Displacement Accuracy of Discontinuous Deformation Analysis Method Applied to Sliding Block
Publication: Journal of Engineering Mechanics
Volume 128, Issue 11
Abstract
Discontinuous deformation analysis (DDA) is a discrete element method that was developed for computing large deformation in fractured rock masses. In this paper, we present an alternative derivation of the basic theory of DDA for planar (two-dimensional) problems, and we address the accuracy of the DDA method for sliding blocks using sensitivity analyses. Results of analyses with different parameters show that the residual and relative errors in the displacement of a frictional sliding block are controlled by the perturbation in the initial time steps of the simulation. In addition, we expose a systematic error induced by the DDA penalty formulation. Overall, the initial perturbation of the solution decreases with decreasing friction angle and increasing contact penalty and, counterintuitively, decreases with increasing time step size. All analyses show that the long runout behavior of the system trends toward the analytic solution, independent of the initial perturbation. The resulting precision of the long runout simulation is more than sufficient for all problems of engineering interest.
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Information
Published In
Journal of Engineering Mechanics
Volume 128 • Issue 11 • November 2002
Pages: 1158 - 1168
Copyright
Copyright © 2002 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 6, 2001
Accepted: Mar 4, 2002
Published online: Oct 15, 2002
Published in print: Nov 2002
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