Abstract: The study of stress waves is a key issue in the dynamic action of rocks. Based on the discrete element method, this paper carries out numerical simulation tests on rock samples to explore the influence factors and laws of stress wave propagation and attenuation. The analysis focuses on the influence of the element radius, damping coefficient, incident wave frequency and amplitude on the stress wave propagation of the rock numerical sample, compares and analyzes the real test results. The research results show that the discrete element method can effectively simulate the dynamic process, and the variation law of the stress wave propagation in the numerical rock sample is consistent with previous studies. The increase in the radius of the rock sample unit will increase the unevenness of the rock sample and increase the scattering attenuation; the larger the damping coefficient, the greater the attenuation of the amplitude at the same distance; the frequency of the incident wave in the rock sample decreases, the wave propagation trend develops from logarithmic attenuation to linear attenuation; the greater the amplitude of the loading wave, the greater the attenuation of the stress wave due to scattering, and the attenuation rate at the same propagation distance remains constant. 

Key words: Discrete element method, MatDEM, stress wave, attenuation, wave velocity