New trends in improvement and application of discrete element methods
Résumé
Discrete element methods (DEM) constitute an important tool for the study of granular matter and divided materials or structures. Basically DEM model a material or a structure at the grain scale and are able to describe various complex behaviors (flow, localization of deformations, fracture, dissipation, etc) which can't be properly represented by continuum approach even with advanced constitutive model based on a huge number of parameters.