The HZCrush contact model is an extension of the built-in Hertz-Mindlin contact model in PFC, which allows for particle crushing. This contact model is based on the model proposed by Ciantia et al. (2015). The efficiency and the ability to reproduce realistic behaviour of three different soils is further discussed in Ciantia et al. (2019a). The computational efficiency of the model led to 3D CPT and pile penetration simulations in crushable sands for the first time by Ciantia et al. (2016) and Ciantia et al. (2019b).

This model has been tested in PFC3D version 6.00.27, and not tested with PFC2D.