Coupled discrete element modeling of fluid injection into dense granular media

2013 ◽  
Vol 118 (6) ◽  
pp. 2703-2722 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fengshou Zhang ◽  
Branko Damjanac ◽  
Haiying Huang
Keyword(s):  
Granular Media ◽  
Discrete Element ◽  
Fluid Injection ◽  
Discrete Element Modeling ◽  
Element Modeling

Massively Parallel Discrete Element Modeling of Wheeled Mobility on Granular Terrain

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan Houlihan ◽  
Rudranarayan Mukherjee
Keyword(s):  
Granular Media ◽  
Discrete Element ◽  
Emergent Behavior ◽  
Massively Parallel ◽  
Discrete Element Modeling ◽  
Ground Vehicles ◽  
Element Modeling ◽  
Dynamic Mobility ◽  
Parametric Studies ◽  
Wheeled Mobility

Quantitatively understanding wheeled mobility on granular terrain such as sand or gravel is critical for design and operations of ground vehicles for terrestrial or extra-terrestrial applications. While the Bekker-Wong theory of wheeled mobility and its derivatives have been used in many applications, the static nature of these formulations are limiting in understanding mobility in deformable terrain under dynamic mobility conditions. Single wheel hardware experiments in laboratory settings and detailed modeling of wheel-terrain interactions are two avenues currently being actively pursued to develop quantitative understanding of wheeled mobility. In this paper, we present findings of massively parallel discrete element modeling of wheeled mobility on granular media such as sand. We present a brief overview of the underlying methodology and then focus on the results of the simulation. In these simulations, we model the inter-granular interactions and interactions between the wheel and the granules with an objective of using high fidelity first-principles approach to capture emergent behavior in these complex and highly dynamic phenomena. These simulations typically model millions of granules and use highly scalable software and parallel computing resources to overcome the severe complexity of the problem. We present results of parametric studies with varying levels of both wheel penetration and mobility conditions. These have been modeled to present a quantitative perspective of the diverse behaviors encountered in wheeled mobility on granular terrain. We have retained the full complexity of the problem by simulating granules of the size encountered in real terrain to overcome the fidelity limited issues of other comparable methods that use much larger granules.

scholarly journals Three-dimensional discrete element modeling of triggered slip in sheared granular media

2014 ◽  
Vol 89 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Behrooz Ferdowsi ◽  
Michele Griffa ◽  
Robert A. Guyer ◽  
Paul A. Johnson ◽  
Chris Marone ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Granular Media ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Discrete Element ◽  
Discrete Element Modeling ◽  
Element Modeling

Discrete element modeling of fluid injection–induced seismicity and activation of nearby fault

2015 ◽  
Vol 52 (10) ◽  
pp. 1457-1465 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeoung Seok Yoon ◽  
Günter Zimmermann ◽  
Arno Zang ◽  
Ove Stephansson
Keyword(s):  
Shale Gas ◽  
Induced Seismicity ◽  
Fluid Pressure ◽  
Discrete Element ◽  
Fault Reactivation ◽  
Fluid Injection ◽  
Enhanced Geothermal Systems ◽  
Discrete Element Modeling ◽  
Geothermal Systems ◽  
Element Modeling

Enhanced geothermal systems, shale gas, and geological carbon sequestration all require underground fluid injection in high-pressure conditions. Fluid injection creates fractures, induces seismicity, and has the potential to reactivate nearby faults that can generate a large magnitude earthquake. Mechanisms of fluid injection–induced seismicity and fault reactivation should be better understood to be able to mitigate larger events triggered by fluid injection. This study investigates fluid injection, induced seismicity, and triggering of fault rupture using hydromechanical-coupled discrete element models. Results show that a small amount of fluid pressure perturbation can trigger fault ruptures that are critically oriented and stressed. Induced seismicity by rock failure shows in general higher b-values (slope of magnitude–frequency relation) compared to seismicity triggered by the fault fracture slip. Numerical results closely resemble observations from geothermal and shale-gas fields and demonstrate that discrete element modeling has the potential to be applied in the field as a tool for predicting induced seismicity prior to in situ injection.

scholarly journals An Energy-Based Discrete Element Modeling Method Coupled with Time-Series Analysis for Investigating Deformations and Failures of Jointed Rock Slopes

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 5447
Author(s):  
Xiaona Zhang ◽  
Gang Mei ◽  
Ning Xi ◽  
Ziyang Liu ◽  
Ruoshen Lin
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Iterative Process ◽  
Discrete Element ◽  
Jointed Rock ◽  
Modeling Method ◽  
Discrete Element Modeling ◽  
Rock Slopes ◽  
Sliding Surface ◽  
Element Modeling ◽  
Displacement Based

The discrete element method (DEM) can be effectively used in investigations of the deformations and failures of jointed rock slopes. However, when to appropriately terminate the DEM iterative process is not clear. Recently, a displacement-based discrete element modeling method for jointed rock slopes was proposed to determine when the DEM iterative process is terminated, and it considers displacements that come from rock blocks located near the potential sliding surface that needs to be determined before the DEM modeling. In this paper, an energy-based discrete element modeling method combined with time-series analysis is proposed to investigate the deformations and failures of jointed rock slopes. The proposed method defines an energy-based criterion to determine when to terminate the DEM iterative process in analyzing the deformations and failures of jointed rock slopes. The novelty of the proposed energy-based method is that, it is more applicable than the displacement-based method because it does not need to determine the position of the potential sliding surface before DEM modeling. The proposed energy-based method is a generalized form of the displacement-based discrete element modeling method, and the proposed method considers not only the displacement of each block but also the weight of each block. Moreover, the computational cost of the proposed method is approximately the same as that of the displacement-based discrete element modeling method. To validate that the proposed energy-based method is effective, the proposed method is used to analyze a simple jointed rock slope; the result is compared to that achieved by using the displacement-based method, and the comparative results are basically consistent. The proposed energy-based method can be commonly used to analyze the deformations and failures of general rock slopes where it is difficult to determine the obvious potential sliding surface.

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