We introduce a new generalized 3DLS-DEM (3D Level Set Discrete Element Method) scheme that incorporates grain breakage, taking an important step towards realistic modeling at the micro-scale with DEM. For the first time, simulating thousands of real 3D grains that are able to break, which was possible due to the algorithm used for grain breakage. The presented scheme is not only capable of efficiently simulating grains with real shapes but also preserving mass and grains morphology with high fidelity when breakage occurs. Hence, with this approach, further works within the original 3DLS-DEM scheme could take into account other physical phenomena at the grain-scale such as electrostatic induced cohesion, heat transfer, or the presence of a fluid, etc. On the other hand, the breakage process modified grain size and roundness distributions, which, in turn, might change the strength and critical state of the sample. Withal, the overall process seems to suggest that grain breakage may be a sufficient condition to exacerbate the prevalence of shear banding within the sample. Finally, our model is able to perform breakage on several real 3D grains of a sample consisting of thousands of grains in a generalized 3DLS-DEM scheme.

我们引入了一种新的广义 3DLS-DEM（3D 水平集离散元方法）方案，该方案结合了晶粒破碎，朝着使用 DEM 在微观尺度上进行逼真建模迈出了重要一步。首次模拟数千个能够破碎的真实 3D 颗粒，这得益于用于颗粒破碎的算法。所提出的方案不仅能够有效地模拟具有真实形状的晶粒，而且能够在发生破损时以高保真度保持质量和晶粒形态。因此，通过这种方法，原始 3DLS-DEM 方案中的进一步工作可以考虑晶粒尺度上的其他物理现象，例如静电诱导的内聚力、热传递或流体的存在等。另一方面，破碎过程改变了晶粒尺寸和圆度分布，其中，反过来，可能会改变样品的强度和临界状态。此外，整个过程似乎表明，谷物破损可能是加剧样品中剪切带普遍存在的充分条件。最后，我们的模型能够在广义 3DLS-DEM 方案中对由数千个晶粒组成的样本的几个真实 3D 晶粒进行破坏。