Discrete element method

Bonded contact models have been increasingly used in the discrete element method (DEM) to study cemented and sintered particulate materials in recent years. Several popular DEM bond models have been proposed in the literature; thus it is beneficial to assess the similarities and differences between the different bond models before they are used in simulations. This paper identifies and discusses two fundamental types of bond models: the Spring Bond Model where two bonded particles are joined by a set of uniform elastic springs on the bond’s cross-section, and the Beam Bond Model in which a beam is used to connect the centres of two particles.

Discrete Element Method (DEM) simulations have the potential to provide particle-scale understanding of twin-screw granulators. This is difficult to obtain experimentally because of the closed, tightly confined geometry. An essential prerequisite for successful DEM modelling of a twin-screw granulator is making the simulations tractable, i.e., reducing the significant computational cost while retaining the key physics.

VELaSSCo (Visualization for Extremely Large-Scale Scientific Computing) is a platform developed to provide new visual analysis methods for large-scale simulations serving the petabyte era. The platform adopts Big Data tools/architectures to enable in-situ processing for analytics of engineering and scientific data and hardware-accelerated interactive visualization.

Poster at Royal Society of Chemistry Formative Formulation Workshop, Maxwell Centre, University of Cambridge

Wet granulation is a process used to create larger stable agglomerates (granules) from fine powders. However, despite wide adoption, it is often inefficiently operated, with high recycle ratios in continuous processes and high rejection rates in batch processes. This numerical study simulates a GEA ConsiGma™ 1 Twin Screw Granulator (TSG), following a standard framework for model-driven design.

Poster at 8th World Congress on Particle Technology, Orlando, FL., USA

Wet granulation is a process used to create larger stable agglomerates (granules) from fine powders. This numerical study simulates a GEA ConsiGma™ 1 Twin Screw Granulator (TSG), following a standard framework for model-driven design.

Poster at 8th World Congress on Particle Technology, Orlando, FL., USA

This study employs the Discrete Element Method (DEM) to study a 25 mm diameter, GEA ConsiGma™ 1 Twin Screw Granulator (TSG), with a typical 60°configuration for kneading elements. The DEM simulations were conducted using the commercial code EDEM.

VELaSSCo (Visual Analysis for Extremely Large-Scale Scientific Computing) is an EC FP7 project involving a consortium of seven European partners.