This paper aims at studying the shear behavior of homogeneous granular materials by conventional triaxial test. The work is performed both in laboratory tests and by discrete element method simulations. Conventional triaxial tests are performed on glass beads packing, while a cylindrical rigid wall boundary condition based on lame formula and a series of procedures are proposed to simulate the conventional triaxial test. The experimental results on dry and saturated glass beads samples have been studied to find out the effect of saturation condition on the shear behavior. The comparisons between experimental and numerical results show that the numerical model can reproduce deviatoric curves satisfactorily in experimental conditions as long as experimental sample remains cylindrical. It correctly describes the volumetric strains of a numerical sample up to the peak value. Additionally, a parametric study on the influence of main micromechanical parameters has been carried out, which has been compared to experimental tests with glass beads of different textures. The comparison highlights the significant effect of friction coefficients and rolling resistance coefficients on global behavior of granular materials. (C) 2016 The Society of Powder Technology Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. and The Society of Powder Technology Japan. All rights reserved.