This paper focuses on the use of the agglomerate technique to simulate crushable particles in the Discrete Element Method. A novel approach is proposed to design a Weibullian agglomerate by mimicking flaws within the crushable particle. The particle is designed with a constant number of sub-spheres in contrast to the approach widely used in the literature. However, the adhesion bonds between sub-spheres within the particle are selected randomly from a normal distribution. The normal distribution is designed to generate negative adhesion values, which are replaced by zero adhesion to mimic flaws within the particle. It is shown that the particle designed in this fashion exhibits a tensile strength that follows the Weibull probability function. This includes the effect of particle size that is remarkably captured quantitatively. Finally, a simple method is proposed to derive the parameters of the adhesion normal distribution from the Weibull parameters determined experimentally on single particle diametral compression tests.
Neste trabalho foi realizado um estudo numérico do aterro de Haarajoki (Finnish National Road Administration, 2019), um aterro teste, instrumentado, construído sobre solo mole. O estudo foi realizado utilizando uma formulaçao acoplada da qual foi possível obter o comportamento do aterro em termos de deslocamento, poropressão e tensão efetiva. Além disso, foi realizada uma análise de sensibilidade para avaliar a influência da permeabilidade horizontal no comportamento do aterro, variável esta que muitas vezes é estimada. Os resultados mostraram que a ferramenta numérica utilizada produz resultados rigorosos com relação ao comportamento do aterro. A análise de sensibilidade do coeficiente de permeabilidade horizontal mostrou que variando esse parâmetro duas ordens de grandeza em relação ao coeficiente de permeabilidade vertical, ele tem influência nos resultados de deslocamento vertical do aterro. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Solo mole, coeficiente de permeabilidade, Método dos Elementos Finito, Análise hidromecânica acoplada.ABSTRACT: This work presents a numerical analysis of Haarajoki embakment, a test embankment with field monitoring, constructed on soft soil. A coupled formulation was used to obtain the behavior of the construction of the embakment in terms of settlement, porepressure and effective stress. Besides, a sensibility analysis was performed to evaluate the influence of the horizontal coefficient of permeability on the soil behaviour, variable which is often estimated. Results shows that numerical analysis provide strict results related to soil behaviour. Sensibility analysis of the horizontal permeability coefficient showed that varying these parameters two orders of magnitude, it has little influence on the results of settlement.
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