• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.66-81
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• 2021

The effects of directional fracture tensor components and first invariant of fracture tensor on deformation moduli and shear moduli of fractured rock masses is analyzed based on regression analysis performed between 3-D fracture tensor parameters and deformability of DFN blocks. Using one or two deterministic joint sets, a total of 224 3-D discrete fracture network (DFN) cube blocks were generated with various configurations of deterministic density and probabilistic size distribution. The fracture tensor parameters were calculated for each generated DFN systems. Also, deformability moduli with respect to three perpendicular direction of the DFN cube blocks were estimated based on distinct element method. The larger the first invariant of fracture tensor, the smaller the values for the deformability moduli of the DFN blocks. These deformability properties present an asymptotic pattern above the certain threshold. It is found that power-law function describes the relationship between the directional deformability moduli and the corresponding fracture tensor components estimated in same direction.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.475-486
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• 2023

Ballast particles have an irregular shape and are discrete in nature. Due to the discrete nature of ballast, it exhibits complex mechanical behaviour under loading conditions. The discrete element method (DEM) can model the behaviour of discrete particles under a multitude of loading conditions. DEM is used in this paper to simulate a series of three-dimensional direct shear tests in order to investigate the shear behaviour of railway ballast and its interaction at the microscopic level. Particle flow code in three dimension (PFC3D) models the irregular shape of ballast particles as clump particles. To investigate the influence of particle size distribution (PSD), real PSD of Indian railway ballast specification IRS:GE:1:2004, China high-speed rail (HSR) and French rail specifications are generated. PFC3D built-in linear contact model is used to simulate the interaction of ballast particles under various normal stresses, shearing rate and shear box sizes. The results indicate how shear resistance and volumetric changes in ballast assembly are affected by normal stress, shearing rate, PSD and shear box size. In addition to macroscopic behaviour, DEM represents the microscopic behaviour of ballast particles in the form of particle displacement at different stages of the shearing process.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.96-107
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• 1993

This paper deals with the analysis of rock slope stability using the distinct element method. This method consists in analysis of the interaction of discrete block assemblage delimited by elementary joints, which permits to consider the heterogeneous, anisotropic and discontinuous features of the rock mass. In particular, we were able to show that this method, and especially the BRIG3D software, is an outstanding tool which gives informations of greatest interest in order to analyze the toppling mechanisms. We have confirmed the fundamental role of the rock mass structure with different simulations. In the case of toppling phenomena, the essential parameter is the dip of major discontinuities. It has an influence on the intensity and volume of deformations. The anisotropic and heterogeneous features of the rock mass play also an important role. It is proved by insertion of thick rock bars in the structure or varying rock block sizes in the mass. These models modified considerably the stress distribution and the deformation distribution. Finally, we have analyzed the influence of mechanical parameters such as friction angle and tangential stiffness.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.207-212
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• 2018

Taylor rod impact tests have been the subject of many theoretical and experimental investigations. This paper discusses the numerical methods for simulating the Taylor impact test, which is widely used to obtain constitutive equations and failure conditions under high-velocity collisions of materials. With this in mind, a particle-based MPM (material point method) for linear viscoelastic solid materials was implemented, and MPM simulations for viscoelastic deformation behavior were numerically verified and confirmed by comparing the MPM and FEM results. In addition, this modeling and numerical approach could be extended to more complex viscoelastic models for basic understanding and to analyze the deformation and fracture behavior of more complicated viscoelastic material systems.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.783-796
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• 2014

The coarse mesh finite difference (CMFD) method is applied to the discontinuous finite element method based discrete ordinate calculation for source convergence acceleration. The three-dimensional (3-D) DFEM-Sn code FEDONA is developed for general geometry applications as a framework for the CMFD implementation. Detailed methods for applying the CMFD acceleration are established, such as the method to acquire the coarse mesh flux and current by combining unstructured tetrahedron elements to rectangular coarse mesh geometry, and the alternating calculation method to exchange the updated flux information between the CMFD and DFEM-Sn. The partial current based CMFD (p-CMFD) is also implemented for comparison of the acceleration performance. The modified p-CMFD method is proposed to correct the weakness of the original p-CMFD formulation. The performance of CMFD acceleration is examined first for simple two-dimensional multigroup problems to investigate the effect of the problem and coarse mesh sizes. It is shown that smaller coarse meshes are more effective in the CMFD acceleration and the modified p-CMFD has similar effectiveness as the standard CMFD. The effectiveness of CMFD acceleration is then assessed for three-dimensional benchmark problems such as the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) and C5G7MOX problems. It is demonstrated that a sufficiently converged solution is obtained within 7 outer iterations which would require 175 iterations with the normal DFEM-Sn calculations for the IAEA problem. It is claimed that the CMFD accelerated DFEM-Sn method can be effectively used in the practical eigenvalue calculations involving general geometries.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.383-399
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• 2020

Optimizing the spacing of the disc cutter is a key element in the design of the TBM cutter head, which determines the drilling performance of the TBM. The full-scale linear cutting test is known as the most reliable and accurate test for calculating the spacing of the disc cutter, but it has the disadvantage of costly and time-consuming for the full-scale experiment. In this study, through the numerical analysis study based on the discrete element method, the tendency between Specific Energy-S/P ratio according to uniaxial compression strength and penetration depth of rock was analyzed, and the optimum spacing of 17-inch disc cutter was derived. To examine the appropriateness of the numerical analysis model, the rolling force acting on the disc cutter was compared and reviewed with the CSM model. As a result of numerical analysis for the linear cutting test, the rolling force acting on the disc cutter was analyzed to be similar to the rolling force derived from the theoretical formula of the CSM model. From the numerical analysis on 5 UCS cases (50 MPa, 70 MPa, 100 MPa, 150 MPa, 200 MPa), it is found that the range of the optimum spacing of the disc cutter decreases as the rock strength increases. And it can be concluded that 80~100 mm of disc cutter spacing is the optimum range having minimum specific energy regardless of rock strength. This tends to coincide with the optimal spacing of previously reported disk cutters, which underpins the disk cutter spacing calculated through this study.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.29 no.2 s.233
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• pp.293-302
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• 2005

In this paper, the thick-walled laminated, orthotropic as well as bimaterial, composite hollow spheres under impact pressure are analyzed in detail by using the semi-discrete finite element method with the Houbolt time-integration scheme which results in unconditionally stable transient numerical results. Numerical results are obtained by using the self-constructed spherically symmetric (one-dimensional) and axially symmetric (two-dimensional) finite element programs, and compared with the previous solutions by other researchers, being shown some of which are incorrect. The finite element package Nastran is also adopted for numerical comparison.

• Journal of applied mathematics & informatics
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• v.16 no.1_2
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• pp.165-181
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• 2004

Based on Landau-type transformation, a Stefan problem with non-linear free boundary condition is transformed into a system consisting of parabolic equation and the ordinary differential equations. Semidiscrete approximations are constructed. Optimal orders of convergence of semidiscrete approximation in $L_2$, $H^1$ and $H^2$ normed spaces are derived.

• East Asian mathematical journal
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.615-626
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• 2010

In this paper, we analyze discontinuous Galerkin methods with penalty terms, namly symmetric interior penalty Galerkin methods, to solve nonlinear parabolic equations. We construct finite element spaces on which we develop fully discrete approximations using extrapolated Crank-Nicolson method. We adopt an appropriate elliptic-type projection, which leads to optimal ${\ell}^{\infty}$ ($L^2$) error estimates of discontinuous Galerkin approximations in both spatial direction and temporal direction.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.243-253
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• 2000

To develop galloping suppression devices, it is important to understand the effects of wind turbulence on galloping and to establish an evaluation method which takes 'large conductor deformations' into account. This paper introduces some findings on galloping in gusty wind obtained by numerical simulation using a model based on the Mogami Test Line of the Tokyo Electric Power Co. The equations of motion of the conductor are based on the Lagrangian formulations by Simpson, and they are made discrete in accordance with a finite element method.