A generalized 3DLS-DEM scheme for grain breakage

Journal article, 2022

We introduce a new generalized 3DLS-DEM (3D Level Set Discrete Element Method) scheme that incorporates grain breakage, taking an important step towards realistic modeling at the micro-scale with DEM. For the first time, simulating thousands of real 3D grains that are able to break, which was possible due to the algorithm used for grain breakage. The presented scheme is not only capable of efficiently simulating grains with real shapes but also preserving mass and grains morphology with high fidelity when breakage occurs. Hence, with this approach, further works within the original 3DLS-DEM scheme could take into account other physical phenomena at the grain-scale such as electrostatic induced cohesion, heat transfer, or the presence of a fluid, etc. On the other hand, the breakage process modified grain size and roundness distributions, which, in turn, might change the strength and critical state of the sample. Withal, the overall process seems to suggest that grain breakage may be a sufficient condition to exacerbate the prevalence of shear banding within the sample. Finally, our model is able to perform breakage on several real 3D grains of a sample consisting of thousands of grains in a generalized 3DLS-DEM scheme.