The discrete element method (DEM) is a numerical technique that models the mechanical behavior of discontinuous media by representing the material as an assembly of discrete, interacting bodies whose motion and contact forces are computed explicitly through time-stepping algorithms. Each element is treated as a rigid or deformable particle, block, or clump, and interactions between neighboring elements are resolved through contact detection, contact force laws, and integration of Newton's equations of motion ^[1]. The method is fundamentally distinguished from continuum finite-element methods in that it does not enforce a continuum assumption; instead, it captures fracture, fragmentation, mixing, segregation, and large deformation as emergent properties of particle-particle contacts. Contact forces are computed using constitutive laws that model normal and shear stiffness, friction, damping, and, in bonded-particle implementations, cementation or cohesive bonds between particles that break when stress thresholds are exceeded ^[2]. The governing computational cycle consists of detecting all contacts within a time step, applying contact force laws, solving the equations of motion for each body, and updating particle positions and orientations, with the time step constrained by the critical contact oscillation period to ensure numerical stability ^[3].