Particle shape effects in discrete element modelling of cohesive angular particles

Abstract

This paper investigates the effect of particle angularity on general granular response concentrating on flow and stress-strain behaviour. A 2D polygon DEM model is developed to a 3D polyhedron model. The effect of particle shape on the response of polygons in simple shear and polyhedra under gravity flow is investigated using regular shapes with rounded vertices. The study concentrates on the angularity rather than aspect ratio by comparing circles, near squares and near equilateral triangles in 2D and spheres, tetrahedra and octahedra in 3D. In summary the more angular the particle the greater the resistance to the forcing load and the flowability is reduced. A mix of spheres and octahedra demonstrates an approximate linear combination of effects. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.