SIMULATION ON MESO-MECHANICAL PROPERTY OF COARSE-GRAINED SOIL MATERIALS BASED ON COMPUTATIONAL CONTACT METHOD

Among researches about meso-mechanical behavior of coarse-grained soil material, the numerical simulation methods such as the discrete element method have gained many attentions in recent years. It proposed a new numerical simulation approach based on computational contact mechanics. This approach is an implicit numerical solution method with a solid theoretical basis, which divides soil particles into elements and simulates the particle contact behavior through computational contact mechanics. Compared with the discrete element method, this method enjoys an advantage in describing the internal mechanical properties of the particles. The stress distribution inside the particles can be calculated, which provides a basis for the calculation of the mesoscopic behavior such as particle breakage. With the multi-body contact finite element method program, several conventional triaxial numerical tests with different confining pressures were carried out, and the outcomes are in accordance with the general law of a geomaterial triaxial test. The experimental results preliminarily verify the applicability of the proposed calculation method.