Normal and tangential force-displacement relations for frictional elasto-plastic contact of spheres

In this paper, we present the data obtained from numerical experiments that are at the foundation of our successful elasto-plastic force-displacement (FID) models in both the normal direction and tangential direction of spher es in collision. We also present in detail how these data were obtained. Ou r numerical experiments are in the form of frictional elasto-plastic finite -clement analysis of spherical particles in contact. We use the numerical e xperiments to observe the behavior of various quantities involved in the co ntact (e.g. contact-area radius, contact curvature, stresses, FD relations, etc.). This observation has helped us to devise an accurate and consistent model for frictional elastoplastic contact of spherical particles that are used in granular-flow simulations that may involve tens of thousands of th ese particles. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.