Calibration of Railway Ballast Modeling Using Level Set Discrete Element Method

This work presents the utilization of the level set discrete element method (LS-DEM) in modeling the behaviors of variously shaped granite ballast rocks. The modeling was based on realistic ballast shapes using the grain-shape data obtained from the 3D-photogrammetric reconstruction. A series of tests were conducted on scanned rocks by employing level-set contact schemes, which include a static depositing test within a container and a dynamic angle of repose measurement test using a rotating drum. The simulation results were then validated and calibrated through comparison with experimental data derived from this work. The consistent agreement between the simulations and experiments demonstrates that the LS-DEM can effectively capture the morphologies of ballast rocks and quantitatively restore their behaviors.