conducted on two-dimensional assemblies of disks, arranged as very loose and very dense packing under simple shear loading conditions. The results concord with the results of numerical tests conducted using the discrete element method and with photoelastic experiments. Additionally, the model is applied to study the effects of initial imperfections caused by particles with low elastic modulus. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

DEM simulation on soil creep and associated evolution of pore characteristics

In this study, numerical simulations using the discrete element method (DEM) were performed to examine the evolution of pore characteristics in dense and loose samples subjected to a biaxial creep test. Sliding creep between particle contacts was incorporated in the DEM simulations, which displayed similar creep behavior found in experiments. The irregularly shaped pore geometry in the soil packing was quantified with a best-fitting ellipse with the aid of the region-based method. It has been found that the initial density of soils and the deviatoric stress values under which creep starts determine unique evolution of pore space. In addition, the weak pore structures, elongated along the horizontal direction (or perpendicular to the axial loading), collapse first and ultimately only those stable pore structures, elongated along the vertical direction (or parallel to the axial loading direction), survive and then dominate the entire soil structures as creep proceeds. The pore characteristics at last become more uniform and homogenized throughout the sample, and a more stable particle arching elongated along the loading direction is gradually produced during creep.     

Simulations of realistic granular soils in oedometer tests using physics engine

Discrete element method (DEM) has become a preeminent numerical tool for investigating the mechanical behavior of granular soils. However, traditional DEM uses sphere clusters to approximate realistic particles, which is computationally demanding when simulating many particles. This paper demonstrates the potential of using a physics engine technique to simulate realistic particles. The physics engines are originally developed for video games for simulating physical and mechanical processes that occur in the real world to produce realistic game experiences. The simulation accuracy and efficiency of physics engines have been significantly improved in the last two decades allowing them to be used as a scientific tool in many disciplines. This paper introduces modeling methodologies of physics engine including realistic particle representation and the contact model. Then, oedometer tests are simulated using realistic particles scanned by X-ray computed tomography (X-ray CT). The simulation results agree well with experimental results. This paper demonstrates that physics engines can output contact parameters for geotechnical analysis and force chains for visualization.     

堆石料大三轴试验的细观模拟

采用三维颗粒流计算程序,对堆石料的大三轴排水剪切试验过程进行了数值模拟。在数值模型的生成过程中,使堆石料集合体达到规定密度和级配;采用动态松弛算法迭代求解,并引入粒间阻尼,以吸收颗粒填装的多余动能使其稳定;颗粒间引入黏结力来提高试样的峰值强度;确定堆石料的细观力学参数,拟合室内试验应力应变曲线。模拟不同围压下堆石料的试验,得到的应力-应变曲线与室内试验基本一致,说明颗粒流方法可以较好的模拟堆石料的大三轴试验过程。由于没有考虑颗粒形状及颗粒破碎的影响,造成大应变剪胀偏大。     

An efficient approach to generating DEM samples having coincident void ratios with actual sand

The ranges of initial void ratios that can be achieved for numerical samples with the same grading as actual sand under gravity are explored using three-dimensional discrete element method (DEM). A corrected compressible accumulation model is proposed to predict the packing density of sand. Compared with the measured results, the errors of the prediction results are small. For three-dimensional DEM samples, when the ratio of sample size to particle size L/R is equal to or larger than 30, the maximum and the minimum void ratios are minimally affected by the sample size L. The maximum void ratios and the minimum void ratios of numerical samples with spherical particles are much smaller than those of actual sands. The generation method for numerical samples with non-spherical particles is proposed based on the theory of CPM. The variations of void ratios of numerical samples with non-spherical particles are wider than actual sands. So it can meet all the need of DEM simulation on the void ratio of actual sand.     

Micromechanical investigation of the particle size effect on the shear strength of uncrushable granular materials

Particle size strongly influences the shear strength of granular materials. However, previous studies of the particle size effect have focused mainly on the macroscopic behavior of granular materials, neglecting the associated micro-mechanism. In this study, the effect of particle size on the shear strength of uncrushable granular materials in biaxial testing is investigated using the discrete element method (DEM). First, a comprehensive calibration against experimental results is conducted to obtain the DEM parameters for two types of quartz sand. Then, a series of biaxial tests are simulated on sands with parallel particle size distributions to investigate the effect of particle size on macro- and microscopic behaviors. Finally, by adopting the rolling resistance method and the clump method, irregular-shaped particles are simulated to investigate how the particle size effect will be influenced by the particle shape. Simulation results demonstrate that (1) the peak shear strength increases with particle size, whereas the residual shear strength is independent of particle size; (2) the thickness of the shear band increases with the particle size, but its ratio decreases with particle size; (3) the particle size effect can be explained by the increase of friction utilization ratio with particle size; and (4) the particle size effect is more significant in granular materials that consist of particles with higher angularity.

     

Validation of discrete element method by simulating a 2D assembly of randomly packed elliptical rods

This paper aims at establishing the predictive capability of the discrete element method (DEM) by validating the simulated responses of granular systems against experimental observations at both the macroscale and the microscale. A previously published biaxial shearing test on a 2D assembly of randomly packed elliptical rods was chosen as the benchmark test. In carrying out the corresponding DEM simulations herein, the contact model was derived and then validated using finite element analysis; the associated parameters were calibrated experimentally. The flexible (membrane) boundary was modeled by a bonded-particle string with experimentally calibrated parameters. An iteration procedure was implemented to replicate the initial packing and also to satisfy the boundary conditions in the experiment. Overall, the DEM simulation is found effective in reproducing the stress–strain–volumetric response, the statistical observation on the fabric anisotropy and the strain localization. Furthermore, the closer the numerical packing is to the experimental one, the closer the response is reproduced, demonstrating the significance of the initial packing reconstruction. Still, there are some minor differences between the experiment and simulation, reflecting the limitations associated with the particle number and the measurement resolution used in the experiment when reproducing the initial packing.     

A SPH framework for dynamic interaction between soil and rigid body system with hybrid contact method

A smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) framework for three-dimensional dynamic soil-multibody interaction modeling is presented, where both soils and rigid bodies are discretized using SPH particles. In the framework, soils are modeled using the Drucker-Prager model, while rigid bodies are considered with a multibody dynamics solver. A hybrid contact method suitable for three-dimensional simulations is developed to model the soil-body and body-body frictionless and frictional contacts, where contact forces are calculated based on ideal plastic collision and the unit normal/tangential vectors of the actual surface. Owing to its simplicity in contact detection and accuracy in contact force calculation, the hybrid contact method can be easily incorporated into SPH. Furthermore, graphics processing unit (GPU) parallelization is utilized to improve efficiency. The presented numerical framework and the hybrid contact method are validated using several examples. Numerical results are compared with analytical solutions and results from the literature. Furthermore, two three-dimensional simulations involving dynamic soil-multibody interaction are included to demonstrate the application.     

Microscopic contact model of lunar regolith for high efficiency discrete element analyses

The grains of lunar regolith are characterized with rough surfaces, angular shapes and mutual adhesions due to short-range interactions. These features control the macroscopic mechanical behavior of lunar regolith but have not been completely captured by contact models in previous Discrete Element Method (DEM) analyses. In this paper, a simplified two-dimensional microscopic contact model is proposed for high efficiency DEM analyses of lunar regolith. The model consists of three components in the normal, tangential and rolling directions respectively, plus two new parameters. A shape parameter is used to control the rolling resistance ability at the contact area between two particles to capture the features of grain shape and interlocking. The second parameter, micro-separation, which denotes the nominal minimum distance between the molecules of the two contacting particles, is introduced to account for van der Waals force as the major component of the short-range interactions that contribute to the adhesion of regolith grains in lunar environment conditions. The novel model has been implemented in a two-dimensional DEM code for numerical simulations of biaxial compression tests on lunar regolith. The effects of interparticle friction, grain shape, lunar environment conditions and void ratio on the strength of lunar regolith were numerically investigated. The results show that soils in the simulated lunar environment exhibit greater strength and more apparent strain-softening and shear dilatancy than on the Earth. The proposed model can capture the main features of the mechanical behavior of lunar regolith (apparent cohesion and high peak friction angle) and a wide range of strength indices can be obtained by the contact model.     

Meshless numerical modeling of brittle–viscous deformation: first results on boudinage and hydrofracturing using a coupling of discrete element method (DEM) and smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH)

We have developed a new approach for the numerical modeling of deformation processes combining brittle fracture and viscous flow. The new approach is based on the combination of two meshless particle-based methods: the discrete element method (DEM) for the brittle part of the model and smooth particle hydrodynamics (SPH) for the viscous part. Both methods are well established in their respective application domains. The two methods are coupled at the particle scale, with two different coupling mechanisms explored: one is where DEM particles act as virtual SPH particles and one where SPH particles are treated like DEM particles when interacting with other DEM particles. The suitability of the combined approach is demonstrated by applying it to two geological processes, boudinage, and hydrofracturing, which involve the coupled deformation of a brittle solid and a viscous fluid. Initial results for those applications show that the new approach has strong potential for the numerical modeling of coupled brittle–viscous deformation processes.     

各向异性结构性砂土离散元分析

天然沉积砂土力学特性受各向异性及结构性影响明显,实际工程中不能忽视。为探究二者的影响,首先在二维离散元程序NS2D中采用椭圆颗粒模拟了重力场中颗粒长轴主方向为水平的各向异性净砂样,随后基于结构性砂土胶结厚度分布规律及室内试验提出了一个新的微观胶结接触模型并将其引入各向异性净砂样以模拟天然各向异性结构性砂土,最后对该离散元试样进行了双轴试验模拟,将模拟结果与室内试验结果对比以验证该模型的适用性,并对其微观力学特性变化进行研 究。分析结果表明,随着剪切进行,各向异性结构性砂土呈明显应变软化及剪胀现象;胶结接触逐渐减少,且主方向始终为竖向方向;胶结破坏速率及胶结破坏率变化情况与宏观力学响应较一致,且胶结物多为拉剪破坏;土颗粒排列主方向始终为水平向,且水平向排列颗粒所占比例略微增大。     

Micromechanical analysis of the failure process of brittle rock

The failure process of brittle rock submitted to a compression state of stress with different confining pressures is investigated in this paper based on discrete element method (DEM) simulations. In the DEM model, the rock sample is represented by bonding rigid particles at their contact points. The numerical model is first calibrated by comparing the macroscopic response with the macroscopic response of Beishan granite obtained from laboratory tests. After the validation of numerical model in terms of macroscopic responses, the failure process of the DEM model under unconfined and confined compression is studied in micro‐scale in detail. The contact force network and its relation to the development of micro‐cracks and evolution of major fractures are studied. Confining pressure will prohibit the development of tensile cracks and hence alter the failure patterns. An in‐depth analysis of micro‐scale response is carried out, including the orientation distribution and probability density of stress acting on parallel bonds, the effect of particle size heterogeneity on bond breakage and the evolution of fabric tensor and coordination number of parallel bond. The proposed micromechanical analysis will allow us to extract innovative features emerged from the stresses and crack evolution in brittle rock failure process. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.