Simulation of granular material behaviour using DEM

The mechanical response of cohesionless granular materials under monotonic loading has been investigated using a three-dimensional numerical simulation of a standard plane-strain compression test. This paper studies the influence of micro-properties of granular material on the macroscopic stress-strain behaviour observed in the numerical simulation with the discrete element method (DEM). The numerical simulation results are compared with laboratory test on Toyoura sand using model particles of different shapes and sizes with a similar relative particle size distribution. The simulations show that particle properties have a great effect on the soil stress-strain behaviour. The shear strength and friction angle of the sample increase when the particle friction coefficient increases. As the particles become less rotund, the sample shows higher shear strength due to interlocking.