ENGINEERING COMPUTATIONS, VOL.

9, 1 0 1 - 1 1 3 ( 1 9 9 2 )

NUMERICAL MODELLING OF DISCONTINUA

PETER A. CUNDALL and ROGER D. HART

Itasca Consulting Group, Inc.,1313Fifth Street SE, Suite 210, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55414, USA

ABSTRACT
Discrete element methods are numerical procedures for simulating the complete behaviour of systems of
discrete, interacting bodies. Three important aspects of discrete element programs are examined: (1) the
representation of contacts; (2) the representation of solid material; and (3) the scheme used to detect and
revise the set of contacts. A proposal is made to define what constitutes a discrete element program, and
four classes of such programs are described: the distinct element method, modal methods, discontinuous
deformation analysis and the momentum-exchange method. Several applications and examples are
presented, and a list is given of suggestions for future developments.

KEYWORDSDEM approaches DEM applications

INTRODUCTION
Most physical materials and systems are discontinuous at some level. The collection of objects
in a typical room (tables, chairs, lamps) obviously constitute a discontinuous system if we wish
to study their dynamic interaction. However, materials such as soil and concrete are often treated
as continuous even though they consist of discrete grains at a microscopic level. This continuum
approach is successful because the microstructure has a length scale much smaller than that of
the objects that are normally of interest (e.g., dams, bridge decks). But it is often rewarding to
model such 'continua' as discontinua because new knowledge can be gained about their
macroscopic behaviour when their microscopic mechanisms are understood. Materials such as
jointed rock, ice plates and masonry are ideal candidates for modelling as discrete systems
because the length scale of interest (for mechanical behaviour) is similar to that of the discontinuity
spacing. Many new applications for discontinuous modelling are being foundfor example,
simulation of comminution in ball mills, flow of powders and grains, physical animation for
computer graphics.
About twenty years ago in the geotechnical field, discontinuities were introduced into numerical
models by modifications to existing continuum methods (e.g., Goodman 1 ). Then the opposite
approach was tried, that of starting with a method designed specifically to model discontinua,
and treating continua (if at all) as a special case. Collectively, such methods are known as discrete
element methods. Later, we attempt to define what constitutes a discrete element method. Before
that, we examine the three most important aspects of any discrete element programthe
representation of contacts, the representation of solid material, and the scheme used to detect
and revise the set of contacts.
This paper is not intended to be an exhaustive review or history of all the different approaches
and applications of discrete element methods. The objective is to summarize important aspects
in the modelling of systems of discrete bodies (both physical and numerical aspects) and to
indicate the diversity of applications. Several applications are illustrated.

0264-4401 /92/020101 -13$2.00

1992 Pineridge Press Ltd Received February 1991
102 PETER A. CUNDALL AND ROGER D. HART

REPRESENTATION OF CONTACTS
A discontinuous medium is distinguished from a continuous one by the existence of contacts or
interfaces between the discrete bodies that comprise the system. An important component of
any discrete element method is the formulation for representing contacts. All of the methods
allow contacts to open or slide, but the methods are divided into two groups by the way in
which they treat behaviour in the normal direction of motion. In the first group, using the soft
contact approach, a finite normal stiffness is taken to represent the measurable normal stiffness
that exists at a contact or on a joint. In the second group, using the hard contact approach,
interpenetration is regarded as non-physical, and algorithms are used to prevent any
interpenetration of the two bodies that form a contact. The two assumptions will be examined
in some detail.

Soft contacts
A well known example of a soft contact formulation is the Hertz theory2, in which the
assumption of elasticity is used to derive the normal stiffness of the contact between two
deformable spheres. A further assumption is that the radius of the contact area is small compared
to the radius of the spheres. The derived normal stiffness is non-linear, and may be used directly
in numerical simulations of sphere assemblies. Other types of interfaces, such as rock joints, may
display similar behaviour because the asperities on a rough surface act as though they are an
assembly of tiny spherical contact points. This type of picture is exploited by Swan3 in his
theoretical derivation of properties for interfaces of given roughness. Measurements on rock
joints4 indicate that the joint normal stiffness (measured in terms of stress/displacement) is
comparable to that of the adjoining rock blocks (assuming 1-10 m blocks), at low stress levels.
Joint shear stiffnesses are even lower. Soft contact conditions also apply when crushing or flow
occurs: for example, in sintering5, compression of powders at high pressure and in the interaction
of ice plates.
A misconception often arises in connection with simulations based on soft contact logic.
Conventionally, the contact force is assumed to start from zero at the point when the bodies
first touch. Since contact forces are related to contact displacements, one body must interpenetrate
the other to produce any finite value of contact force. At first sight, it seems non-physical that
two bodies can penetrate one another. What really happens is that surface deformation occurs
rather than interpenetration. For example, when two spheres continue to approach one another
after their initial contact, the displacement is accounted for by elastic distortion around the
circular, flat area of contact; there is no interpenetration. Another way of looking at soft contact
is to imagine that the bodies are covered by surface layers of soft material that represent the
more deformable conditions at the interface. When the bodies move together, it is the deformation
of the surface layers that accounts for the apparent interpenetration.

Hard contacts
The physical assumption in the case of hard contact is that no interpenetration of the two
bodies occurs, although shear movement and opening can occur. No measurable material
constants are required. The task of the numerical scheme is to ensure displacement compatibility
in the normal direction at all contacts, while satisfying equilibrium and the constitutive laws.
The hard-contact assumption is especially appropriate in simulations of 'molecular dynamics'6
or in animations7, in which sparse populations of bodies move around at high speed, and interact
by collision. The collisions are very brief, and can be modelled as instantaneous exchanges of
momentum; energy may or may not be conserved by the particle pair. Momentum balance can
 NUMERICAL MODELLING OF DISCONTINUA 103

also be used to calculate the normal force at a hard contact even when particles are in permanent
contact: for example, Pine and Cundall 8 , describe the program FRIP, which assumes that a
rock joint is rigid compared to the adjoining rock blocks, at high stress levels. However, the
generalization to ensure compatibility in systems of irregular blocks in close contact is difficult,
and it is usually necessary to use an iterative scheme 9 .

Choice of contact assumption

The choice of contact assumption should be made on the basis of physics rather than on
numerical convenience or mathematical elegance. It is possible for the same physical system to
exhibit different behaviour, depending on circumstances. For example, an assembly of spheres
is best represented with rigid contacts when the friction coefficient is zero and the stress level
is very small 10 . However, if we wish to model wave propagation through the same assembly at
higher stress and friction, we must take the contact stiffness into account in order to obtain the
correct wave speed. The proponents of rigidly non-intersecting bodies sometimes imply that their
assumption is the 'correct' one, and that people who introduce soft contacts are somehow making
a compromise in order to render their numerical scheme workable. This may be true in some
cases but, in others, a physically measurable stiffness exists. In this case, a soft contact scheme
is actually a better model of reality than a hard contact scheme.
The preceding comments relate to the magnitude of the contact force. Its location is also the
subject of different opinions. For point contacts (or contact almost at a point) the location of
the resultant force vector clearly is at the point of contact. But where contact conditions exist
over a finite surface area on both bodies, the force location is not so obvious. One assumption
might be that the resultant force acts at the centroid of the interpenetration volume. Cundall 11
suggests that the location should be regarded as an independent constitutive property, depending
on the relative rotation of the two surfaces in contact. Pentland and Williams 12 also recognize
that the contact point can migrate across the contact area as the relative orientation changes,
but they give little detail on their physical assumptions. Even if a computer program can relate
force location to geometrical variables, there are very little data from physical tests to substantiate
any physical assumption at present.

REPRESENTATION OF SOLID MATERIAL

There are two main divisions in the representation of the solid material that constitutes the
particles or blocks: the material may be assumed rigid or deformable.
Early programs 1 3 - 1 5 took the particles to be rigid and the contacts to be deformable. The
assumption of material rigidity is a good one when most of the deformation in a physical system
is accounted for by movement on discontinuities. This condition applies, for example, in an
unconfined assembly of rock blocks at a low stress level, such as a shallow slope in well-jointed
rock. The movements consist mainly of sliding and rotation of blocks, and of opening and
interlocking of interfaces. Rigid particles may also be used when all intact deformation is
concentrated at the boundaries, as with the assembly of spheres mentioned before, in which
elastic deformation is localized at contact points.
If the deformation of the solid material cannot be neglected, two main methods can be used
to include deformability, described below.

Direct subdivision into elements

In the direct method of introducing deformability, the body is divided into internal elements
or boundary elements in order to increase the number of degrees of freedom. The possible
104 PETER A. CUNDALL AND ROGER D. HART

complexity of deformation depends on the number of elements into which the body is divided.
For example, the program UDEC 16,17 automatically discretizes any block into triangular,
constant-strain zones. In the elastic case, the formulation of these zones is identical to that of
constant-strain finite elements. The zones may also follow an arbitrary, non-linear constitutve
law. A disadvantage of the method is that a body of complex shape must necessarily be divided
into many zones, even if only a simple deformation pattern is required.

Superposition methods
A complex deformation pattern may also be achieved in a body by the superposition of several
mode shapes for the whole body. For example, Williams and Mustoe18 re-write the matrix
equation of motion for an element in terms of a set of orthogonal modes, which may or may
not be eigenmodes. Any number of these modes may be added in order to obtain the required
complexity of deformation pattern. The approach is very efficient for bodies of complicated
shape that deform in a simple manner, because only a few low modes need to be taken. However,
it is not easy to incorporate material non-linearity because of the need for superposition. A
somewhat similar scheme was devised by Gen-Hua Shi19 in his 'discontinuous deformation
analysis' (DDA). This method uses series approximations to supply an increasingly complex set
of strain patterns that are superimposed for each block. However, the use of direct strain modes
may be inconsistent18; the comment also applies to the 'simply deformable' element of Cundall
et al.20

DETECTION AND REVISION OF CONTACTS

Given a set of discrete bodies, there are two tasks to perform before the mechanical calculations
can be done. First, we must identify all pairs of bodies that can interact; second, we must
determine the type of interaction for each pair of bodies so identified. The term 'type of interaction'
means information about the vertices, edges or faces on one particle that are touching the
corresponding entities on the other.

Identification of interaction pairs

In the naive approach, every body is checked against every other body to determine if contact
can occur. If there are n bodies in the system, the computation time will be proportional to n2.
This is clearly unacceptable if there are several hundred bodies, and the contact check is done
frequently. A certain amount of pruning is possible by doing quick checks on the overlap of the
enclosing rectangles, rather than on the bodies themselves. Another strategy for reducing search
time is to do one exhaustive search at the start of the simulation, and then maintain a list of
neighbours for each body. Subsequent searches will be restricted to the local area around each
body, so that search time will be proportional to n. Hocking et al.21 refer to such an automatic
neighbour-updating procedure. Cundall16 describes a canonical data structure for a system of
2-D blocks that provides linked lists for each block that trace out the local area to be searched.
Schwartz and Yap22 describe a similar scheme that involves the division of space into Voronoi
cells. In three dimensions, the latter two strategies become unworkable. However, if most of the
bodies are of a similar size, the search time can be made proportional to n by dividing 3-D
space into cells. First, each body deposits a pointer into all cells that it occupies: this process
takes a computation time proportional to n. Then, in order to find its neighbours, a body simply
looks in the cells in its immediate vicinity. If the number of available cells is arranged to increase
with n, then the overall search time will be proportional to n (see Reference 11).
 NUMERICAL MODELLING OF DISCONTINUA 105

Interaction between pairs of bodies

Many people have considered the task offindingwhich vertex, edge or face on one polyhedron
will touch a corresponding entity on a second polyhedron, but few of them seem to offer schemes
that have search times proportional to the number of entities. For example, Hahn's scheme7 is
quadratic in the number of entities. A better approach is reported by Pentland and Williams12,
who use superquadrics for volumetric representation, which results in linear dependence on the
number of entities for the task of collision detection. Cundall11 proposes another scheme with
linear dependence, by the use of a 'common-plane' that bisects the gap between two bodies.
Collision detection is done between each body and the common-plane, rather than between the
two bodies.

COMPUTER PROGRAMS FOR MODELLING DISCONTINUOUS SYSTEMS

Manyfiniteelement, boundary element and Lagrangian finite difference programs have interface
elements or 'slide lines' that enable them to model a discontinuous material to some extent.
However, their formulation is usually restricted in one or more of the following ways. First, the
logic may break down when many intersecting interfaces are used; second, there may not be an
automatic scheme for recognizing new contacts; and third, the formulation may be limited to
small displacements and/or rotation. Such programs are usually adapted from existing continuum
programs.
We propose that the name discrete element method should apply to a computer program only
if it: (a) allows finite displacements and rotations of discrete bodies, including complete
detachment, and (b) recognizes new contacts automatically as the calculation progresses.
Without the first attribute, a program cannot reproduce some important mechanisms in a
discontinuous medium; without the second, the program is limited to small numbers of bodies
for which the interactions are known in advance. For the record, the term 'distinct element
method' was coined by Cundall and Strack23 to refer to the particular discrete element scheme
that uses deformable contacts and explicit, time-domain solution of the original equations of
motion (not the transformed, modal equations).
There are several published schemes that appear to resemble discrete element methods, but
are different in character or are lacking one or more essential ingredients. For example, the
'kinematic element method' of Gussmann24 is a scheme for automating the process of limit
analysis by optimizing the placement of sliding planes; it is not a complete modelling procedure.
Similar comments apply to the work of Livesley25. Many publications deal with the stability of
one or more rigid bodies, using the limit equilibrium method 26-29 . This method deals with the
static force equilibrium of the bodies, and does not address the changes in force distribution
that accompany displacements of the bodies. The method of Huston and Passerello30 models
the dynamics of rigid bodies with rigid, pre-specified contacts, but it does not allow general
connection geometry. Ltstedt31,32 investigates the use of Lagrange multipliers in the differential
equations, corresponding to the normal and frictional forces. He also presents a mathematical
formulation for the penalty function approach, but he finds difficulties with both methods, and
does not develop general programs. The work of Kawai et al.33 and Takeuchi and Kawai34 is
somewhat difficult to classify, because insufficient details are given. The scheme is a
rigid-body/deformable contact one, but it seems to be used for limit load estimation rather than
in general modelling of discrete assemblies. There are various models that compute the response
of randomly interconnected frames, springs, fuses or links that may deform, flow or break. They
resemble discrete element methods, but typically they concern pre-specified connection geometry,
106 PETER A CUNDALL AND ROGER D. HART

and may omit one or more degrees of freedom (e.g., spin). There are many references, but some
are representative35"37.
Although Goodman38 developed a finite element program that cannot strictly be called a
discrete element method, his pioneering work should be mentioned: as early as 1968, he modelled
a very complex problem with several hundred interfaces.
There are four main classes of computer programs that conform to the proposed definition
of a discrete element method.
1. Distinct element programs use explicit, time-marching to solve the equations of motion
directly. Bodies may be rigid or deformable (by subdivision into elements); contacts are
deformable. Representative codes are: TRUBAL39, UDEC 16,40 , 3DEC41, DIBS42 and
3DSHEAR43 (also see Reference 23).
2. Modal methods are similar to the distinct element method in the case of rigid bodies, but
for deformable bodies, modal superposition is used18,44. In dynamic simulations of dense
packings, it appears that the eigenmodes are not revised to account for the additional
contact constraints; this method may be better suited to loose packings. A representative
code is CICE45.
3. In discontinuous deformation analysis, contacts are rigid, and bodies may be rigid or
deformable. The condition of no-interpenetration is achieved by an iteration scheme; the
body deformability comes from superposition of strain modes. The computer program is
DDA9 (also see Reference 19).
4. In momentum-exchange methods, both the contacts and the bodies are rigid: momentum is
exchanged between two contacting bodies during an instantaneous collision. Frictional
sliding can be represented (see References 7, 46).
In Figure I, we summarise the attributes of the four classes of discrete element method, together
with the limit equilibrium method or limit analysis methods. We do not include the 'class' of
finite element or finite difference methods with slide lines because of the great variation between
programs. There are some programs in this class that exhibit most of the capabilities listed in
Figure 1, but they do not have automatic contact detection and general interaction logic, including
finite rotations and interlocking of blocks.

APPLICATIONS
Many applications of discrete element methods are reported in this conference issue; we refer
to a few published works in order to give some idea of the range of applications. Simulations
are either of boundary value problems, or are 'element tests', designed to measure the constitutive
behaviour of a particular discontinuum, and to observe the micromechanics. We consider element
tests first.

Element tests
Figure 2 shows an assembly of 432 spheres in periodic space, modelled by TRUBAL39. The
intensity of shading is proportional to the mean stress carried by each sphere, at the initial,
isotropic state of the sample.
It is interesting to observe the wide variation in load carried by the particles, even though
the sample was compacted at almost zero friction. Cundall et al.41 present the results of a
loading/unloading test in shear, performed on this sample; such a test takes about four hours
to perform on an 80386 microcomputer. Many such tests have been done on similar two- and
three-dimensional assemblies, and reported extensively. Numerical tests on assemblies of disks
 NUMERICAL MODELLING OF DISCONTINUA 107

and spheres have also been done by Thornton and Barnes48, Chen49, Ng50, Ting et al.51 and
several others. Drlik52 had the interesting idea of simulating the fragmentation process by a
scheme of replacing disks that meet a specified load limit with several smaller disks. Gili and
Alonso53 included the effect offluidmenisci between particles in order to model partly saturated
soils.
In an element test, we usually try to reduce or eliminate boundary effects, so that the 'true'
response of a representative element of the material is obtained. For example, periodic boundaries
appear to inhibit localization. The usual reason for doing element tests is to observe how the
measured constitutive behaviour depends on micromechanics, so that more rational constitutive
models can be constructed. These models are intended to be used in continuum calculations of
boundary value problems using, for example, the finite element method. However, some research
workers are bypassing the intermediate step, and are using discrete-particle models to simulate
directly large-scale problems with many thousands of particles. The first few applications
mentioned in the next section are in this category. The assumption is made that there is no scale
effect, i.e., that a problem modelled with few particles exhibits similar behaviour as the same
problem modelled with many particles.
Boundary value problems
Uemura et al.54 models the penetration and dynamic loading of a footing in soil by representing
the soil as an assembly of thousands of disks contained in a box. Ting et al.51,55 use a similar
108 PETER A. CUNDALL AND ROGER D. HART

approach for footings and slopes. The initiation and evolution of shear bands in a granular
material is studied by Cundall56 with an assembly of disks. The development of cracks in rocks
is modelled by Plesha and Aifantis57 as the breaking of bonds at existing grain boundaries in
a sample consisting of several hundred polygonal particles. A similar model was made for concrete
by Lorig and Cundall58 and by Trent59 for a cemented alluvium. Mustoe et al.60 and Hocking
et al.61 use a similar bond-breaking technique, but their formulation also allows blocks to break
into two when some load criterion is met. Models of jointed rock problems have been made by
several people9,62, and the influence ofjoint movements onfluidflowhas been studied by Harper
and Last63. Many simulations have been made of rapid flow and interaction of particles, both
angular and circular. Walton43,64, Butkovich et al.65, Nguyen et al.66 and Pentland and Williams12
used the soft contact approach and Campbell & Brennen46,67 used the hard contact approach.

Explosion induced groundfall in jointed rock. The effect of a dynamic wave on the stability
of a circular opening in jointed rock is demonstrated by model simulations made with the distinct
element code UDEC. The overall model is illustrated in Figure 3. Figure 4, in which the centre
region of Figure 3 is magnified, illustrates the onset of failure in rock containing two continuous,
high-angle joint sets, following the passage of a single dynamic pulse of high frequency and short
duration. The model contains 800 deformable blocks, with each block divided into triangular
finite difference elements, for a total of 16,000 degrees of freedom. Non-linear behaviour is
prescribed for the blocks (Mohr-Coulomb failure and non-associated plastic flow) as well as
for the joints (Coulomb slip model). The dynamic pulse is applied at the upper boundary of the
model, and the resulting failure occurs by separation and rotation of blocks defined by the two
 NUMERICAL MODELLING OF DISCONTINUA 109

joint sets. Two layers of blocks above the crown of the opening are shown to fail in Figure 4.
This failure is attributed to momentum 'trapped' in these blocks as the dynamic wave passes.
The momentum cannot return to the rock mass because the blocks separate from their neighbours.
The non-linear response of the jointed rock around the opening determines the final stress
state after the dynamic wave has passed. As Figure 5 indicates, a zone of approximately one
tunnel diameter around the opening has become de-stressed, while stress concentrations higher
than the initial stress state have become 'locked in' at some distance from the opening.
Discontinuous failure of the joints and plastic failure of the rock blocks both contribute to this
stress redistribution. This change in stress state may have a significant effect on the response of
the rock mass to subsequent mining in the area.

Caving in a confined environment. Two-dimensional and three-dimensional distinct element

studies provided an insight into the failure mechanism responsible for the cave of 15,000 tons
of rock in the back of a blast-hole stope in the East Mine of Falconbridge Limited, Ontario. A
model was constructed to test the supposition that cavability in a confined environment is a
function of the number of discontinuities or potential 'release' surfaces upon which failure can
occur (and progress).
A sample three-dimensional simulation performed in this study is illustrated in Figure 6, which
shows a view looking upwards into the caved region. The simulation was made with the distinct
element program 3DEC. The orebody region in the model contains five joint sets corresponding
to mapped orientations. The joint sets use various values of friction and cohesion; some sets
represent pre-existing features, others represent potential release surfaces. The model consists of
700 rigid blocks and requires a run time of approximately 30 hours on a 386 microcomputer
to establish whether failure will occur. The cave can be clearly seen at the bottom of Figure 6,
together with large offsets that have developed at several joint intersections. If one of the
flat-dipping sets is removed from the model, failure does not occur.
 110 PETER A. CUNDALL AND ROGER D. HART

Fault slip induced by mining. This example is intended to indicate the limit in model complexity
of current 3-D distinct element programs, rather than any numerical results. Figure 7 shows
one-half of a block of rock containing several joints and faults, and a central part, which is
partly mined out. The central region is shown magnified in Figure 8. In this problem there are
only 238 blocks, but the blocks are divided up into many internal elements10,000 in all, with
23,000 degrees of freedom. The program 3DEC generates the internal elements automatically,
and has a powerful logic for cutting the model into blocks. There is extensive plotting software
either to a VGA screen or to a laser printer, for example, perspective views with hidden-surface
removal and shading; arbitrary cross-sections, with superimposed vector or contour plots;
selection of blocks by screen pointer for removal, hiding, etc. The program is fully nonlinear,
and models either a static or dynamic problem.
The model was set up to determine the fault slip that would occur when one or more panels
are mined out. It runs on an 80386 microcomputer, and takes around five hours to compute
the effects of each mining stage.

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
We suggest that the following developments would be beneficial to the field of discrete element
modelling.
 NUMERICAL MODELLING OF DISCONTINUA 111

1. Robust and efficient algorithms for contact detection and updating, with documented test
results to indicate how they perform under various conditions of packing density, size
distribution and particle geometry.
2. Development of data structures and algorithms suitable for parallel-processing machines
(note that, in our opinion, parallel processing is a more useful development than vector
processing).
3. Codes that permit coupling of various aspects of mechanicssolid, fluid, thermal and
structural. For example, there is a need to model slurryflow,which consists of a population
of particles suspended in a movingfluid.It should be noted that more physical information
is needed before some formulations can be improved: in particular, we need better
constitutive models for 3-D interfaces (joints), in terms of both their mechanical response
and their effect on fluid flow.
4. Better treatment of fracturing or crushing of particles, without (a) incurring high
computational cost, or (b) compromising the physics unduly by simplifying the process.
5. Development of generation schemes that can create populations of particles that conform
with given statistical specifications. A good generator is urgently needed to produce 3-D
samples of jointed rock. However, the difficulty here is knowing what might be a suitable
set of parameters to characterize the geometry of a rock mass. The generation scheme
should also produce a corresponding data structure.
6. Establishment of a computer facility dedicated to the simulation of discrete systems. Such
a facility could be rented (complete with technicians) by the day or week, to enable research
workers from many fields to simulate their particular physical system without having to
know about numerical modelling or the details of the software and hardware. The concept
is analogous to a large centrifuge, which can be booked for doing physical experiments.
We believe that a large parallel-processing machine with good graphics would be ideal
for doing numerical experiments.
7. The study of systems that exhibit chaotic behaviour, i.e., systems for which infinitesimal
perturbations in their initial conditions lead to a large divergence in system behaviour.
There are many examples of such physical behaviour in discontinuous systems, but many
people seem unaware of it, and imagine that the numerical method is faulty if they observe
it in simulations. Gleick68 provides a good popular overview of the subject.
8. Better documentation, in published work, of the essential features of a proposed method.
In too many papers, certain key facts are simply missing.
9. The elimination of discrete element methods? If we could develop continuum formulations
that successfully reproduce the effects of a discontinuum (such as micro-rotation,
interlocking, etc.) we could use more efficient continuum programs for modelling. A
promising start on such formulations has been made by Mhlhaus69 and Pariseau70.

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