Geo-Congress 2020
Comparing Realistic Particle Simulation Using Discrete Element Method and Physics Engine
Publication: Geo-Congress 2020: Modeling, Geomaterials, and Site Characterization (GSP 317)
ABSTRACT
Discrete element method (DEM) has been widely applied to simulate granular soil behavior. However, traditional DEM uses sphere clusters to approximate realistic particles, which is computationally demanding when simulating many particles. This study explores the use of physics engine, a platform developed for simulating physical processes in video games, to simulate realistic particles. This paper compares realistic particle simulation methodologies using physics engine and discrete element method, including contact models, parameter settings, computational speeds, and simulation results. The results show that the physics engine and DEM achieve similar simulation outputs, while the physics engine runs significantly faster than DEM, because PhysX uses both CPUs (central processing units) and GPUs (graphics processing units) of computers, triangular face tessellations to represent realistic particles, and a simplified contact model to accelerate simulations. This study provides geo-mechanicians and DEM modelers with one more option for them to consider when they simulate realistic particles.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Grant No. CMMI 1917332. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. Itasca is thanked for their educational sponsorship of software PFC 5.0 to the second author of this paper during his Ph.D. study at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Geo-Congress 2020: Modeling, Geomaterials, and Site Characterization (GSP 317)
Pages: 464 - 472
Editors: James P. Hambleton, Ph.D., Northwestern University, Roman Makhnenko, Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Aaron S. Budge, Ph.D., Minnesota State University, Mankato
ISBN (Online): 978-0-7844-8280-3
Copyright
© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Feb 21, 2020
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Clays
- Computer models
- Discrete element method
- Engineering fundamentals
- Engineering materials (by type)
- Engines
- Equipment and machinery
- Geomechanics
- Geometry
- Geotechnical engineering
- Granular soils
- Materials engineering
- Mathematics
- Methodology (by type)
- Models (by type)
- Numerical methods
- Particles
- Simulation models
- Soil mechanics
- Soil properties
- Soils (by type)
- Spheres
Authors
Metrics & Citations
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