DEM Simulation Based on Scaling Rule

Abstract

It is well known that Discrete Element Method, DEM, has been applied to predict dynamics of granular systems by tracing all the particles by solving equations of motions. When it is applied to industrial applications, we immediately are faced to the problems of computing cost, due to too many particles. That is why coarse-grained (CG) simulation methods are required, where a group of particles is replaced as a coarse-grained particle to decrease the number of particle. So far, several CG simulation methods such as SPA model and coarse-grained model have been discussed. So far, CG simulation method has problems of reproducing scaling properties of the granular systems at high scaling ratios, in which contact effects are dominant. The aim of this research is to solve the problems. This paper proposes a new simulation method called scalable DEM (SDEM), which is based on the followings assumptions: 1) particles on the force network only contributes to the dynamics of granules, 2) there are statistically same picture in terms of structure for different scaling ratios. In the paper, SDEM was applied to two systems: “dam break” and “discharge of granules from a rectangular container.” The following results were obtained through the research: a) comparable results were obtained for different scaling ratios, b) simulation predictions match to the experimental data for both two cases.