Elastic Properties Calibration Approach for Discrete Element Method Model Based on Voronoi Tessellation Method

The purpose of this study is to establish a calibration approach for connecting the macro elastic properties and micro contact properties of the DEM model based on Voronoi tessellation method. Analytical solutions were formulated to predict macro elastic properties for the DEM model with regular contact sets. Based on the combination of the analytical solutions and numerical calculations, a simple calibration approach has been established to predict the elastic modulus and Poisson’s ratio of the DEM model with Voronoi tessellation. The influences from contact stiffnesses, block size and the spatial distribution of contacts can be comprehensively considered. Variations of the proposed approach were studied, which is size effected, and the uncertainties related to the approach were shown graphically.