Analysis of soil‐structural interface behavior using three‐dimensional DEM simulations

The shear behavior at the interface between the soil and a structure is investigated at the macroscale and particle‐scale levels using a 3‐dimensional discrete element method (DEM). The macroscopic mechanical properties and microscopic quantities affected by the normalized interface roughness and the loading parameters are analyzed. The macro‐response shows that the shear strength of the interface increases as the normalized roughness of the interface increases, and stress softening and dilatancy of the soil material are observed in the tests that feature rough interfaces. The particle‐scale analysis illustrates that a localized band characterized by intense shear deformation emerges from the contact plane and gradually expands as shearing progresses before stabilizing at the residual stress state. The thickness of the localized band is affected by the normalized roughness of the interface and the normal stress, which ranges between 4 and 5 times that of the median grain diameter. A thicker localized band is formed when the soil has a rough shearing interface. After the localized band appears, the granular material structuralizes into 2 regions: the interface zone and the upper zone. The mechanical behavior in the interface zone is representative of the interface according to the local average stress analysis. Certain microscopic quantities in the interface zone are analyzed, including the coordination number and the material fabric. Shear at the interface creates an anisotropic material fabric and leads to the rotation of the major principal stress.     

Discrete element modelling of material non‐coaxiality in simple shear flows

We investigate the quasi‐static simple shear flow of a two‐dimensional assembly of cohesionless particles using discrete element method (DEM) simulations. We focus on the unsteady flow regime where the solid would experience significant evolution of stresses, mobilised shear strength and dilation. We construct the DEM model using a discretised‐wall confined granular cell where the apparent boundary is allowed to dilate or contract synchronously with the confined solid. A rather uniform simple shear field is achieved across the whole assembly, which benefits rheological studies in generalising constitutive laws for continuum methods. We examine two aspects of the simple shear behaviour: macroscopic stress and strain rate evolution, particularly the non‐coaxiality between the principal directions of the two; and micromechanics such as evolution of fabric. For an initially anisotropic specimen sheared under constant normal pressure, the direction of principal stress rotates towards that of the principal strain rate, gradually reducing the degree of non‐coaxiality from about 45° to fluctuating around 0°. The rate in approaching coaxiality is slower in samples with larger initial porosity, stress ratio and mean stress. Generally, a faster rate in approaching coaxiality in simple shear is observed in a more dilatant sample, which often shows a larger degree of mobilised fabric anisotropy, suggesting the possible important role of instantaneous internal friction angle. The evolution of principal fabric direction resembles that of the principal stress direction. © 2013 The Authors. International Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

初始静剪应力对粗粒土与结构接触面循环力学特性的影响

运用80 t大型三维接触面试验机,对初始静剪应力存在时粗粒土与结构接触面循环力学特性及初始静剪应力大小的影响进行了研究。循环剪切时,接触面沿初始静剪应力方向产生了明显的切向位移,且该位移与正交切向的剪切路程基本呈直线关系,该直线与初始静剪应力的夹角和初始静剪应力水平关系可用二次多项式描述。初始静剪应力大小对接触面抗剪强度、正交切向应力-应变关系形式影响较小,主要影响正交切向应力峰值、接触面剪切体变数值及剪切体变与切向位移关系等。初始静剪应力越大,该方向产生的切向位移越大,其正交切向应力峰值越小,该应力峰值对应的切向位移亦越小,接触面剪切硬化程度越高;初始剪切时接触面剪胀量越大,而后期循环剪切时剪缩量和剪胀量则越小。     

砂与粘土接触界面的力学特性试验

利用DSJ-2型电动四联等应变直剪仪分别进行了不同粒径砂和粘土(方案1)、不同含水量砂和粘土(方案2)的直剪试验,揭示了其接触面的力学特性。试验结果表明:法向应力(σ_n)、砂粒径大小、砂含水量对接触面的力学特性有着重要的影响。方案1和方案2接触面的抗剪强度和达到剪切应力峰值时的剪切位移随着法向应力的增大而增大,当σ_n为100 kPa时,粘土和不同粒径砂的接触面剪切应力和水平剪切位移(τ-δ)关系曲线呈现应变软化现象;方案1接触面抗剪强度随砂粒径的减小而降低,方案2在σ_n为100 kPa时,接触面抗剪强度随砂含水量增加而降低,σ_n>100 kPa时,接触面抗剪强度随砂含水量增加先降低后变大;方案2在低法向应力下,接触面抗剪强度对应的含水量敏感区间为[10%,15%],且较明显。     

Pore‐scale modeling of fluid‐particles interaction and emerging poromechanical effects

A micro‐hydromechanical model for granular materials is presented. It combines the discrete element method for the modeling of the solid phase and a pore‐scale finite volume formulation for the flow of an incompressible pore fluid. The coupling equations are derived and contrasted against the equations of conventional poroelasticity. An analogy is found between the discrete element method pore‐scale finite volume coupling and Biot's theory in the limit case of incompressible phases. The simulation of an oedometer test validates the coupling scheme and demonstrates the ability of the model to capture strong poromechanical effects. A detailed analysis of microscale strain and stress confirms the analogy with poroelasticity. An immersed deposition problem is finally simulated and shows the potential of the method to handle phase transitions. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Discrete element method analysis of non‐coaxial flow under rotational shear

This study focuses on non‐coaxial flow behavior of cohesionless soil undergoing cyclic rotational shear, with a special interest in the effects of particle‐scale characteristics. To this end, we perform a series of 2D discrete element simulations with various particle shapes, inter‐particle coefficient of friction, initial density, and stress ratios. The validity and efficacy of the numerical model is established by systematically comparing numerical simulation results with existing laboratory testing results. Such comparison shows that the numerical simulations are capable of capturing mechanical behavior observed in laboratory testing under rotational shear. We further demonstrate and quantify a strong yet simple relationship between the deviatoric part of the normalized strain increment and the non‐coaxial angle, denoted by and ψ, respectively. This quantitative correlation between ψ and is independent of applied stress ratio, initial and current void ratio, and the number of cycles applied, but dependent on the principal stress orientation and particle‐scale characteristics. At the same , specimens with higher inter‐particle friction angle or smaller particle aspect ratio show greater non‐coaxial angles. A simple model is able to fit this ψ‐ relationship well, which provides a useful relationship that can be exploited in developing constitutive models for rotational shearing. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of periodic fluctuations of micro‐polar boundary conditions on shear localizations in granular soil–structure interaction

In this work, the interface behavior between an infinite extended narrow granular layer and a rough surface of rigid body is investigated numerically, using finite element method in the updated Lagrangian (UL) frame. In this regard, the elasto‐plastic micro‐polar (Cosserat) continuum approach is employed to remove the limitations caused by strain‐softening of materials in the classical continuum. The mechanical properties of cohesionless granular soil are described with Lade's model enhanced by polar terms, including Cosserat rotations, curvatures, and couple stresses. Furthermore, the mean grain diameter as the internal length is incorporated into the constitutive relations accordingly. Here, the evolution and location of shear band, within the granular layer in contact with the rigid body, are mainly focused. In this regard, particular attention is paid to the effects of homogeneous distribution and periodic fluctuation of micro‐polar boundary conditions, prescribed along the interface. Correspondingly, the effects of pressure level, mean grain diameter, and stratified soil are also considered. The finite element results demonstrate that the location and evolution of shear band in the granular soil layer are strongly affected by the non‐uniform micro‐polar boundary conditions, prescribed along the interface. It is found that the shear band is located closer to the boundary with less restriction of grain rotations. Furthermore, the predicted thickness of shear band is larger for higher rotation resistance of soil grains along the interface, larger mean grain diameter, and higher vertical pressure. Regarding the stratified soil, comprising a thin layer with slightly different initial void ratio, the shear band moves towards the layer with initially higher void ratio. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Extended CFD–DEM for free‐surface flow with multi‐size granules

Computational fluid dynamics and discrete element method (CFD–DEM) is extended with the volume of fluid (VOF) method to model free‐surface flows. The fluid is described on coarse CFD grids by solving locally averaged Navier–Stokes equations, and particles are modelled individually in DEM. Fluid–particle interactions are achieved by exchanging information between DEM and CFD. An advection equation is applied to solve the phase fraction of liquid, in the spirit of VOF, to capture the dynamics of free fluid surface. It also allows inter‐phase volume replacements between the fluid and solid particles. Further, as the size ratio (SR) of fluid cell to particle diameter is limited (i.e. no less than 4) in coarse‐grid CFD–DEM, a porous sphere method is adopted to permit a wider range of particle size without sacrificing the resolution of fluid grids. It makes use of more fluid cells to calculate local porosities. The developed solver (cfdemSolverVOF) is validated in different cases. A dam break case validates the CFD‐component and VOF‐component. Particle sedimentation tests validate the CFD–DEM interaction at various Reynolds numbers. Water‐level rising tests validate the volume exchange among phases. The porous sphere model is validated in both static and dynamic situations. Sensitivity analyses show that the SR can be reduced to 1 using the porous sphere approach, with the accuracy of analyses maintained. This allows more details of the fluid phase to be revealed in the analyses and enhances the applicability of the proposed model to geotechnical problems, where a highly dynamic fluid velocity and a wide range of particle sizes are encountered. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A unified CFD‐DEM approach for modeling of debris flow impacts on flexible barriers

This paper presents a unified modeling framework to investigate the impacts of debris flow on flexible barriers, based on coupled computational fluid dynamics and discrete element method (CFD‐DEM). We consider a debris flow as a mixture of fluid and particles where the fluid and particle phases are modeled by the CFD and the DEM, respectively. The fluid‐particle coupling is considered by the exchange of interaction forces between CFD and DEM calculations. The flexible barrier is simulated by the DEM as a network of bonded particles with remote interactions. The proposed coupled CFD‐DEM approach enables us to conveniently handle the complicated three‐way interactions among the fluid, the particles, and the flexible barrier structure for debris flow impact simulations. The proposed approach is first used to investigate the influences of channel inclination and the volumetric solid fraction in a debris mixture on the impact force, the resultant deformation, and the retained mass in a flexible barrier. The predictions agree well with existing experimental and numerical studies. We further examine the possible failure modes of a flexible barrier under debris flow impact and their underlying mechanisms. The performance of different components in a flexible barrier system, including single wires, double twists and cables, and their load sharing mechanisms, are carefully evaluated. The proposed unified framework offers a novel, promising pathway towards physically based, quantitative analysis and design of flexible barriers for debris flow mitigation.     

桩-土界面特性对砂土地基中抗拔桩承载特性影响的模型试验研究

针对砂土地基中不同L/d的抗拔桩进行了模型试验,模型桩采用了3种不同界面,结合界面剪切试验探讨了桩-土界面特性对抗拔桩荷载-位移曲线、极限承载力及残余承载力的影响,得到了以下几点结论：模型桩长径比L/d不同时,每种界面抗拔桩荷载-位移曲线是类似的,光滑钢桩上拔力达极限承载力后保持不变,粗糙界面模型桩上拔力达极限承载力后降低,直至达残余承载力;抗拔桩达极限承载力时的静止土压力系数K受桩-土界面粗糙程度的影响,界面越粗糙,K值越大;界面越粗糙,抗拔桩残余承载力与极限承载力的比值越小,该比值随L/d的变化较小;对于粗糙界面抗拔桩,残余承载力与极限承载力的差别一部分是由于桩-土界面摩擦角的降低引起的,另一部分是抗拔桩达到极限承载力后作用在桩表面上的水平土压力降低引起的。     

Channelized debris‐flow deposits and their impact on turbidity currents: The Puchkirchen axial channel belt in the Austrian Molasse Basin

Deposits of submarine debris flows can build up substantial topography on the sea floor. The resulting sea floor morphology can strongly influence the pathways of and deposition from subsequent turbidity currents. Map views of sea floor morphology are available for parts of the modern sea floor and from high‐resolution seismic‐reflection data. However, these data sets usually lack lithological information. In contrast, outcrops provide cross‐sectional and lateral stratigraphic details of deep‐water strata with superb lithological control but provide little information on sea floor morphology. Here, a methodology is presented that extracts fundamental lithological information from sediment core and well logs with a novel calibration between core, well‐logs and seismic attributes within a large submarine axial channel belt in the Tertiary Molasse foreland basin, Austria. This channel belt was the course of multiple debris‐flow and turbidity current events, and the fill consists of interbedded layers deposited by both of these processes. Using the core‐well‐seismic calibration, three‐dimensional lithofacies proportion volumes were created. These volumes enable the interpretation of the three‐dimensional distribution of the important lithofacies and thus the investigation of sea floor morphology produced by debris‐flow events and its impact on succeeding turbidite deposition. These results show that the distribution of debris‐flow deposits follows a relatively regular pattern of levées and lobes. When subsequent high‐density turbidity currents encountered this mounded debris‐flow topography, they slowed and deposited a portion of their sandy high‐density loads just upstream of morphological highs. Understanding the depositional patterns of debris flows is key to understanding and predicting the location and character of associated sandstone accumulations. This detailed model of the filling style and the resulting stratigraphic architecture of a debris‐flow dominated deep‐marine depositional system can be used as an analogue for similar modern and ancient systems.     

Coupled HM analysis using zero‐thickness interface elements with double nodes—Part II: Verification and application

In a companion Part I of this paper (Int. J. Numer. Anal. Meth. Geomech. 2008; DOI: 10.1002/nag.735 ), a coupled hydro‐mechanical (HM) formulation for geomaterials with discontinuities based on the finite element method (FEM) with double‐node, zero‐thickness interface elements was developed and presented. This Part II paper includes the numerical solution of basic practical problems using both the staggered and the fully coupled approaches. A first group of simulations, based on the classical consolidation problem with an added vertical discontinuity, is used to compare both the approaches in terms of accuracy and convergence. The monolithic or fully coupled scheme is also used in an application example studying the influence of a horizontal joint in the performance of a reservoir subject to fluid extraction. Results include a comparison with other numerical solutions from the literature and a sensitivity analysis of the mechanical parameters of the discontinuity. Some simulations are also run using both a full non‐symmetric and a simplified symmetric Jacobian matrix. On top of verifying the model developed and its capability to reflect the conductivity changes of the interface with aperture changes, the results presented also lead to interesting observations of the numerical performance of the methods implemented. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A coupled 3‐dimensional bonded discrete element and lattice Boltzmann method for fluid‐solid coupling in cohesive geomaterials

This paper presents a 3D bonded discrete element and lattice Boltzmann method for resolving the fluid‐solid interaction involving complicated fluid‐particle coupling in geomaterials. In the coupled technique, the solid material is treated as an assembly of bonded and/or granular particles. A bond model accounting for strain softening in normal contact is incorporated into the discrete element method to simulate the mechanical behaviour of geomaterials, whilst the fluid flow is solved by the lattice Boltzmann method based on kinetic theory and statistical mechanics. To provide a bridge between theory and application, a 3D algorithm of immersed moving boundary scheme was proposed for resolving fluid‐particle interaction. To demonstrate the applicability and accuracy of this coupled method, a benchmark called quicksand, in which particles become fluidised under the driving of upward fluid flow, is first carried out. The critical hydraulic gradient obtained from the numerical results matches the theoretical value. Then, numerical investigation of the performance of granular filters generated according to the well‐acknowledged design criteria is given. It is found that the proposed 3D technique is promising, and the instantaneous migration of the protected soils can be readily observed. Numerical results prove that the filters which comply with the design criteria can effectively alleviate or eliminate the appearance of particle erosion in dams.     

Numerical modeling of combined effects of upward and downward propagation of shear bands on stability of slopes with sensitive clay

Modeling of progressive development of zones of large inelastic shear deformation (shear band) that results from strain‐softening behavior of sensitive clays could explain the failure mechanisms of large landslides. Because of toe erosion, a shear band can be initiated and propagated upward (inward) from the river bank. On the other hand, upslope surcharge loading could generate shear bands that might propagate down towards the river bank. In the present study, upward and downward propagation of shear bands and failure of sensitive clay slopes are modeled using the Coupled Eulerian Lagrangian approach in Abaqus finite element (FE) software. It is shown that the formation and propagation of shear bands are significantly influenced by kinematic constraints that change with displacements of the soil masses, and therefore the propagation of an existing shear band might be stopped and new shear bands could be formed. The main advantages of the present FE modeling are: (i) extremely large strains in the shear bands can be successfully simulated without numerical issues, (ii) a priori definition of shearing zones is not required to tackle severe strains; instead, the FE program automatically identifies the critical locations for shear band formation and propagation. Toe erosion could significantly increase the slope failure potential because of upslope surcharge loading. FE analyses with a thick and thin sensitive clay layers show that the global failure could occur at lower surcharge loads in the former as compared to the latter cases. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effect of meso‐structure on strength and size effect in concrete under tension

The effect of heterogeneity in meso level geometric and material properties on tensile strength and size effect in split cylinder specimens is investigated. Critical meso geometric parameters are identified by studying their influence on the evolution of the fracture process zone. A statistical analysis is used to account for dependencies between the parameters. A reversal of the size effect, important for the strength of field specimens, is observed for certain meso geometries. Meso level explanations for this are proposed, and meso geometries likely to show such a reversal are identified. For moderately sized specimens, major trends in the size effect are seen to be almost entirely explained by heterogeneity in the meso geometry.     

Investigation of influence of particle characteristics on the non‐coaxiality of anisotropic granular materials using DEM

As a result of deposition process and particle characteristics, granular materials can be inherently anisotropic. Many researchers have strongly suggested that the inherent anisotropy is the main reason for the deformation non‐coaxiality of granular materials. However, their relationships are not unanimous because of the limited understanding of the non‐coaxial micro‐mechanism. In this study, we investigated the influence of inherent anisotropy on the non‐coaxial angle using the discrete element method. Firstly, we developed a new discrete element method approach using rough elliptic particles and proposed a novel method to produce anisotropic specimens. Secondly, the effects of initial specimen density and particle characteristics, such as particle aspect ratio A _m, rolling resistance coefficient β , and bedding plane orientation δ , were examined by a series of biaxial tests and rotational principal axes tests. Findings from the numerical simulations are summarized as follows: (1) the peak internal friction angle ? _p and the non‐coaxial angle i both increase with the initial density, A _m and β , and they both increase initially and then decrease with δ in the range of 0–90°; (2) among the particle characteristics, the influence of A _m is the most significant; and (3) for anisotropic specimens, the non‐coaxial angle can be calculated using the double slip and rotation rate model. Then, an empirical formula was proposed based on the simulation results to depict the relationship between the non‐coaxial angle and the particle characteristics. Finally, the particle‐scale mechanism of non‐coaxiality for granular materials was discussed from the perspective of energy dissipation. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A numerical study of particle motion and two‐phase interaction in aeolian sand transport using a coupled large eddy simulation – discrete element method

Wind‐blown sand movement, considered as a particle‐laden two‐phase flow, was simulated by a new numerical code developed in the present study. The discrete element method was employed to model the contact force between sand particles. Large eddy simulation was used to solve the turbulent atmospheric boundary layer. Motions of sand particles were traced in the Lagrangian frame. Within the near‐surface region of the atmospheric boundary layer, interparticle collisions will significantly alter the velocity of sand. The sand phase is quite dense in this region, and its feedback force on fluid motion cannot be ignored. By considering the interparticle collision and two‐phase interaction, four‐way coupling was achieved in the numerical code. Profiles of sand velocity from the simulations were in good agreement with experimental measurements. The mass flux shows an exponential decay and is comparable to reported experimental and field measurements. The turbulence intensities and shear stress of sand particles were estimated from particle root‐mean‐square velocities. Distributions of slip velocity and feedback force were analysed to reveal the interactions between sand particles and the continuous fluid phase.     

Effects of non‐uniform traction and specimen height in the direct shear test on stress and deformation in a rock fracture

In the direct shear test (DST), an internal moment is distributed within the rock specimen by non‐coaxial shear loads applied to the specimen, which cause non‐uniform distributions of both the traction on the loading planes and the stress and deformation in the specimen. To examine the validity of the DST for a rock fracture and to clarify the effect of specimen height, both the stress and deformation in a fracture in the DST were analyzed for specimens with three different heights using a three‐dimensional finite element method with quadratic joint elements for a fracture model. The constitutive law of the fracture considers the dependence of the non‐linear behavior of closure on shear displacement and that of shear stiffness on normal stress and was implemented in simulation code to give a conceptional fracture with uniform mechanical properties to extract only the effect of non‐uniform traction on the stress and deformation in the fracture. The results showed that both normal and shear stresses are concentrated near the end edges of the fracture, and these stress concentrations decrease with a decrease in the specimen height according to the magnitude of the moment produced by the non‐coaxial shear loads. Furthermore, although closure is greater near the end edges of the fracture, where normal stress is concentrated, this concentration of closure is not so significant within the range of this study because of the non‐linear behavior of closure, that is, closure does not significantly increase with an increase in normal stress at large normal stresses. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.