Modeling a Flexible Ring Net with the Discrete Element Method
Publication: Journal of Engineering Mechanics
Volume 146, Issue 2
Abstract
Flexible barriers have been proven to be effective measures for mitigating natural hazards, such as rockfalls, gravel flows, and debris flows. This paper presents a new numerical ring model based on the discrete element method (DEM) to simulate a flexible ring net. The Edinburgh Bonded Particle Model is applied to create internal forces within a ring element. The mechanical behavior of a ring element was analyzed from measurements collected during quasi-static tensile tests. The systematic calibration approach of this ring model is described in detail. Two reduction factors related to the bond Young’s modulus and the bond radius are proposed to effectively adjust the bending and axial stiffnesses of the ring element. With calibrated DEM parameters from the tensile tests, the ring model is validated by reproducing these tensile tests under different boundary conditions. Finally, a three-dimensional DEM model is established for modeling the rockfall impact on a flexible ring net. A comparison between the existing test data and simulation results reveals that the new ring model can accurately reproduce the response of a flexible ring net under both static and dynamic conditions.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Professor Jin Ooi from the University of Edinburgh for providing the source code of the Bonded Particle Model on updating and Professor Jian-Fei Chen of Queen’s University Belfast for advising us on the bond modeling and DEM modeling. The authors acknowledge the financial support from the Research Institute for Sustainable Urban Development of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). The work in this paper is also supported by a National State Key Project 973 grant (Grant No. 2014CB047000) (Subproject No. 2014CB047001) from the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China, a Collaborative Research Fund (CRF) project (Grant No. PolyU12/CRF/13E) from the Research Grants Council (RGC) of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government of China. The financial supports from PolyU grants (1-ZVCR. 1-ZVEH. 4-BCAU, 4-BCAW, 4-BCB1, 5-ZDAF) are acknowledged. This paper is also supported by the Research Centre for Urban Hazards Mitigation of Faculty of Construction and Environment of PolyU.
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Published In
Journal of Engineering Mechanics
Volume 146 • Issue 2 • February 2020
Copyright
©2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 14, 2018
Accepted: Jun 19, 2019
Published online: Nov 29, 2019
Published in print: Feb 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Apr 29, 2020
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