No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Discrete-continuous Coupling Simulation and Analysis for Asphalt Pavement Dynamic Stress Responses under a Moving Wheel Load
Abstract
Asphalt pavement stress responses are analyzed with the layered elastic system under static loads in the most popularly-used design specifications. In reality, however, traffic loads are moving and the pavement layer materials are mainly aggregated. In order to reasonably consider vehicular loads and layer material features, this paper presents a discrete-continuous coupling model for analyzing asphalt pavement dynamic stress responses under moving loads. The numerical model is divided into an asphalt pavement structure and a moving wheel load. Specifically, the wheel load and the asphalt layer under its load were modelled with the discrete element method to simulate the actual vehicle loads and meso-scopic components of the asphalt mixture. In contrast, the remaining parts of the pavement structure were modelled with the finite difference method. The wheel load was set to move on the surface layer of asphalt pavement at a constant speed as the numerical simulation was conducted. The results were analyzed based on special points of dynamic stress curves. The results showed that: different from the static stress responses, in a typical asphalt pavement dynamic stress curve, there existed three stages of stress responses, namely the stress smoothing stage, stress surge stage, and stress dissipation stage, which had significant fluctuations at high levels and asymmetry. Besides, the loading velocity and mixture meso-structure significantly influenced on the dynamic stress responses of asphalt pavement. Especially the average peak stress calculated by the discrete-continuous coupling model, which considered the mixture meso-structure decreased by 10% compared to the finite-difference model.
... Such oversimplifications, as a form of homogenized modeling, inevitably introduced significant modeling errors. With advances in digital twinning technology, contemporary research has shifted towards meso-structure numerical modeling approaches that properly consider the heterogeneous material composition and meso-structural features of asphalt mixtures [15][16][17]. Asphalt mixtures consist of two fundamentally different material components, namely asphalt and aggregates, which possess a heterogeneous meso-structure [18]. This meso-structure critically governs the mechanical behavior of asphalt mixtures through the formation of an aggregate skeleton, stress distribution mechanisms, interfacial bonding properties, and microcrack initiation/propagation, collectively determining the macroscopic performance [19,20]. ...
This study develops a meso-structural modeling approach for asphalt mixtures by integrating computed tomography (CT) technology and the discrete element method (DEM), which accounts for the morphological characteristics of aggregates, asphalt mortar, and voids. The indirect tensile (IDT) tests of SMA-13 asphalt mixtures, a commonly used skeleton-type asphalt mixture for the surface course of asphalt pavements, were numerically simulated using CT-DEM. Through a comparative analysis of the load–displacement curve, the peak load, and the displacements corresponding to the maximum loads from the IDT tests, the accuracy of the simulation results was validated against the experimental results. Based on the simulation results of the IDT tests, the internal force transfer paths were obtained through post-processing, and the force chain system was identified. The crack propagation paths and failure mechanisms during the IDT tests were analyzed. The research results indicate that under the external load of the IDT test, there are primary force chains in both vertical and horizontal directions within the specimen. The interaction between these vertically and horizontally oriented force chains governs the fracture progression of the specimen. During IDT testing, the internal forces within the aggregate skeleton consistently exceed those within the mortar, while interfacial forces at aggregate–mortar contacts maintain intermediate values. Both the aggregate’s and mortar’s internal forces exhibit strong linear correlations with temperature, with the mortar’s internal forces showing a stronger linear relationship with external loading compared to those within the aggregate skeleton. The evolution of internal meso-cracks progresses through three distinct phases. The stable meso-crack growth phase initiates at 10% of the peak load, followed by the accelerated meso-crack growth phase commencing at the peak load. The fracture-affected zone during IDT testing extends symmetrically 20 mm laterally from the specimen centerline. Initial meso-cracks predominantly develop along aggregate–mortar interfaces and void boundaries, while subsequent propagation primarily occurs through interfacial zones near the main fracture path. The microcrack initiation threshold demonstrates dependence on the material’s strength and deformation capacity. Furthermore, the aggregate–mortar interfacial transition zone is a critical factor dominating crack resistance.
... This trend results in reduced adhesion and the onset of stress relaxation in SBS modified asphalt. The study found that the addition of polymers can achieve three effects: first, it reduces the problem of surface raveling; second, it slows down the aging rate of the matrix asphalt; and third, it enhances the aging performance of the polymer-modified asphalt [6][7][8][9]. ...
The viscoelastic behavior of asphalt mixtures is a crucial consideration in the analysis of pavement mechanical responses and structural design. This study aims to elucidate the molecular structure and component evolution trends of polyphosphoric acid (PPA)/styrene butadiene styrene block copolymer (SBS)/styrene butadiene rubber copolymer (SBR) composite modified asphalt (CMA) under rolling thin film oven test (RTFOT) and pressure aging (PAV) conditions, as well as to analyze the viscoelastic evolution of CMA mixtures. First, accelerated aging was conducted in the laboratory through RTFOT, along with PAV tests for 20 h and 40 h. Next, the microscopic characteristics of the binder at different aging stages were explored using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and gel permeation chromatography (GPC) tests. Additionally, fundamental rheological properties and temperature sweep tests were performed to reveal the viscoelastic evolution characteristics of CMA. Ultimately, the viscoelastic properties of CMA mixtures under dynamic loading at different aging stages were clarified. The results indicate that the incorporation of SBS and SBR increased the levels of carbonyl and sulfoxide factors while decreasing the level of long-chain factors, which slowed down the rate of change of large molecule content and reduced the rate of change of LMS by more than 6%, with the rate of change of overall molecular weight distribution narrowing to below 50%. The simultaneous incorporation of SBS and SBR into CMA mixtures enhanced the dynamic modulus in the 25 Hz and −10 °C range by 24.3% (AC-13), 15.4% (AC-16), and reduced the φ by 55.8% (AC-13), 40% (AC-16). This research provides a reference for the application of CMA mixtures in the repair of pavement pothole damage.
... Fan et al. [29] employed an analytical solution procedure to determine the dynamic response of a layered pavement structure when exposed to a moving load. Liu et al. [30] employed a discrete-continuous coupling simulation to examine the dynamic stress responses of asphalt pavement subjected to moving wheel loads. Ge et al. [31] proposed an innovative coupling chain for tyre sensors and pavement that integrates the realistic distribution of tire contact stress into the mechanical modeling of the asphalt layer through numerical and experimental methods. ...
This study presents an analytical framework based on the third-order shear deformation theory (TSDT) to conduct a comprehensive thermo-vibro-acoustic evaluation of a multi-layered asphalt system subjected to a harmonically rectangular moving load. The research aims to investigate the dynamic response and sound radiation characteristics of the pavement under various operating conditions. The materials and methods employed in this study are as follows: The temperature variations along the thickness axis of the layers are considered, and Hamilton's principle is adopted to derive the governing equations in the time-based domain. The equations are then solved in the Laplace domain using the Fourier series and the Laplace transform. The acoustic pressure generated by the moving load is investigated by applying Durbin's numerical Laplace transform inversion technique and analyzing the Rayleigh integral. The accuracy and flexibility of the proposed approach are demonstrated through comparisons with previous studies and finite element (FE) simulations using COMSOL Multiphysics®. Finally, a comprehensive analysis is conducted to examine the impact of various factors, including the frequency and velocity of the moving excitation load, the viscoelastic medium, and variations in temperature, on both the dynamic response and sound radiation of the pavement. Some of the major findings of this research are as follows: An increase in load velocity leads to a higher frequency of pressure waves and closer spacing between them, resulting in elevated sound pressure amplitude. Higher pavement temperatures cause increased softness and rutting depth under moving loads. This research offers a novel and practical contribution to the field of pavement systems by presenting an analytical framework for a comprehensive thermo-vibro-acoustic evaluation and providing valuable insights into the dynamic response and sound radiation characteristics of multi-layered asphalt systems under various operating conditions.
... The Fourier series of seismic wave is shown in Fig.8. According to relevant research 16,17 , After PFC/FLAC coupling, the free boundary can not be generated at the coupling place, and in order to prevent the discrete model from cracking when the dynamic load of the input model is large; in this study, the static boundary conditions are adopted and the acceleration is transformed into stress according to the transformation formula 4-1~4-4 of earthquake acceleration, so as to realize the dynamic response study of the coupled model. Where σn is boundary normal stress; σs is tangential stress at the boundary; ρ is rock mass density, Cp is compression wave velocity, Cs is shear wave velocity, ʋn is normal velocity, ʋs tangential velocity, K is volume modulus of rock, G is shear modulus of rock. ...
Faults are prone to crack due to the influence of stratum dynamic load, and the research on the influence of different surrounding rock support schemes on load resistance is complicated. Based on the F2 fault in Tianshan, Xinjiang, this paper introduces the establishment of FDM-DEM coupling model and load application. The influence of anchor bolt support on the load resistance of secondary lining is studied by using the coupling model of Finite Difference Method (FDM) and Discrete Element Method (DEM) with different anchor bolt support schemes combined with dynamic and seismic loads. The results show that: (1) the increase of anchor bolt support length can effectively improve the dynamic load bearing capacity of surrounding rock. (2) Under earthquake load, the secondary lining is prone to collapse from arch waist to arch top and crack at arch foot. The effect of anchor bolt support on the internal force of secondary lining is less than that of anchor bolt support. (3) The internal force of secondary lining is mainly affected by load, and the increase of tension chain in secondary lining under dynamic load indicates that the secondary lining is mainly caused by tensile crack. This study provides an effective tool for the synthesis of seismic performance.
The difference of force chains can be used to evaluate asphalt mixture skeleton structure. In this study, different asphalt mixture discrete element method (DEM) models were established via the two dimensional particle flow code (PFC2D) software to analyze force chains identification criteria. And then, the force chains lengths of different asphalt mixtures were quantified preliminarily. Results indicate that the average contact force need to be set as the contact force threshold value. 45o is recommended as the angle threshold value. For asphalt mixtures, less than 50% aggregate content is involved in transferring external loading. Whether the aggregate is located on the force chains should be regarded as an important criterion to judge whether the aggregate is involved in the asphalt mixture skeleton composition. Although dense-graded asphalt concrete (AC) will generate many force chains, most of them are short length force chains that are not conducive to transferring loading.
This paper discusses the formation of stable arches in granular materials by using a series of laboratory tests. To this aim, a developed trapdoor apparatus is designed to find dimensions of arches formed over the door in cohesionless aggregates. This setup has two new important applications. In order to investigate the maximum width of the opening generated exactly on the verge of failure, the door can be open to an arbitrary size. In addition, the box containing granular materials (or base angle) is able to be set on optional angles from zero to 90 degrees with respect to the horizontal. Therefore, it is possible to understand the effect of different levels of gravity accelerations on the formed arches. It is observed that for all tested granular materials, increasing the door size and decreasing the base angle, both cause to increase the width and height of the arch. Moreover, the shape of all arches is governed by a parabola. Furthermore, the maximum door width is approximately five to 8.6 times the particle size, depending on the internal friction angle of materials and the base angle.
The Mechanistic-empirical pavement design guide (MEPDG) provides theoretically superior methodology, as compared with its predecessor, for the design and analysis of pavement structures. The mechanistic part refers to simulating pavement–tire interaction to calculate critical responses within pavement. The empirical part means prediction of pavement distress propagation over time using transfer functions that link a critical pavement response to a particular pavement distress. The mechanistic part of MEPDG simulates tire–pavement interaction in three steps: subdivision of pavement layers; complex modulus calculation at the middepth of each sublayer, considering velocity and temperature; and running the multilayered elastic theory (MLET) software, JULEA. Although MEDPG has a grounded methodology for pavement analysis, it has a number of limitations and unrealistic simplifications that result in inaccurate response predictions. These limitations are primarily related to the pavement analysis approach used in the MEPDG framework, MLET. By contrast, finite-element (FE) analysis has proven to be a promising numerical approach for overcoming these limitations and simulating pavement more accurately and realistically. Although comparison of MLET with FE analysis has been studied, the difference between FE and MEPDG simulations has not been quantified. This study fills that gap by developing linear equations that connect pavement responses produced by these two approaches to pavement analysis. The equations are developed for ten different pavement responses, using a total of 336 cases simulated using FE and MEPDG analyses. The cases modeled in simulations were selected to capture extreme conditions, i.e., thick and thin pavement structures with strong and weak material properties. The equations developed can help pavement researchers understand quantitatively the effect of MEPDG limitations. In addition, the equations may be used as adjustment factors for MEPDG to compute pavement responses more realistically without using computationally expensive approaches, such as FE analysis.
Owing to the arching effect caused by stress transfer, the lateral pressure of confined granular material will be influenced by both the wall movement and the confined material width. In this paper, the lateral pressure of confined granular material is studied through the numerical and theoretical analysis. Discrete element-based numerical simulations of different widths are conducted to model the transition of the resultant lateral force. Based on numerical results, an analytical model for estimating the lateral pressure at limit state is proposed by the use of the horizontal slice element method. Moreover, the mobilization models of the granule–wall interface friction angle and the internal friction angle of the granular material are introduced to yield the lateral pressure at nonlimit state. Both numerical and theoretical results indicate that the transition of the lateral pressure can be divided into two stages based on the magnitudes of wall movements, at which the interface friction angle and internal friction angle are fully mobilized. For models with smaller width, the pressure decreases more rapidly in the first stage and eventually reaches smaller lateral pressure at active state, because the vertical stress of the material is transferred to the walls and the stress in the material is redistributed due to the superimposition of the arching effects.
As traffic grows by leaps and bounds, deterioration of asphalt surface layers emerges as the primary cause of road network costs. A deep understanding of the tire–pavement interaction is essential for optimizing the surface design of asphalt pavements in the context of aging infrastructure and limited maintenance resources. Most of the current tire–pavement interaction studies have been conducted in the continuum mechanics framework using Finite Element Methods (FEM), which shows limitations in modeling the discontinuity nature of asphalt mixtures. Discrete Element Methods (DEM) offer a promising way to examine the mechanical properties of asphalt mixtures at the particle level, but it is inadequate for modeling deformable tire structure and capturing realistic tire contact forces on the pavement surface. In this study, a FEM–DEM coupling strategy was developed for the modeling of tire–pavement interaction by implementing a DEM model of asphalt mixtures with rolling tire loads from a FEM model. Based on simulations with realistic rolling tire load conditions, this coupling algorithm allows the investigation of particle force chain network evolution, particle displacement and velocity distributions, movements of individual particles, and particle contact force characteristics inside an asphalt mixture. This study offers an enriching expansion of both continuum and discrete mechanics methods for analyzing asphalt mixture responses under rolling tire loads, which can provide insight into pavement surface design.
With the aging of roads and the lack of resources for maintenance, a thorough understanding of the interaction between tires and asphalt pavements is crucial to optimize asphalt pavement surface design. Currently, most research on this interaction system is conducted using mesh-based methods in the frame of continuum mechanics, which are insufficient to model the discontinuity behavior of asphalt mixtures during their lifespan. In this study, the Contact Dynamics method is introduced to investigate this interaction system by coupling the finite element method (FEM) and the discrete element method (DEM). FEM is utilized to model the tire and capture the resulting contact stresses on the pavement surface, while DEM is used to model the heterogeneous structure of an asphalt mixture and examine internal mixture responses at the particle scale. Analysis of contact stress distributions for free-rolling and full-braking conditions proves the tire model's effectiveness. According to particle displacement and force distributions, particles tend to flow along the longitudinal direction and undergo a high tangential contact force under full-braking compared with those under free-rolling, resulting in mixture instability and damage initiation. This study offers an enriching supplement and expansion to mesh-based methods for analyzing pavement surface degradation under tire loads, which can provide insight into pavement surface design.
In the large-scale water conservancy projects built in strong earthquake regions in western China, the water conveyance tunnels inevitably crosse multiple regional active faults. Affected by the movement of the active faults, these water conveyance tunnels are faced with a serious threat of dislocation. The traditional anti-breaking numerical simulation methods for tunnels mostly consider the surrounding rock as the equivalent continuum, and they cannot simulate the fracture process from microscale and large deformation phenomenon of the surrounding rock when the fault is dislocated. The 3D discrete-continuum coupling method is used to study the anti-dislocation problem in a tunnel crossing active faults, and the mechanical response of the linings and the micro fracture characteristics of the surrounding rock mass under the action of fault dislocation are studied. In this analysis method, the discrete element spherical particles are used to model the surrounding rock mass, simultaneously, the lining structure of the tunnel is considered as a continuous zone. The compatibility and continuity of the coupling force at the contact boundary are verified, at the same time, the discrete region is consistent with the macroattributes of the continuous region through parameter calibration. On this basis, a 3D discrete-continuous coupling numerical model for tunnels crossing active faults is established. Using this method, the displacements and mechanical responses of the tunnels due to fault dislocation under different movement quantities of fault as well as the failure characteristics of the surrounding rock mass are discussed from the microscale. The conclusions may provide some reference for the anti-fault design of tunnels crossing active faults. © 2018, Editorial Office of Chinese Journal of Geotechnical Engineering. All right reserved.
This paper discusses the distribution of contact stress at the tire-pavement interface and how to quantify its impact on viscoelastic pavement responses using a decoupled modeling approach. The authors developed a tire-pavement interaction model to predict the three-dimensional (3-D) contact stresses under various loads and inflation pressures. In this model, an air-inflated radial-ply ribbed tire was loaded on a non-deformable pavement surface. The predicted contact stresses are consistent with previous measurements and validate the non-uniformity of vertical contact stresses and localized tangential contact stresses at the tire-pavement interface. The load primarily affects the vertical contact stress at the edge of the tire contact area and the longitudinal contact stress; while the inflation pressure primarily controls the vertical contact stress in the center region of the tire contact area and the transverse contact stress. Statistical models were developed to predict the 3-D contact stresses at each rib under various loads and inflation pressures.
Utilizing the realistic contact stress distribution at the tire-pavement interface, a 3-D finite element (FE) model was built to analyze the critical pavement responses under moving tire loading. The FE model simulated the asphalt mixture layer as a linear viscoelastic material and considered the cross-anisotropic stress-dependent modulus for the unbound base layer. The authors concluded that when 3-D tire contact stresses are used in the analysis, the longitudinal fatigue cracking, primary rutting, and secondary rutting potential in thin asphalt pavement are increased, compared to when uniform contact stress distribution is applied. The heavy load causes increased responses in the base layer and subgrade, while high tire pressure causes increased response impact in the asphalt mixture layer, especially the shear stress at high temperature. The results of the analysis illustrate the importance of considering the realistic contact stress distribution when analyzing pavement responses under various loading and tire pressure conditions.
In this study, the continuum-discrete coupling method is be used to an open-pit iron mine slope in Hebei province. The deformation and stress characteristics in the typical across-section of the slope excavated in the difference time steps are simulated in combination with the strength reduction method. Continuum and discrete region are analyzed with FLAC and PFC procedures respectively. Emphatically in terms of the data consistency for continuum-discrete models, the relations of shear strain increment formation, development with local displacement, the force and displacement transformation process of continuum and discrete media, meso-crack of discrete media and plastic deformation of slope mass and so on, the applicability of the continuum-discrete coupling method are studied. Based this method, the instability mechanism of the slope is illustrated from macro and micro aspects. The results show that, stress and displacement of slope in the continuum and discrete region maintain a superior consistency in the process of computation, showing the continuum-discrete coupling method is applicable to slope stability analysis; the varition of shear strain increment acting as slope instability criterion is controlled by horizontal displacement of rock or/and soil mass; the meso-crack mechanism can characterize macro plastic deformation effectively; the change of contact force chain direction between soil particles is the driving factor of displacement and deformation of soil mass.
This paper outlines a new method, the “split node technique” for introducing fault displacements into finite element numerical computations. The value of the displacement at a single node point shared between two elements depends upon which element it is referred to, thus introducing a displacement discontinuity between the two elements. We show that the modification induced by this splitting can be contained in the load vector, so that the stiffness matrix is not altered. The number of degrees of freedom is not increased by splitting. This method can be implemented entirely on the local element level, and we show rigorously that no net forces or moments are induced on the finite element grid when isoparametric elements are used. This method is thus of great utility in many geological and engineering applications.
The propagation of solitary wave in a one-dimensional composite granular chain with heavy and light particles by turns is investigated by using molecular dynamics simulation. Under the condition of larger or smaller mass ratio of light to heavy particles, scattering effect is weaker and both particle velocity and solitary wave velocity decay slowly. In the intermediate range of mass ratio, the scattering effect becomes stronger, resulting in a faster decay of particle velocity and solitary wave velocity. Moreover, effect of increasing velocity happens when teh solitary wave travels across the heavy-light interface, indicating that the solitary wave velocity is increased. Effect of increasing velocity is enhanced when the mass ratio of light to heavy particles decreases. Due to the combined action of scattering effect and the effect of increasing velocity, the traveling time of solitary waves can be modulated by altering the mass ratio of light to heavy particle.
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to develop a method to model entire structures on a large scale, at the same time taking into account localized non-linear phenomena of the discrete microstructure of cohesive-frictional materials.
Design/methodology/approach
– Finite element (FEM) based continuum methods are generally considered appropriate as long as solutions are smooth. However, when discontinuities like cracks and fragmentation appear and evolve, application of models that take into account (evolving) microstructures may be advantageous. One popular model to simulate behavior of cohesive-frictional materials is the discrete element method (DEM). However, even if the microscale is close to the macroscale, DEMs are computationally expensive and can only be applied to relatively small specimen sizes and time intervals. Hence, a method is desirable that combines efficiency of FEM with accuracy of DEM by adaptively switching from the continuous to the discrete model where necessary.
Findings
– An existing method which allows smooth transition between discrete and continuous models is the quasicontinuum method, developed in the field of atomistic simulations. It is taken as a starting point and its concepts are extended to applications in structural mechanics in this paper. The kinematics in the method presented herein is obtained from FEM whereas DEM yields the constitutive behavior. With respect to the constitutive law, three levels of resolution – continuous, intermediate and discrete – are introduced.
Originality/value
– The overall concept combines model adaptation with adaptive mesh refinement with the aim to obtain a most efficient and accurate solution.
In this paper, a nonlinear finite element tire model is developed as an effective fast modeling approach to analyze the stress fields within a loaded tire structure, with the contact patch geometry and contact pressure distribution in the tire-road interface as functions of the normal load and the inflation pressure. The model considers the geometry and orientations of the cords in individual layers and the stacking sequence of different layers in the multi-layered system to predict the interply interactions in the belts and carcass layers. The study incorporates nearly incompressible property of the tread rubber block and anisotropic material properties of the layers. The analysis is performed using ANSYS software, and the results are presented to describe the influence of the normal load on the various stress fields and contact pressure distributions. The computed footprint geometry is qualitatively compared with the measured data to examine the validity of the model. It is concluded that the proposed model can provide reliable predictions about the three-dimensional stress and deformation fields in the multi-layered system and the contact pressure distribution in the tire-road interface.
One-dimensional waves, transient waves and harmonic waves including reflections of plane waves at interfaces, Rayleigh waves, waves in elastic layers and in layered materials are discussed. Analytical methods in nonlinear wave propagation are presented.
Frictional force is a primary force on the pavement surface in the horizontal direction and its value may be impacted by many factors such as properties or characteristics of pavement and tires, speeds, acceleration, and deceleration of running vehicles, and damping properties at the interaction surface. This paper presents a numerical approach to quantify impacts of vehicle motion features (acceleration, steadily moving, and deceleration) on pavement fractional force. In order to minimize impacts from the other factors, an idealized discrete element model was used. The idealized model consisted of three parts: a smooth surface simulated the pavement surface, while the truck was modeled with a wheel and a mass. Three contact models were employed to simulate the mechanical behaviors at the interaction surface, namely an elastic contact model, a slip model, and a viscous contact damping model. A vertical force and a torsion moment were applied at its center and the wheel was rotated forward to simulate the wheel-pavement interaction. Through this study, it was found that 1) during the wheel moving, the frictional force was not constant but vibrating around its average value; 2) the average frictional force was close to zero during the wheel steadily moving, while it was non-zero during its acceleration and deceleration; 3) damping coefficient and peak rational velocities gave various effects on simulation results.
The goal of this study is to develop a practical and fast simulation tool for soil-tire interaction analysis, where finite element method (FEM) and discrete element method (DEM) are coupled together, and which can be realized on a desktop PC. We have extended our formerly proposed dynamic FE-DE method (FE-DEM) to include practical soil-tire system interaction, where not only the vertical sinkage of a tire, but also the travel of a driven tire was considered. Numerical simulation by FE-DEM is stable, and the relationships between variables, such as load-sinkage and sinkage-travel distance, and the gross tractive effort and running resistance characteristics, are obtained. Moreover, the simulation result is accurate enough to predict the maximum drawbar pull for a given tire, once the appropriate parameter values are provided. Therefore, the developed FE-DEM program can be applied with sufficient accuracy to interaction problems in soil-tire systems.
Mesh refinement is an important tool for editing finite element meshes in order to increase the accuracy of the solution. Refinement is performed in an iterative procedure in which a solution is found, error estimates are calculated, and elements in regions of high error are refined. This process is repeated until the desired accuracy is obtained.
Much research has been done on mesh refinement. Research has been focused on two-dimensional meshes and three-dimensional tetrahedral meshes ([1] Ning et al. (1993) Finite Elements in Analysis and Design, 13, 299–318; [2] Rivara, M. (1991) Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics 36, 79–89; [3] Kallinderis; Vijayar (1993) AIAA Journal,31, 8, 1440–1447; [4] Finite Element Meshes in Analysis and Design,20, 47–70). Some research has been done on three-dimensional hexahedral meshes ([5] Schneiders; Debye (1995) Proceedings IMA Workshop on Modelling, Mesh Generation and Adaptive Numerical Methods for Partial Differential Equations). However, little if any research has been conducted on a refinement algorithm that is general enough to be used with a mesh composed of any three-dimensional element (hexahedra, wedges, pyramids, and/or retrahedra) or any combination of three-dimensional elements (for example, a mesh composed of part hexahedra and part wedges). This paper presents an algorithm for refinement of three-dimensional finite element meshes that is general enough to refine a mesh composed of any combination of the standard three-dimensional element types.
Two dimensional discrete continuous coupling analysis method based on particle element contact
- Zhou
M.S.U.O.C. Engineering, 129337, M. RUSSIA), A suitable discrete continuous finite element method for three dimensional structural analysis
- Zolotov
Discrete element analysis of asphalt mixture mesostructure
- Xiao
Study on structural stress and arching effect of asphalt pavement based on discrete continuous coupling
- Z R Huang
Mesoscopic analysis on subgrade deformation and exchange filling treatment in road widening based on continuous-discrete coupling
- Q Yan
- K S Qiao
- F Chen
- D Zhang
Highway Planning and Design Institute Co., Specifications for design of highway cement concrete pavement, Ministry of Transport of the People's Republic of China
- L Cccc
Road and Bridge Technology Co., Specifications for design of highway asphalt pavement, Ministry of Transport of the People's Republic of China
- L Cccc
Size designation, dimensions, inflation pressure and load capacity for passenger car tyres, The Standardization Administration of Chin
- C P A C Federation
In-situ assessment of concrete bridge decks and pavements using stress-wave based methods
- M Li
Application of infinite element boundary in numerical analysis of road engineering
- K K Wei
- D Lin
- T Wei
- H H Tu
- X F Wang