Studies on the accuracy stability and efficiency of a new time integration scheme for ballast modeling using the discrete element method

This paper presents the development of a semi-implicit time integration scheme, originally developed for structural dynamics in the 1970's, and its implementation for use in Discrete Element Methods (DEM) for rigid particle interaction, and interaction of elastic bodies that are modeled as a cluster of rigid interconnected particles. The method is developed in view of ballast modeling that accounts for the flexibility of aggregates and the arbitrary shape and size of granules. The proposed scheme does not require any matrix inversions and is expressed in an incremental form making it appropriate for non-linear problems. The proposed method focuses on improving the efficiency, stability and accuracy of the solutions, as compared to current practice. A critical discussion of the findings of the studies is presented. Extended verification and assessment studies demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is unconditionally stable and accurate even for large time step sizes. It is demonstrated that the proposed method is at least as computationally efficient as the Central Difference Method. Guidelines for the implementation of the method to ballast modeling are discussed.