Abstract
A 3D particle-fluid coupled model was applied to concentrated leak erosion, which one of the mechanisms to trigger internal soil erosion. The method is based on a coupling the Discrete element method (DEM) and the Lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). The motion and collision of solid particles were calculated by the DEM, and the fluid flow of the pore fluid was directly solved at a lower particle scale by the LBM. By coupling these methods, the interaction between the particle and the fluid could be also calculated. In order to verify the particle-fluid coupled method, small 3D models were simulated based on the Hole Erosion Test (HET). Soil erosion parameters (such as critical shear stress and erosion rate) are calculated and compared with the results available in the literature. Consequently, this study facilitates more realistic simulations, compared with the available tests and 2D numerical simulations in the literature.
