A New Method for the Generation of Polydisperse DEM Specimens

Conference paper
Part of the Springer Proceedings in Physics book series (SPPHY, volume 188)

Abstract

The mechanical properties of granular materials are closely related to their gradations. In the DEM simulation of granular materials, it is very important to generate a specimen with a reasonable gradation. In this study, a DEM specimen generation method that can take a predefined gradation into account is proposed. The proposed method is based on the probability density function (PDF) and can be easily programmed. The principle and the numerical procedures of the method are firstly presented. Then, it is used to generate a DEM specimen with the gradation of a real coarse material, which is compared with the one generated by a conventional method. The local polydispersity of the DEM specimens generated by the two different methods and their conformity with the real gradation are discussed. The results demonstrate that the grading curve of the specimen generated with the proposed method is more continuous and smooth, and will converge to the target gradation curve when the number of the generated particles increases.

Keywords

Probability Density Function Granular Material Gradation Curve Granular Packing Probability Density Function Method 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

References

  1. 1.
    Cundall, P.A., Strack, O.D.: A discrete numerical model for granular assemblies. Geotechnique 29(1), 47–65 (1979)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. 2.
    Voivret, C., Radjai, F., Delenne, J.Y., El Youssoufi, M.S.: Multiscale force networks in highly polydisperse granular media. Phys. Rev. Lett. 102(17), 178001 (2009)ADSCrossRefMATHGoogle Scholar
  3. 3.
    Medeah, M.S., Salim, Z., Sa, B.: Effect of content and particle size distribution of coarse aggregate on the compressive strength of concrete. Construction and Building Masteries (2009)Google Scholar
  4. 4.
    Minh, N.H., Cheng, Y.P.: A DEM investigation of the effect of particle-size distribution on one-dimensional compression. Géotechnique 63(1), 44 (2013)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  5. 5.
    Wiącek, J., Molenda, M.: Effect of particle size distribution on micro- and macro-mechanical response of granular packings under compression. Int. J. Solids Struct. 51(25), 4189–4195 (2014)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  6. 6.
    Vallejo, L.E., Mawby, R.: Porosity influence on the shear strength of granular material–clay mixtures. Eng. Geol. 58(2), 125–136 (2000)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  7. 7.
    Kenney, T.C., Lau, D., Ofoegbu, G.I.: Permeability of compacted granular materials. Can. Geotech. J. 21(4), 726–729 (1984)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  8. 8.
    Cheng, Y.F., Guo, S.J., Lai, H.Y.: Dynamic simulation of random packing of spherical particles. Powder Technol. 107(1), 123–130 (2000)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  9. 9.
    Madadi, M., Tsoungui, O., Lätzel, M., Luding, S.: On the fabric tensor of polydisperse granular materials in 2D. Int. J. Solids Struct. 41(9), 2563–2580 (2004)CrossRefMATHGoogle Scholar
  10. 10.
    Jiang, M.J., Konrad, J.M., Leroueil, S.: An efficient technique for generating homogeneous specimens for DEM studies. Comput. Geotech. 30(7), 579–597 (2003)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  11. 11.
    Katsuki, S., Ishikawa, N., Ohira, Y., Suzuki, H.: Shear strength of rod material. J. Civ. Eng. 410(8), 1–12 (1989). (In Japanese)Google Scholar
  12. 12.
    Evans, J.W.: Random and cooperative sequential adsorption. Rev. Mod. Phys. 65(4), 1281 (1993)ADSCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  13. 13.
    Devroye, L.: Sample-based non-uniform random variate generation. In: Proceedings of the 18th Conference on Winter Simulation, pp. 260–265. ACM (1986)Google Scholar
  14. 14.
    Fu, Z., Liu, S., Li, Z.: Discrete element simulations of two wetting effects on granular materials. Chin. Sci. Bull. 56(35), 3803–3811 (2011)CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Hohai UniversityNanjingChina

Personalised recommendations