Implementation of a viscoelastic boundary condition to Yade – open source DEM software

Abstract

The paper presents implementation of a viscoelastic boundary condition to Yade software. The implemented boundary condition constraints linear displacements of bodies by applying a reaction force resulting from a solution of the Burgers rheological model. This work presents the results of one of validation tests, where the output of Discrete Element Simulation (DEM) was compared with an analytically formulated soft-contact problem. Furthermore, potential application in more complex simulations (plate load test) is demonstrated. It shows that the proposed approach allows for realistic yet efficient modeling of foundations purely within the DEM framework.