Numerical Discrete Element Simulation Of Soil Direct Shear Test

One of the most common methods to measure soil mechanical properties (namely cohesion and internal friction angle) is direct shear box test. In this paper the development of a three-dimensional (3D) discrete element soil model for simulation of a cohesive soil’s direct shear test is presented. The aim was to calibrate the properties of the Hertz-Mindlin with bonding contact model available in EDEM software to the results of real direct shear box test. The cohesion and internal friction angle were calculated from the equation of the MohrCoulomb line of the soil model. Results show that direct shear laboratory test can be simulated very well using discrete element method (DEM). The model’s calculated cohesion and internal friction angle values and the corresponding mechanical properties of real cohesive soil were in good agreement with relative error of 4.44 percent and 4.66 percent, respectively.