An efficient finite/discrete element procedure for simulating compression of 3D particle assemblies

An efficient combined finite/discrete element procedure is developed, which is intended for simulating compression of 3D particle assemblies. Its main ingredients are an explicit solution scheme of the predictor–corrector type, an efficient two-stage contact detection algorithm, and physically stabilized elements that require only one integration point. The algorithm admits a straightforward parallelization, with a reasonable parallel efficiency. Our results indicate that realistic systems comprising 1000 or more particles may successfully be analyzed within a reasonable computation time (not more than about 10–15 h). However, the explicit solution scheme limits the applicability of the algorithm in its present form to systems of fairly soft particles, unless special procedures such as mass scaling are used to increase the critical time step.