A boundary-spheropolygon element method for modelling sub-particle stress and particle breakage

Abstract

Abstract We present a boundary-spheropolygon element method that combines the boundary element method (BEM) and the spheropolygon-based discrete element method (SDEM). The interaction between particles is simulated via the SDEM, and the sub-particle stress is calculated by BEM. The framework of BSEM is presented. Then, the accuracy and efficiency of the method are analysed by comparison with both analytical solutions and a well-established finite element method. The results demonstrate that BSEM can efficiently provide instant sub-particle stress for particles with an optimized compromise between computational time and accuracy, thus overcoming most of the disadvantages of existing numerical methods.