The caisson foundation has been extensively studied with experimental, analytical and numerical methods. However, the effect of particle shape on the caisson foundation is somehow ignored. In this paper, the caisson foundation is analyzed with DEM and the effect of particle shape is discussed in detail by introducing spherical and tetrahedral particles without rolling resistance, and spherical particle with rolling resistance. Firstly, a series of biaxial tests are simulated on samples with different particle shapes to obtain the soil properties, and typical shear behaviors are observed in all simulations. Then the effect of particle shape on the macro- and microscopic behaviors of caisson foundation is then investigated with different loading conditions. The results show that when subjected to external loading, compared with spherical particles, caisson foundation with angular particles or spherical particles with rolling resistance (1) has increased horizontal and rotational bearing capacities; (2) has much smaller particle rotation due to the strong interlocking capacity between particles; (3) exhibits higher stress concentration and magnitude of force chains; and (4) experiences significant increase on the magnitude of the anisotropy.

沉箱基础已经通过实验，分析和数值方法进行了广泛的研究。但是，以某种方式忽略了颗粒形状对沉箱基础的影响。在本文中，使用DEM分析了沉箱基础，并通过引入不具有滚动阻力的球形和四面体颗粒以及具有滚动​​阻力的球形颗粒来详细讨论了颗粒形状的影响。首先，对具有不同颗粒形状的样品进行了一系列的双轴试验，以获取土壤特性，并且在所有模拟中均观察到典型的剪切行为。然后研究了不同载荷条件下颗粒形状对沉箱基础宏观和微观行为的影响。结果表明，在承受外部载荷时，与球形颗粒相比，具有角质颗粒或具有滚动阻力的球形颗粒的沉箱基础（1）具有增强的水平和旋转承载能力；（2）由于粒子之间的互锁能力强，粒子旋转小得多；（3）表现出较高的应力集中和力链大小；（4）各向异性的幅度显着增加。