Simulations of realistic granular soils in oedometer tests using physics engine

Abstract

SummaryDiscrete element method (DEM) has become a preeminent numerical tool for investigating the mechanical behavior of granular soils. However, traditional DEM uses sphere clusters to approximate realistic particles, which is computationally demanding when simulating many particles. This paper demonstrates the potential of using a physics engine technique to simulate realistic particles. The physics engines are originally developed for video games for simulating physical and mechanical processes that occur in the real world to produce realistic game experiences. The simulation accuracy and efficiency of physics engines have been significantly improved in the last two decades allowing them to be used as a scientific tool in many disciplines. This paper introduces modeling methodologies of physics engine including realistic particle representation and the contact model. Then, oedometer tests are simulated using realistic particles scanned by X‐ray computed tomography (X‐ray CT). The simulation results agree well with experimental results. This paper demonstrates that physics engines can output contact parameters for geotechnical analysis and force chains for visualization.