INFLUENCE OF THE VIRTUAL STRAIN RATE OF NON-COHESIVE GRANULAR MEDIA ON THE DISCRETE ELEMENT METHOD

The discrete element method (DEM) is an alternative computational tool for augmenting laboratory experiments because of its advantages in detailing macro- and micro-mechanical information. However, it should be noted that the DEM does not usually consider the convergence for each time step, because of the necessity for a huge calculation time. In that case, it indicates that the uniqueness of the solution is not guaranteed, except in the case of a very small strain rate, even though the behavior looks qualitatively reasonable. At first, the influence of strain rate among numerically imaginary input parameters for a noncohesive material was investigated for monotonic, biaxial shear tests. Then, new findings were obtained from the DEM simulations. Strain rate has a significant influence on the shear behavior, especially after the peak strength of dense specimens. A quasi-static steady state exists, not a static steady state. The "strong" fabric ratio is closely related to the stress ratio. The maximum slip coordination number occurs around the phase-transformation ratio and the shear band appears around the peak strength.