• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.455-470
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• 2016

In ballasted railway tracks, ballast fouling due to finer material intrusion has been identified as a challenging issue in track maintenance works. In this research, deformation characteristics of crushed stone-sand mixtures, simulating fresh and fouled ballasts were studied from laboratory and a 3-D discrete element method (DEM) triaxial compression tests. The DEM simulation was performed using a recently developed DEM approach, named, Yet Another Dynamic Engine (YADE). First, void ratio characteristics of crushed stone-sand mixtures were studied. Then, triaxial compression tests were conducted on specimens with 80 and 50% of relative densities simulating dense and loose states respectively. Initial DEM simulations were conducted using sphere particles. As stress-strain behaviour of crushed stone-sand mixtures evaluated by sphere particles were different from laboratory specimens, in next DEM simulations, the particles were modeled by a clump particle. The clump shape was selected using shape indexes of the actual particles evaluated by an image analysis. It was observed that the packing behaviour of laboratory crushed stone-sand mixtures were matched well with the DEM simulation with clump particles. The results also showed that the strength properties of crushed stone deteriorate when they are mixed by 30% or more of sand, specially under dense state. The results also showed that clump particles give closer stress-strain behaviour to laboratory specimens than sphere particles.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.37-44
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• 2017

PURPOSES : Conductive and convective heat transfer simulations for an asphalt mixture were made by using discrete element method (DEM) and similarity principle. METHODS : In this research, virtual specimens composed of discrete element method particles were generated according to four different predetermined particle size distribution curves. Temperature variations of the four different particles for a given condition were estimated and were compared with measurements and analytical solutions. RESULTS : The virtual specimen with mixed particles and with the smallest particle show very good agreement with laboratory test results and analytical solutions. As particle size decreases, better heat transfer simulation can be performed due to smaller void ratio and more contact points and areas. In addition, by utilizing the similarity principle of thermal properties and corresponding time unit, analytical time can be drastically reduced. CONCLUSIONS : It is concluded that the DEM asphalt mixture specimens with similarity principle could be used to predict the temperature variation for a given condition. It is observed that the void ratio has critical effect on prediction of temperature variation. Comparing the prediction for a 4 mm particle specimen with a mixed particle specimen, it is also concluded that predicting the mixed particle specimen temperature is much more efficient considering the number of particles that are directly associated with computational time in DEM analysis.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.117-127
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the effect of in-situ rock stresses on the deformability and permeability of fractured rocks. Geological data were taken from the site investigation at Forsmark, Sweden, conducted by Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Man-agement Company (SKB). A set of numerical experiments was conducted to determine the equivalent mechanical properties (essentially, elastic moduli and Poisson's ratio) and permeability, using a Discrete Fracture Network-Discrete Element Method (DFN-DEM) approach. The results show that both mechanical properties and permeability are highly dependent on stress because of the hyperbolic nature of the stiffness of fractures, different closure behavior of fractures, and change of fluid pathways caused by deformation. This study shows that proper characterization and consideration of in-situ stress are important not only for boundary conditions of a selected site but also for the understanding of the mechanical and hydraulic behavior of fractured rocks.

• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.475-480
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• 2008

A pre/post processor program based GUI(Graphic User Interface) by using the MFC and OpenGL library in the Windows OS have been developed for the analysis of the passenger flow. Using this program, users are able to generate and modify the meshes of multi-storied subway station, set all the parameters for the solver, and obtain the results of the simulation such as transient passenger motions and passenger streak lines in 3-dimensional graphic view.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.163-176
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• 2017

The Discrete Element Method (DEM) has been widely used in civil engineering as well as various industrial fields to simulate granular materials. In this study, DEM was adopted to predict the performance of the face plate-type earth pressure balance (EPB) shield TBM (Tunnel Boring Machine). An analysis of the TBM excavation performance was conducted according to two pre-defined excavation conditions with the different rotation speeds per minute (RPM) of the cutterhead. The TBM model which was used in this study has a 6.64 m of diameter and six spokes. Also, 37 precutters and 98 scrapers at an each spoke were modeled with a real-scale specification. From the analysis, compressive forces at the cutterhead face, shield and cutting tools, resistant torques at the cutterhead face, muck discharge rate and accumulated muck discharge by the screw auger were measured and compared.

• Journal of Drive and Control
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.71-79
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• 2023

In the field of agricultural machinery, various on-field tests are conducted to measure design load for optimal design of agricultural equipment. However, field test procedures are costly and time-consuming, and there are many constraints on field soil conditions due to weather, so research on utilizing simulation to overcome these shortcomings is needed. Therefore, this study aimed to model agricultural soils using discrete element method (DEM) software. To simulate draft force, predictions are made according to travel speed and compared to field test results to validate the prediction accuracy. The measured soil properties are used for DEM modeling. In this study, the soil property measurement procedure was designed to measure the physical and mechanical properties. DEM soil model calibration was performed using a virtual vane shear test instead of the repose angle test. The DEM simulation results showed that the prediction accuracy of the draft force was within 4.8% (2.16~6.71%) when compared to the draft force measured by the field test. In addition, it was confirmed that the result was up to 72.51% more accurate than those obtained through theoretical methods for predicting draft force. This study provides useful information for the DEM soil modeling process that considers the working speed from the perspective of agricultural machinery research and it is expected to be utilized in agricultural machinery design research.

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 2006.09a
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• pp.262-263
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• 2006

The free sintering of metallic powders blended with non sintering inclusions is investigated by the Discrete Element Method (DEM). Each particle, whatever its nature (metallic or inclusion) is modeled as a sphere that interacts with its neighbors. We investigate the retarding effect of the inclusions on the sintering kinetics. Also, we present a simple coarsening model for the metallic particles, which allows large particles to grow at the expense of the smallest.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.495-501
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• 2018

Geogrid application that has proved to be an effective and economic method of reinforcing particles, is widely used in geotechnical engineering. The discrete element method (DEM) has been used to investigate the micro mechanics of the geogrid deformation and also the interlocking mechanism that cannot be easily studies in laboratory tests. Two types of realistically shaped geogrid models with square and triangle apertures were developed using parallel bonds in PFC3D. The calibration test simulations have demonstrated that the precisely shaped triangular geogrid model is also able to reproduce the deformation and strength characteristics of geogrids. Moreover, the square and triangular geogrid models were also used in DEM pull-out test simulations with idealized shape particle models for validation. The simulation results have been shown to provide good predictions of pullout force as a function of displacement especially for the initial 30 mm displacement. For the granular material of size 40 mm, both the experimental and DEM results demonstrate that the triangular geogrid of size 75 mm outperforms the square geogrid of size 65 mm. Besides, the simulations have given valuable insight into the interaction between particle and geogrid and also revealed similar deformation behavior of geogrids during pullout. Therefore, the DEM provides a tool which enable to model other possible prototype geogrid and investigate their performance before manufacture.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.245-251
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• 2019

When an offshore foundation is exposed to waves and currents, local scour could develop around a pile and even lead to structural failure. Therefore, understanding and predicting the scour due to sediment transport around foundations are important in the engineering design. In this study, the flow and scour around a monopole foundation exposed to a current were investigated using a method that coupled the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and discrete element method (DEM). The open source computation fluid dynamics library OpenFOAM and a sediment transport library were coupled in the OpenFOAM platform. The incipient motion of the particle was validated. The flow fields and sediment transport around the monopole were simulated. The scour depth development was simulated and compared with existing experimental data. For the upstream scour hole, the equilibrium scour depth could be reproduced qualitatively, and it was underestimated by about 23%.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.353-367
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• 2023

The construction of a protective embankment is a suitable strategy to stop and control high-energy rock blocks' impacts during the rockfall phenomenon. In this paper, based on the discrete element numerical method, by modeling an existing embankment reinforced with geogrid, its stability status under the impact of a rock block with two types of low and high kinetic energy, namely 2402 and 4180 kJ, respectively, has been investigated. The modeling results show that the use of geogrid has caused the displacement in the front and back of the embankment to decrease by more than 30%. In this case, the reinforced embankment has stopped the rock block earlier. The displacements obtained from the DEM modeling are compared with the displacements measured from an actual practical experiment to evaluate the results' validity. Comparison between the results shows that the displacement values are close together, while the maximum percentage error in previous studies by an analytical method and the finite element method was 76.4% and 36.6%, respectively. Therefore, the obtained results indicate the discrete numerical method's high ability compared to other numerical and analytical methods to simulate and design the geogrid-reinforced soil embankment under natural disasters such as rockfall with a minor error.