DEM study of an “avatar” railway ballast with real particle shape, fabric and contact mechanics

Tolomeo, Mathias; McDowell, Glenn R.

Abstract

In this paper we show DEM simulations of static and cyclic large triaxial tests on a sample of railway ballast. The sample is reconstructed from X-Ray tomography images of an untested laboratory sample, recovered by impregnation with an epoxy resin. Measurements of both shape and fabric are carried out; the sample shows a high anisotropy of particle orientations due to the preparation procedure and a high shape heterogeneity. A DEM model is then generated using clumps to model single particles, preserving the shape of each particle and the fabric of the sample. Results of static and cyclic simulations are shown and compared with previous simulations on numerically generated samples, showing the importance of an accurate representation of the whole range of particle shapes, as well as confirming the effect of particle anisotropy on the mechanical response.

Citation

Tolomeo, M., & McDowell, G. R. (2023). DEM study of an “avatar” railway ballast with real particle shape, fabric and contact mechanics. Granular Matter, 25(2), Article 32. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10035-023-01322-1

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 6, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Mar 29, 2023
• Publication Date: May 1, 2023
• Deposit Date: Apr 3, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 3, 2023
• Journal: Granular Matter
• Print ISSN: 1434-5021
• Electronic ISSN: 1434-7636
• Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 25
• Issue: 2
• Article Number: 32
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10035-023-01322-1
• Keywords: Discrete element method; Railway ballast; Triaxial test; Particle shape; X-ray computed tomography
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/19212277
• Publisher URL: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10035-023-01322-1