A numerical representation of fracturing granular materials

✍ Scribed by Robertson, D.; Bolton, M. D.; McDowell, G. R.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 272 KB
• Volume: 21
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0363-9061
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1096-9853(199712)21:12<825::aid-nag903>3.0.co;2-f

✦ Synopsis

This paper describes the computer algorithms used in a numerical simulation of the compression of an aggregate of crushable grains. It has been used in a model for the evolution of a granular medium under one-dimensional compression, in which the probability of fracture for individual particles is a function of applied stress, particle-size and co-ordination number. The information relating to the particles is represented in a compact way on the computer which allows the number of particles produced to become sufficiently large for satisfactory comparisons to be made with experimental data and which allows information, such as the positions and sizes of the particles, to be easily extracted. An algorithm based on the representation is used to locate neighbouring particles in a way which does not deteriorate unacceptably in terms of speed as the number of particles increases.