A Study on the Applicability and Accuracy of the Discrete Element Method for Plates Based on Parameter Sensitivity Analysis

In order to verify the accuracy and applicability of the discrete element method (DEM) in dealing with geometrically large deformations of continuous plate structures, both a single-parameter analysis and an orthogonal design method were adopted to analyze the displacement responses of the plate structures and were compared with those calculated using the finite element method (FEM). The single-parameter change condition involved the thickness-to-width ratio, elastic modulus, or Poisson's ratio, while the multi-parameter change included boundary conditions, dimensions, load forms, thickness-to-width ratio, elastic modulus, and Poisson's ratio. The results showed that displacements of the target locations were basically identical to those obtained according to FEM, with a maximum error of less than 5% under the single-parameter change condition. The maximum displacement error of the plate structures calculated using the DEM and FEM, respectively, was 4.212%, and the mean error and extreme difference of error parameters were 2.633% and 2.184%, respectively. These results indicate that the displacements of the plate structures calculated using the DEM were highly consistent with those obtained according to the FEM. Additionally, single-parameter changes and multi-parameter changes barely influenced the accuracy and suitability of the DEM in solving displacement response problems of plate structures. Therefore, the DEM is applicable in terms of dealing with displacement response problems of plate structures.