Numerical study of the angle of repose of granular materials

This paper presents a numerical study of the angle of repose of granular materials by means of the discrete element method (DEM) that was originally proposed by Cundall and Strack but recently modified by incorporating a rolling friction model. The approach is first validated by comparison between numerical and physical experiments. Simulations are then performed under different conditions to study the effects of key variables such as rolling friction, sliding friction and particle size. The results indicate that increasing rolling friction coefficient or sliding friction coefficient leads to an increased angle of repose. Conversely, increasing particle size decreases the angle of repose.