Discrete simulations of granular materials with a Level Set shape description

International audienceNumerical modelling of granular materials classically adopt Discrete Element Methods (DEM) that provide a direct description of their discrete nature, together with all mechanical traits related with the latter. The Level Set-Discrete Element Method (LS-DEM) recently pushed DEM even closer to generic shapes, possibly mimicking real particles of a granular material [1]. LS-DEM relies onto a discrete form of the signed distance function to a particle's surface, indirectly describing the latter as the zero level set of the former, as well as onto boundary nodes being exactly located on a grain surface for the purpose of contact treatment