Numerical Models in Discontinuous Media: Review of Advances for Rock Mechanics Applications

The paper presents a description of the methods used to model rock as discontinuous media. The objective of the work is to bring to the geomechanics community recent advances in numerical modeling in the field of rock mechanics. The following methods are included: (1) the distinct element method; (2) the discontinuous deformation analysis method; and (3) the bonded particle method. A brief description of the fundamental algorithms that apply to each method is included, as well as a simple case to illustrate their use.