Generation of virtual asphalt concrete in a physics engine

Hernandez, Álvaro García; Wan, Liyao; Dopazo-Hilario, S.; Chiarelli, Andrea; Dawson, Andrew

doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2021.122972

Cited by 14 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Physics engines were originally developed to rapidly simulate physical processes in computer games and animations (Millington, 2007). With an increase in accuracy, physics engines quickly were used in engineering and scientific studies including robotics (Drumwright et al, 2010;Erez et al, 2015), agricultural machinery safety (Sun et al, 2019), construction materials (Garcia-Hernandez et al, 2021), earthquake studies (Xu et al, 2013;Kim et al, 2015), rockfall hazard zoning (Hao et al, 2021), and granular soil studies (He et al, 2021;Izadi and Bezuijen, 2014;Pytlos et al, 2015;Toson and Khinast, 2017). Whereas physics engine applications involve both individual objects and particle assemblages, DEM has primarily focused on modeling mechanical behavior of particle assemblages since it was introduced (Cundall and Strack, 1979).…”

Section: Physics Engine Versus Discrete Element Methods (Dem)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Virtual Shake Robot: Simulating Dynamics of Precariously Balanced Rocks for Overturning and Large-displacement Processes

Chen,

Arrowsmith,

Das

et al. 2024

Seismica

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Understanding the dynamics of precariously balanced rocks (PBRs) is important for seismic hazard analysis and rockfall prediction. Utilizing a physics engine and robotic tools, we develop a virtual shake robot (VSR) to simulate the dynamics of PBRs during overturning and large-displacement processes. We present the background of physics engines and technical details of the VSR, including software architecture, mechanical structure, control system, and implementation procedures. Validation experiments show the median fragility contour from VSR simulation is within the 95% prediction intervals from previous physical experiments, when PGV/PGA is greater than 0.08 s. Using a physical mini shake robot, we validate the qualitative consistency of fragility anisotropy between the VSR and physical experiments. By overturning cuboids on flat terrain, the VSR reveals the relationship between fragility and geometric dimensions (e.g., aspect and scaling ratios). The ground motion orientation and lateral pedestal support affect PBR fragility. Large-displacement experiments estimate rock trajectories for different ground motions, which is useful for understanding the fate of toppled PBRs. Ground motions positively correlate with large displacement statistics such as mean trajectory length, mean largest velocity, and mean terminal distance. The overturning and large displacement processes of PBRs provide complementary methods of ground motion estimation.

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Section: Physics Engine Versus Discrete Element Methods (Dem)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Virtual Shake Robot: Simulating Dynamics of Precariously Balanced Rocks for Overturning and Large-displacement Processes

Chen,

Arrowsmith,

Das

et al. 2024

Seismica

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“…In recent studies, the virtual compaction or placement of asphaltic mixture components has been conducted to obtain cylindrical samples, and the virtual compaction of asphaltic mixture components is mainly conducted using the discrete element modeling method (Al Khateeb et al., 2021; Liu et al., 2017; Y. Zhang et al., 2018) or a physical engine (Cao et al., 2016; Garcia‐Hernandez et al., 2021), in which particles are either randomly piled in a long cylinder and then compacted to a sample of normal size by force (a process taking hours) or used to simulate a micromechanical process of compaction under realistic conditions (a process taking tens of hours). However, given the difficulty in obtaining the viscoelastic, rheological, and frictional properties of asphalt at different temperatures, the accuracy of the microstructure is hard to ensure.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Virtual modeling of asphalt mixture beam using density and distributional controls of aggregate contact

Jin

Wang

Liu

et al. 2023

Computer aided Civil Eng

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The characteristic indicators of aggregate contacts in asphalt mixtures, including the number, orientation, and area of contact regions, significantly affect skeleton morphology and mixture stability. To investigate the influence of indicators on mixture stability, structures with diverse characteristics of aggregate contacts are required. This study proposes an algorithm for the virtual modeling of asphalt mixture beams, which supports the density and distributional controls of aggregate contacts in the microstructure. The methodology comprises three main steps: (1) three‐dimensional models of coarse aggregates conforming to the predefined gradation and volumetric content are randomly selected from a digital library of realistic aggregates, (2) contact relations of aggregates are established during the adaptive arrangement of aggregates in samples with prescribed control parameters of aggregate contact using self‐developed codes, and (3) air voids are randomly scattered in the sample without overlapping aggregates according to the volumetric content of the air voids, and an asphalt mortar model is then constructed using Boolean operations. Four beam samples with different contact characteristics were obtained using the proposed method to conduct simulations of three‐point bending tests. The number and spatial distribution of aggregate contacts in beam models are consistent with the prescribed parameters, showing the reliability of the proposed method for the control of aggregate contact in asphalt mixtures. A comprehensive comparison of the results of the laboratory test and simulations validates the ability of the digital beam to capture the macroscale response of asphalt mixtures. Furthermore, simulation results indicate that the sample with the greatest number and distribution uniformity of aggregate contacts has the largest peak strength and fracture energy, which is beneficial for the understanding of the relationship between the indicators of aggregate contacts and the rutting and fatigue resistance of mixtures.

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Research Trends in Materials and Design of Asphalt Pavements

Saboo

Das

2022

Springer Transactions in Civil and Environmental Engineering

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Generation of virtual asphalt concrete in a physics engine

Cited by 14 publications

References 14 publications

Virtual Shake Robot: Simulating Dynamics of Precariously Balanced Rocks for Overturning and Large-displacement Processes

Virtual Shake Robot: Simulating Dynamics of Precariously Balanced Rocks for Overturning and Large-displacement Processes

Virtual modeling of asphalt mixture beam using density and distributional controls of aggregate contact

Research Trends in Materials and Design of Asphalt Pavements

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