Visualization of Particle Interactions in Granular Media

Interaction between particles in so-called granular media, such as soil and sand, plays an important role in the context of geomechanical phenomena and numerous industrial applications. A two scale homogenization approach based on a micro and a macro scale level is briefly introduced in this paper. The behavior of the granular matter at the micro scale level is captured by a discrete element method, allowing the simulation of breaking and forming of contacts between the single grains. The problem at the macro scale level is discretized by the finite element method. Computation of granular material in such a way gives a deeper insight into the context of discontinuous materials and at the same time reduces the computational costs. However, the description and the understanding of the phenomena in granular materials are not yet satisfactory. A sophisticated problem-specific visualization technique would significantly help to illustrate failure phenomena at the microscopic level. As main ...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2008
• Where: TVCG
• Authors: Holger A. Meier, Michael Schlemmer, Christian Wagner, Andreas Kerren, Hans Hagen, Ellen Kuhl, Paul Steinmann
• Keywords: Macro Scale Level, Micro Scale Level, Scale Level, TVCG 2008