A new method to simulate irregular particles by discrete element method

Granular materials are ubiquitous in nature and important in various applications such as road and railway engineering. Granular materials exhibit complicated mechanical behaviors, which are affected significantly by the irregular shape of particles. Currently, the discrete element method (DEM) has been accepted as an effective approach to investigate the mechanical behaviors of granular materials. However, there are scarce simulations based on DEM in literatures considering the irregularity of particle shape. A new method is proposed to simulate individual real particle with irregular shape using clump constituted by overlapping spheres. First, the geometric model of real particle with surface nodes and inner nodes is established through digitally processing the computerized tomography (CT) scanning data. Second, a clump consisting of spheres is generated to simulate the real particle using a minimum distance criterion. The criterion is implemented by tree optimization algorithm. Influential factors are also introduced to balance the model accuracy and computing cost. Effects of the influential factors, including the density of geometric grid and the minimum distance, on simulations are discussed. Results show that this new method is simpler and more efficient than the previous methods in terms of the model accuracy and computing cost.

Generation of irregular particle packing with prescribed statistical distribution, spatial arrangement, and volume fraction

A method for packing irregular particles with a prescribed volume fraction is proposed.Furthermore,the generated granular material adheres to the prescribed statistical distribution and satisfies the desired complex spatial arrangement.First,the irregular geometries of the realistic particles were obtained from the original particle images.Second,the Minkowski sum was used to check the overlap between irregular particles and place an irregular particle in contact with other particles.Third,the optimised advance front method(OAFM)generated irregular particle packing with the prescribed statistical dis-tribution and volume fraction based on the Minkowski sum.Moreover,the signed distance function was introduced to pack the particles in accordance with the desired spatial arrangement.Finally,seven biaxial tests were performed using the UDEC software,which demonstrated the accuracy and potential usefulness of the proposed method.It can model granular material efficiently and reflect the meso-structural characteristics of complex granular materials.This method has a wide range of applications where discrete modelling of granular media is necessary.

Coupled simulation of fluid-particle interaction for large complex granules:A resolved CFD-DEM method for modelling the airflow in a vertical fixed bed of irregular sinter particles

A resolved CFD-DEM method is proposed to simulate the fluid-particle interaction for large complex granules.The airflow in a vertical sinter fixed bed is numerically studied using this method.The multi-sphere clumped method is used to create irregular sinter particles in DEM.The immersed boundary method and dynamic cell refinement are applied to describe the fluid flow around particles with higher resolution,by which the fluid-particle interaction can be simulated more accurately.The simulation results presented the packing voidage distributions and the airflow fields in the sinter beds of different single and mixed particle size ranges.The bed pressure drops were simulated and the results were compared with the corresponding experimental ones.The good agreement indicated that the proposed resolved CFD-DEM method is an effective tool to model the fluid-particle interaction for irregular large granules in the gas-solid multi-phase systems.

Applicability of discrete element method with spherical and clumped particles for constitutive study of granular materials

Discrete element method(DEM)has been intensively used to study the constitutive behaviour of granular materials.However,to what extent a real granular material can be reproduced by virtual DEM simulations remains unclear.This study attempts to answer this question by comparing DEM simulations with typical features of experimental granular materials.Three groups of models with spherical and clumped particles are investigated from four perspectives:(i)deviatoric stress and volumetric behaviour;(ii)critical state behaviour;(iii)stress-dilatancy relationship;and(iv)the evolution of principal stress ratio against axial strain.The results demonstrate that DEM with spherical or clumped particles is capable of qualitatively describing macroscopic deviatoric stress responses,volumetric behaviour,and critical state behaviour observed in experiments for granular materials.On the other hand,some qualitative deviations between experiments and the investigated DEM simulations are also observed,in terms of the stress-dilatancy behaviour and principal stress ratio against axial strain,which are proven to be critical for constitutive modelling.The results demonstrate that DEM with spherical or clumped particles may not necessarily fully capture experimental features of granular materials even from a qualitative perspective.It is thus encouraged to thoroughly validate DEM with experiments when developing constitutive models based on DEM observations.

Determination of the coefficient of rolling friction of an irregularly shaped maize particle group using physical experiment and simulations

The coefficient of rolling friction is an important physical property of a maize particle. It is difficult to obtain the value of this coefficient because of the irregular shape of maize particles. This paper describes an approach that combines the discrete-element method （DEM） and a physical test to determine the coefficient of rolling friction of irregularly shaped maize particles. A novel test platform was used to obtain the maize particle＇s coefficient of restitution and the coefficient of static friction. EDEM software （DEM- Solutions, United Kingdom） was used to simulate the accumulation of maize particles on particles and on a zincified plate. The golden-section method was used to determine the range of the maize particle＇s coefficient of roiling friction. A single-factor test was used to determine the relationship between the maize particle＇s coefficient of rolling friction and their angle of repose. The results obtained from the EDEM simulation were compared with physical test results to determine the intergranular coefficient of rolling friction and the coefficient of roiling friction between maize particles and the zincified plate. Our study demonstrates that the angle of repose increases linearly with the coefficient of rolling friction of maize particles. The effect of the coefficient of rolling friction on the particle movement is studied. The physical verification test indicates that the obtained rolling friction of the maize particles is accurate. The findings of this paper provide a theoretical basis for maize-processing machine design and a discrete-element studv of the motion of maize particles inside such machines.

Limits on rough-particle sizing with low-defocus interferometric imaging

We present a rigorous theoretical model for the influence of the aperture in interferometric out-of-focus imaging. We investigate the role of this effect on the properties of speckle-like patterns generated by irregular, rough particles. Finally, we determine the conditions under which these patterns are no longer representative of particle size but of the aperture itself and the defocus parameter.