Granular Matter

, Volume 17, Issue 6, pp 793–806 | Cite as

Discrete element simulations of direct shear tests with particle angularity effect

Original Paper
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Abstract

This paper investigated the effect of the particle angularity in light of its importance in angular particle assemblies, using the discrete element method (DEM). A discrete element model with a general contact force law for arbitrarily shaped particles was developed, in which angular particles were modeled using convex polyhedra. Quasi-spherical polyhedral shapes with different vertexes were adopted to reflect the change of angularity. Four categories of assemblies with different angularities were generated. A series of direct shear tests performed on these assemblies were simulated at different vertical stresses. All numerical implementations were achieved using a modified version of the open source DEM code YADE. It was found that the macroscopic shear strength and dilatancy characteristics are in agreement with experimental and numerical results in the literature, indicating that the present numerical model is reasonable. Besides, the evolutions of coordination number, normal contact force distribution, and anisotropies of particle orientation and contact normal were investigated. The results show that the angularity plays a vital role in strengthening the interlocking of angular particles.

Keywords

Discrete elements Direct shear tests Polyhedral particles Micromechanics Angularity Anisotropy 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

The authors appreciate the funding support provided by State Key Lab of Subtropical Building Science, South China University of Technology (Grant No. 2014ZA03), and Power Construction Corporation of China (Grant No. SD2013-10). The authors also thank the anonymous reviewers whose comments significantly improved the manuscript.

Compliance with ethical standards

Disclosures

The authors have participated sufficiently in this work without any conflict of interest, which is approved by South China University of Technology. The authors also certify to take public responsibility for the originality and appropriateness of the work. All authors have checked the manuscript and have agreed to the submission.

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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.School of Civil Engineering and TransportationSouth China University of TechnologyGuangzhouChina
  2. 2.State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Building ScienceSouth China University of TechnologyGuangzhouChina
  3. 3.POWERCHINA Huadong Engineering Corporation LimitedHangzhouChina

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