A. Mahboubi - Associate Prof., Department of Civil Engineering, Power and Water University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
E. Alai - Graduate student, Department of Civil Engineering, Power and Water University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

This study focuses on numerical modeling of large scale triaxial tests on rockfill material. In this way, appropriate micro-properties for modeling an actual dam could be evaluated. Due to large size of rockfill blocks, even using largest testing equipments, modified material (with smaller maximum grain size) should be used for laboratory testing. Discrete numerical modeling could overcome this limitation. To achieve this goal, using Discrete Element Method, numerical biaxial tests have been performed on rockfill material, and strength parameters have been estimated. Then numerical modeling results have been compared to actual triaxial tests. The obtained results seem remarkably useful and match actual test results. Therefore, the adopted approach could be used to predict properties of prototype rockfill material

Dam, rockfill, particle breakage, DEM