Numerical simulation of reinforced granular soils using DEM

Authors

Jayan S. Vinod, University of WollongongFollow
Sharat Nagaraja, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
T. G. Sitharam, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
S. V. Dinesh, Siddaganga Institute of Technology, Tumkur

RIS ID

44851

Publication Details

Vinod, J. S., Nagaraja, S., Sitharam, T. G. & Dinesh, S. V. (2011). Numerical simulation of reinforced granular soils using DEM. Geo-Frontiers 2011: Advances in Geotechnical Engineering (pp. 4242-4251). Reston, Virginia, United States: American Society of Civil Engineers.

Abstract

This paper explores the potential of Discrete Element Simulation (DEM) to model the behavior of reinforced granular soils. Biaxial element test were carried out on these assembles with and with out horizontal reinforcement layers to understand the behavior of reinforced granular soils from grain scale level. Numerical simulations were carried out using PFC^2D with assemblies of 1800 uni sized circular particles of size 0.1 mm. In the current investigation, reinforcing element was modeled by a chain of circular particles by assigning contact bond between particles horizontally at all predetermined contact locations. Influence of parameters such as number of reinforcement layer, thickness and packing geometry on the behavior of reinforced granular materials were studied and reported.