Representation of real particles for DEM simulation using X-ray tomography

A flexible pavement structure consists of mainly bonded or unbonded granular materials. In the simulation of the behavior of these pavement materials, Discrete Element Method (DEM) treats the two materials similarly with exceptions in contact modeling. A common problem for modeling both materials is the representation of three-dimensional (3D) real particles. This paper presents some recent developments in representing particles of irregular shapes in 3D scheme through two methods, the clustering method and the equivalent ellipsoid method using X-ray tomography imaging and image analysis.