Experimental Validation of Distinct Element Simulation for Dynamic Wheel-Soil Interaction

The most common discontinuum modeling technique, Distinct Element Method (DEM), was used to study the deformation behavior of the soil during dynamic wheel-soil interaction. In 2-Dimensional model, the number of soil particles which can be used in simulation program were considerably much less than the actual number of particles present in the laboratory experiments. The glass side soil-bin, which is the most commonly used validation method in soil deformation studies, was used to observe the soil deformation through glass sided window of the soil-bin. Three-CCD video and photographic images were analyzed and compared with the simulation program results. This paper presents the validation results for two types of soils at three different vertical loading conditions of 4.9, 9.8 and 14.7N. The results indicated that the simulated sinkage of the rigid wheel was more than that of experimental sinkage for both types of soils. Inspite of the differences, it could be justified that the simulation program quantitatively validates the wheel-soil interaction.