Gap-graded soils, extensively utilized in geotechnical and hydraulic engineering, exhibit diverse strength characteristics governed by their distinctive particle size distribution (PSD). To investigate the influence of PSD on the shear strength of gap-graded soils, this study utilizes the Discrete Element Method (DEM) to reproduce drained conventional triaxial tests of gap-graded soils across a wide range of fine particle content (FC = 1-40%) and particle size ratio (SR = 2.5-6.0). The simulation results reveal that the peak shear strength follows a characteristic unimodal curve versus FC, att...
