Study the particle size impact on the mechanical behaviour of granular material by discrete element method

Abstract

Granular materials are used in various industries, including pharmaceutical and agriculture, where the material properties of elements have an important impact on their flow behavior. Numerical codes based on the Discrete Element Method (DEM) are decisive for describing the flow of granular material. The DEM could investigate granular materials' macro and micro-mechanical shear behaviors. The commercial software EDEM® based on the DEM was utilized for this purpose. A gravitational disposition for the geometrical arrangement model has been performed in this study to model different particle sizes for a direct, simple shear test (DSST). The results indicated that referring to the size index (SI), a positive correlation occurred with the shear strength, dilation, volumetric strain, a negative correlation with the average particle angular velocity, and a neutral correlation with the coordination number (CN).

Keywords

• discrete element method
• granular material
• particle shape
• simple direct shear test
• size index