A MICROSTRUCTURAL FINITE ELEMENT MODEL FOR GRANULAR SOLIDS

A microstructural finite element model (MFEM) for granular material considering the microstructure of material is presentented. In the MFEM method, a volume of large number of particles is represented by an element consisting of a few nodal points. The stiffness matrix of the element is then formulated based on the contact stiffness and the packing arrangement of the particles. The method can be easily applied in the framework of finite element technique to solve boundary value problems in practical situations. Applicability of the model is evaluated by comparing the results of MFEM model with that from DEM model.