Hi everyone. I have a basic question about the best approach to modeling interfaces such as geotextile in PFC. I am trying to simulate an interface shear test where the top box consists of balls and slides on top of an interface modeled after geotextile. Would I be better off to model the interface as a PFC wall, a PFC wall coupled with a FLAC shell element, or a clump? I have tried to model the interface as a PFC wall but am running into trouble when the wall has much lower stiffness than the balls. Any help with this or any prior examples would be appreciated.
Hello @paudyalp11,
I am no expert in this particular modeling, but I would steer away from using a wall to model the geotextile. Walls in PFC are rigid objects and I imagine the geotextile would deform under shearing. I would look into coupling PFC with structural elements (shells, geogrids or liners) OR here is some PFC modeling that incorporated geogrids as PFC clumps - Pavement-Design Package (PFC3D 5) | US Minneapolis - Itasca Consulting Group, Inc..
Thanks @dblanksma. I was skeptical about using PFC walls as geotextile due to the reasons that you stated. I will look into modeling it using clumps or coupling with structural elements.