Abstract
The Discrete Element Method (DEM) developed by Cundall and Strack (1979) was originally intended as a research tool for the investigation of the micromechanics of granular materials in order to identify the appropriate physically sound continuum model which then might be incorporated into finite element analyses of engineering scale problems. Little progress has been made to achieving this long term objective. However, during the last twenty years, DEM simulations have provided valuable insights into the behaviour of granular materials at the grain scale. Such information about what happens inside granular material, which is difficult to access in real physical experiments without intruding upon the material response, can lead to reassessment of the underlying concepts and assumptions inbedded in traditional continuum formulations.
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Thornton, C. (2000). Microscopic approach contributions to constitutive modelling. In: Kolymbas, D. (eds) Constitutive Modelling of Granular Materials. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-57018-6_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-57018-6_8
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
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