Advanced
search

To read this content please select one of the options below:

A coupling method incorporating digital image processing and discrete element method for modeling of geomaterials

Qingxiang Meng (Research Institute of Geotechnical Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing, China, and Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada)
Huanling Wang (Key Laboratory of Coastal Disaster and Defense, Ministry of Education, Hohai University, Nanjing, China and Department of Civil Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada)
Weiya Xu (Research Institute of Geotechnical Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing, China)
Qiang Zhang (Research Institute of Geotechnical Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing, China)

Engineering Computations

ISSN: 0264-4401

Article publication date: 5 March 2018

430

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to present a digital image processing (DIP)-based discrete element method (DEM) for the analysis of heterogeneous geomaterials. Taking a soil and rock mixture as an example, the direct shear test is used to illustrate the application of this method. The numerical result is validated by the laboratory experiment and implies its feasibility in the analysis of heterogeneous geomaterials.

Design/methodology/approach

This method has two major steps. Based on a modification of the connected-component labeling algorithm, a novel vectorization method, which can transform the digital photos to vectorized geometry automatically, is proposed first. Then, a simple yet effective method for the generation of heterogeneous DEM models is presented using the simulation of simplicity technique.

Findings

DIP-DEM method is a feasible approach for the analysis of mechanical behavior of heterogeneous material. For soil and rock mixtures (SRM), the horizantal deformation at peak shear point becomes larger with the normal stress. Compared with pure soil, the rock aggregates mainly improve the friction angle of SRM.

Originality/value

As a universal method taking advantage of both DIP and DEM, this method has broad application prospects in related fields.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The financial supports by National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2017YFC1501100), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China (Grant No. 2016B05314) and the Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51709089, 11572110, 51479049) and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2017M610290) for this work are gratefully acknowledged. The first author also thanks the China Scholarship Council (Grant No. 201406710022) for a visiting scholarship.

Citation

Meng, Q., Wang, H., Xu, W. and Zhang, Q. (2018), "A coupling method incorporating digital image processing and discrete element method for modeling of geomaterials", Engineering Computations, Vol. 35 No. 1, pp. 411-431. https://doi.org/10.1108/EC-11-2016-0390

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited

Related articles

Manage cookies

We’re listening — tell us what you think

Join us on our journey