Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2020
Department
Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geospatial Engineering
Abstract
The clump-based discrete element model is one of the asphalt mixture simulation methods, which has the potential to not only predict mixture performance but also simulate particle movement during compaction, transporting, and other situations. However, modelling of asphalt sand mortar in this method remains to be a problem due to computing capacity. Larger-sized balls (generally 2.0-2.36 mm) were usually used to model the smaller particles and asphalt binder, but this replacement may result in the mixture's unrealistic volumetric features. More specifically, replacing original elements with equal volume but larger size particles will increase in buck volume and then different particle contacting states. The major objective of this research is to provide a solution to the dilemma situation through an improved equivalent model of the smaller particles and asphalt binders. The key parameter of the equivalent model is the diameter reduction factor (DRF), which was proposed in this research to minimize the effects of asphalt mortar's particle replacement modelling. To determine DRF, the DEM-based analysis was conducted to evaluate several mixture features, including element overlap ratio, ball-wall contact number, and the average wall stress. Through this study, it was observed that when the original glued ball diameters are ranging from 2.00 mm and 2.36 mm, the diameter reduction factor changes from 0.82 to 0.86 for AC mixtures and 0.80 to 0.84 for SMA mixtures. The modelling method presented in this research is suitable not only for asphalt mixtures but also for the other particulate mix with multisize particles.
Publication Title
Advances in Civil Engineering
Recommended Citation
Liu, Y.,
Su, P.,
Li, M.,
Yao, H.,
Liu, J.,
Xu, M.,
Zhou, X.,
&
You, Z.
(2020).
How to Achieve Efficiency and Accuracy in Discrete Element Simulation of Asphalt Mixture: A DRF-Based Equivalent Model for Asphalt Sand Mortar.
Advances in Civil Engineering,
2020.
http://doi.org/10.1155/2020/8855409
Retrieved from: https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/michigantech-p/14574
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Version
Publisher's PDF
Publisher's Statement
Copyright © 2020 Yu Liu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Publisher’s version of record: https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/8855409