Discrete element modelling investigating the effect of particle shape on backfill response behind integral bridge abutments

Abstract

Integral bridges are designed without expansion joints or bearings to eliminate the maintenance and repair costs associated with them. Thus, the expansion and contraction due to daily and seasonal temperature variations of the deck of the bridge are restricted by the abutments, causing the abutments to move cyclically towards and away from the granular material used as backfill. This movement results in a stress accumulation in the backfill retained by the abutments. The Discrete Element Method (DEM) was used was used to perform a numerical sensitivity analysis, investigating the effect of granular particle shape on the response of backfill material retained by integral bridge abutments. Two DEM software suites were used to perform the simulations, namely STAR-CCM+, a commercial code, and Blaze-DEM, a research code under development at the University of Pretoria. Blaze-DEM makes use of Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) computing as opposed to traditional Central Processing Unit (CPU) computing. Blaze-DEM delivered computational times over 150 times faster than the equivalent simulation in STAR-CCM+. The results from the numerical sensitivity analysis showed that the particles with lower sphericities (higher angularities) experienced larger accumulations of stresses on the abutment as opposed to the more spherical particles. This was suggested to be a result of particle interlocking and reorientation.