Continuous particle method for granular particle flow simulation and its extended application

This study introduces an application of a continuous particle method, which is the smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method, in the field of computational geotechnical engineering, enhancing the simulation of granular particle dynamics. The study refines the standard SPH method by integrating an elastic-perfectly plastic constitutive model with the Drucker–Prager yield criterion. Several enhancements include the incorporation of gravity loading with particle damping, stress field smoothing, and kernel gradient correction, which are designed to address the unique challenges of simulating granular flows. The effectiveness of the improved SPH is validated through a series of numerical experiments, demonstrating its ability to accurately predict large deformations and the complex interactions within granular materials. The results demonstrate that the SPH, with its non-cohesive elastic-perfectly plastic constitutive model, is good at simulating granular particle flow behavior. The improved model, featuring a stress smoothing technique, effectively mitigates numerical noise and reveals intricate stress distributions observed in certain granular flow scenarios. Furthermore, the study extends the application of the SPH to simulate the complex interactions in jet–soil coupling and the particle drawing process. The ability to handle these challenging scenarios underscores its versatility and potential for broader geotechnical applications.