MODELLING OF SOIL CREEP WITH THE DISCRETE ELEMENT METHOD

The discrete element method (DEM) was used to stimulate creep processes in granular materials. The authors present the main features of the numerical model, which include a new viscous mechanism for particle sliding, a new feedback technique for maintaining constant stress during creep, and a scaling technique that allowed monitoring the long‐term creep behaviour of a granular assembly. The creep behaviour of the numerical model exhibited the essential characteristics of soil creep—a creep rate that decreased rapidly with time, an increase in the creep rate with the applied deviator stress, and the beginning of creep rupture. The model's numerical performance is discussed, and representative results are presented.