Discrete element modeling of the effect of particle shape on creep behavior of rockfills

We present a slightly abridged and adapted translation of the paper “Discrete element modeling of the effect of particle shape on creep behavior of rockfills” (Wang Yu. et al., 2017) by researchers from Tsinghua University (Beijing, China). This paper was published in the International Journal of Geological and Environmental Engineering. It is an open access article that is available on the website of the WASET publisher (World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology) under the CC BY 4.0 license that allows it to be copied, distributed, translated, adapted, modified, mixed and used for any purposes (even commercial ones) provided that the types of changes are noted and the original source is referred to. In our case, the full reference to the original paper (Wang Yu. et al., 2017) is in the end. Rockfills are widely used in civil engineering, such as dams, railways, and airport foundations in mountain areas. A significant long-term post-construction settlement may affect the serviceability or even the safety of rockfill infrastructures. The creep behavior of rockfills is influenced by a number of factors, such as particle size, strength and shape, water condition and stress level. However, the effect of particle shape on rockfill creep still remains poorly understood, which deserves a careful investigation. Particle-based discrete element method (DEM) was used to simulate the creep behavior of rockfills under different boundary conditions. Both rounded and angular particles were considered in this numerical study in order to investigate the influence of particle shape. The preliminary results showed that angular particles experience more breakages and larger creep strains under one-dimensional compression than rounded ones. On the contrary, larger creep strains were observed in the rounded specimens in the direct shear test. The mechanism responsible for this difference is that the possibility of the existence of key particle in rounded particles is higher than that in angular ones. The above simulations demonstrated that the influence of particle shape on the creep behavior of rockfills could be simulated by DEM properly. The method of DEM simulation may facilitate our understanding of deformation properties of rockfill materials.