Review of contact models used in Discrete Element Method (DEM)

Abstract

This work presents a detailed review of the methods proposed to implement Mindlin's no-slip and partial slip model under constant normal loading and Mindlin Deresiewicz's extensional work on micro-slip under varying normal loading, for the simulation of granular flow. Various methods that followed Mindlin's and Mindlin and Deresiewicz's approaches for modeling the tangential contact between two spherical particles are reviewed thoroughly, first, to understand the tangential load-displacement behaviour and finally to compare the tangential coefficient of restitution obtained from each of these models with the experimentally determined values reported in the literature. The tangential load-displacement behaviour obtained from the integral method is qualitatively different from that determined by the incremental method, which accounts for the loading history. Tangential and rotational coefficient of restitution in the gross sliding regime obtained from all the models show excellent agreement with the experimental result, but in the sticking regime, the agreement is only qualitative.