A comparison of discrete granular material models with continuous microplane formulations

The main objective of this paper is the discussion of two different strategies of simulating the constitutive behavior of granular assemblies. For this, we will focus on discrete particle methods which are widely used in physical science and on continuum–based microplane models which are applied by the engineering community. After deriving the overall constitutive equations based on Voigt’s hypothesis, special focus will be dedicated to the comparison of the relations between the microscopic and macroscopic quantities of each model. It will be demonstrated, that the two basically different modelling techniques lead to remarkably similar results for elastic as well as elasto–plastic material behavior.