EFFECT OF PARTICLE SIZE DISTRIBUTIONS ON GRANULAR FLOW SIMULATIONS USING DISCRETE ELEMENT METHOD

Abstract

 Most of granular flow simulations using the discrete element method are based on the assumption of uniform particle sizes with the intention of reducing the computational costs. As a result, the effects of particle size distributions have not been thoroughly discussed so far. In this study, we examine the effects on the runout distance of granular flows by performing a series of granular flow simulations with different particle size distributions. According to the numerical results, it is found that the condition of uniform particle size would underestimate the runout distance and hence increase the disaster risk. The obtained results also show that the runout distance tends to be longer when the particle size distribution is represented by only two particle sizes.