A simplified parametric study of particle trace in soil mixing simulations using discrete element modelling

The focus of the study is be the fundamental parameters that affect the mixing process and, specifically, the disaggregation of the native soil through examination of the mechanisms of a body of granular particles by use of Discrete Element Modelling – a means to model arrangements and interactions of granular particles explicitly as individual particles. This is distinct from traditional soil mechanics approaches which have, in general, tended to treat soils as a continuum, accounting for what David Muir-Wood referred to as “particle-continuum duality”. The trend of increase in commercially available computational power has given rise to a corresponding rise in Discrete Element Modelling and associated commercially available software which until recently, had been beyond nominally available computing power. This has been a particular focus in the powder technology, food & agricultural industries and chemical engineering fields.