<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>This paper deals with elementary geotechnical tests: triaxial and direct shear of cohesionless sand using the discrete element method (DEM). The capabilities of the numerical DEM code are shown, with a special focus on the early phenomena appearance in localization zones. The numerical tests were performed in 3D conditions with spherical grains. Contact moments law was introduced due to simulate not perfectly round sand grains. The influence of different physical parameters was studied, e.g. initial density or confining pressure. The sieve curve corresponded to the Karlsruhe sand [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="j_sgem-2020-0010_ref_001_w2aab3b7d176b1b6b1ab2b1b1Aa">1</xref>]; however, in some tests, it was linearly scaled. Special attention was laid on the behaviour of the sand grains inside localization, e.g. rotation, porosity, fluctuations, etc. and forces redistribution. Emphasis was given on the pre-failure regime and early localization predictors.</p></abstract>

This paper deals with elementary geotechnical tests: triaxial and direct shear of cohesionless sand using the discrete element method (DEM). The capabilities of the numerical DEM code are shown, with a special focus on the early phenomena appearance in localization zones. The numerical tests were performed in 3D conditions with spherical grains. Contact moments law was introduced due to simulate not perfectly round sand grains. The influence of different physical parameters was studied, e.g. initial density or confining pressure. The sieve curve corresponded to the Karlsruhe sand [1]; however, in some tests, it was linearly scaled. Special attention was laid on the behaviour of the sand grains inside localization, e.g. rotation, porosity, fluctuations, etc. and forces redistribution. Emphasis was given on the pre-failure regime and early localization predictors.

3D DEM simulations of basic geotechnical tests with early detection of shear localization

Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Studia Geotechnica et Mechanica

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

This paper deals with elementary geotechnical tests: triaxial and direct shear of cohesionless sand using the discrete element method (DEM). The capabilities...

3D DEM simulations of basic geotechnical tests with early detection of shear localization

Article Category: Original Study

Published Online: Dec 04, 2020

Page range: 48 - 64

Received: Jun 23, 2020

Accepted: Oct 16, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/sgem-2020-0010

Keywords
direct shear, granular material, discrete element method, localization, grain level

© 2021 Aleksander Grabowski et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

3D DEM simulations of basic geotechnical tests with early detection of shear localization

Article Category: Original Study

Published Online: Dec 04, 2020

Page range: 48 - 64

Received: Jun 23, 2020

Accepted: Oct 16, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/sgem-2020-0010

Keywordsdirect shear, granular material, discrete element method, localization, grain level

© 2021 Aleksander Grabowski et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
direct shear, granular material, discrete element method, localization, grain level