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eISSN: 2083-5906
ISSN: 1230-1485
ISSN: 1230-1485
ORIGINAL RESEARCH
DEM and CFD Modeling of Pore-Scale Hydraulic
Performance of Loose Gravel Soil from
a Large Reservoir Area under Planning
in the Upper Yellow River, China
1
College of Energy and Power Engineering, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou 730050, China
2
Smart Agriculture Irrigation Equipment Key Laboratory, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs,
Lanzhou, 730050, Gansu, China
3
Baiyin Research Institute of Novel Materials of LUT, Baiyin 730900, China
Submission date: 2025-04-19
Final revision date: 2025-07-20
Acceptance date: 2025-08-31
Online publication date: 2025-12-01
Corresponding author
Zhijun Wang
College of Energy and Power Engineering, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou 730050, China
College of Energy and Power Engineering, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou 730050, China
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
The failure mechanism of internal seepage flow in geotechnical bank slopes is complex.
Investigating the microscale characteristics of pore structure and seepage flow behavior forms the
scientific foundation for preventing slope collapse. This study focuses on Loose Gravel Soil from the
Heishanxia reservoir area of the Yellow River. Multi-view stereo modeling technology is employed
to scan and reconstruct coarse aggregate particles above d10 (0.14 mm), d20 (0.20 mm), and d30 (0.28
mm) from the gradation curve into clumps through multi-angle photogrammetric reconstruction, while
finer particles below these thresholds are modeled as spherical grains. Three virtual samples (B-10,
B-20, B-30) with varying proportions of spherical particles were developed in PFC 5.0 using precompaction
methods. The rationality of the modeling approach is verified by comparing the calculated
permeability with experimentally measured values. To further validate the methodological efficacy,
a variable hydraulic gradient soil column experiment replicating reservoir operational conditions
was implemented, followed by a comparative analysis of seepage characteristics through Stokes flow
solver simulations. Following the selection of representative elementary volumes (REV) using ninepoint
sampling, quantitative analyses of pore-space topology, including coordination number, pore
size, pore morphology, and fractal dimension, are conducted. Three-dimensional single-phase flow
simulations are performed along the X/Y/Z directions using pore network modeling (PNM), and the
seepage characteristics were analyzed. The proposed modeling methodology establishes a foundational framework for the future prevention and control of seepage flow-induced instability in the Yellow River
Stone Forest sandy conglomerate bank slopes.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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| eISSN: | 2083-5906 |
| ISSN: | 1230-1485 |
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