ATCx Discrete Element Method

Since 2004 Astec has used Altair® EDEM™ to innovate and optimize creating more reliable and efficient equipment, improved customer profitability, and increased sustainability.  Over the years advances in hardware and software have permitted greater depth of exploration especially in the areas of fluid coupling and multi-physics.  In this talk we will describe our journey with EDEM, the current state, and where challenges remain.

After the keynote presentation the agenda will break into 4 parallel sessions, focusing on:

Heavy Equipment
Mining & Metals
Process Manufacturing
Emerging Applications

Find out more about the presentations by clicking on the tracks above.

Once registered for the event you will be able to view the times in your time zone and save specific sessions to your calendar.

Meet our experts in this interactive session to find out more about new features and updates in our software. Led by Dr. Carlos Labra, experts will be available for a live interactive Q&A session.

TRACK A
– Altair® EDEM™ Benchmarks – by Sophie Cole, Associate Product Manager, EDEM
– Combining EDEM™ and HyperStudy® to Optimize the Design and Operation of a SAG Mill – by Bruno Mimouni, Intern, Altair

TRACK B
– Simple and Efficient Modelling of Powders with the EDEM™ Powders Database – by Stefan Pantaleev, Senior Application Engineer, Altair
– Go With the Flow: When DEM Meets CFD – by Jerrin Job Sibychan, Application Engineer, Altair

TRACK C
– AI-powered Solution to Speed-up System Design and Optimization – by Livio Mariano, Director Math & Systems, Altair
– Model-Based Systems Integration: EDEM™, MotionSolve®, and Activate® – by Patrick Goulding, Senior Product Engineer, Altair

TRACK D
– Columbia Steel Cone Crusher – Modelling Breakage in EDEM™ – by Ignacio Diez Alonso, EDEM Application Engineer, Altair
– Introduction to Continuum Analysis in EDEM Analyst – by Mark Cook, EDEM Product Manager, Altair

Once registered for the event you will be able to view the times in your time zone and save specific sessions to your calendar.

This session will showcase how Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) in the construction, off-highway and agriculture industries use DEM simulation to understand and predict how ores, rocks, soils and grains will interact with their equipment and get key insight into machine-material interactions.

Learn how this technology can help reduce reliance and cost of prototyping and field testing, maximize payload, minimize damage or loss of material, as well as driving innovation.

Once registered for the event you will be able to view the times in your time zone and save specific sessions to your calendar.

Low-ground pressure (LGP) tires that exhibit higher flexibility than conventional standard radial tires are recently introduced for agricultural machine systems. The LGP tires carry a 20% to 40% larger vertical load than the conventional standard radial tires and appear to create a larger contact area on soft soils, potentially reducing soil compaction and improving traction and crop yield potential. Due to the complex soil-to-tire system between deformable soil and flexible tire elements, it has been challenging to fully leverage the dynamic systems modelling and computer-aided engineering (CAE) solutions to accelerate the virtual design and product validation of off-road vehicle mobility systems for developing energy-efficient traction at reduced soil compaction. Methods that deploy similitude scaling laws of soil-to-tire contact interface and developing soil models for high-fidelity computational methods such as the Discrete Element Method (DEM) for predicting 3D contact tire-soil interaction, traction forces, and soil compaction will be presented. The relationship between Bekker-Reece soil modeling techniques and DEM soil material properties was established and applied for predicting motion resistance ratio and rut depth at low and high tire inflation pressures. The predicted MRR at two tire inflation pressure settings were to single-tire test data at Soil Machine Dynamics Laboratory (SDML).

Verification of designs, and validation of the performance of the vacuum road sweeper product is fraught with exposure to experimental issue regarding the control of variables during full product testing. With Bucher Municipal’s drive to innovate new methods and systems we are embedding simulation in the design process. Now we are beginning to use Altair simulation tools such as HyperWorks® CFD / AcuSolve®, and EDEM™ to enable virtual verification of complex Multiphysics problems which enable us to control variables and produce better designs. This presentation is an introduction to the viability of using coupled fluid and Discrete Element Method simulations from the world or vacuum road sweepers as part of the design and Verification / Validation process.

In this case, the corresponding particle model is built by calibrating the relevant parameters of asphalt and aggregate, the mass transfer process of asphalt between aggregate particles is calculated by using CFD method, and the simulation model suitable for asphalt mass transfer is developed by combining the small mixing torque calibration. The mass transfer model was used to study the mixing effect and mixing uniformity of a mixer, and laid a foundation for optimizing the blade parameters of the mixer in the later stage.

A dump truck is equipment that mainly handles aggregate, which is a granular material, and repeatedly performs loading and dumping operations. Therefore, it has an environment in which abrasion by aggregates frequently occurs. Users of 15-ton dump trucks are dissatisfied with the vehicle’s wear-resistance performance. Most users are doing reinforcement to enhance the wear resistance performance through the aftermarket. It is necessary to build customer trust by improving the abrasion resistance quality of Hyundai dump trucks, and for this, an optimal reinforcing plate design is required. In this paper, a discrete element method simulation model was created by securing the abrasion properties of steel sheets by aggregate and applying them. The consistency of the simulation model was verified by comparing the measured values of the actual vehicle’s wear distribution and the aggregate’s dumping behaviour. And, by predicting the wear phenomenon by the aggregate, the thickness for the design of the reinforcing plate was suggested.

Kubota is developing products in the three fields essential to people’s lives: food, water, and the environment. In the food field, Kubota is developing tractors for cultivating soil and combine harvesters for harvesting crops to contribute to the efficiency and stability of agriculture. In recent years, we have been focusing on digital development to improve the efficiency of product development, and are working on the advancement of analysis technology to evaluate the performance of not only the vehicle itself, but also the behavior of the soil and crops. Altair® EDEM™is used to represent soil and crops, and this presentation will introduce examples of its use.

In this session, leading companies in the mining, mineral processing and steelmaking industries will discuss how they use DEM simulation to optimize the performance and reliability of equipment such as conveyor transfer points, crushers, grinding mills, and blast furnaces.

Find out how this technology can help improve the productivity of plants and support more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly operations.

Once registered for the event you will be able to view the times in your time zone and save specific sessions to your calendar.

Two examples of our Altair® EDEM™ usage linked to the steel industry are presented regarding sintering and blast furnace applications. Simulation results are validated with experimental data at the pilot scale in each configuration.

The first application is about the DEM modelling of segregation issue from a sinter feeder charging system in which cohesive granular material needs to be handled. The Elasto-Plastic and Adhesive contact force model is calibrated with shear test simulations compared to experimental tests. The model is then implemented on a pilot scale charging system. At the outlet of the sinter feeder, simulation results show that the model reproduces qualitatively the vertical particle size distributions measured in the pilot experiment. The effect of the flow rate on the segregation is also in qualitative agreement with the experimental data. Granular flows in the feeder are analyzed, what provides a better understanding the material behavior and optimizes the sintering process.

The second usage presented is the modelling of a pilot scale blast furnace raceways with a CFD-DEM simulation using EDEM and Fluent. Injection in the blast furnace forms a raceway in front of the injector. The shape and evolution of the raceways being still a matter of debate in the community. We simulate the pilot scale blast furnace for which we have observations and data to validate a modelling approach. Simulation results show that a cohesion force needs to be added in the CFD-DEM method to stabilize the raceway. Providing a simple consumption model to mimic the combustion in the CFD/DEM with a cohesion force, successive raceway collapses are collected as it is observed in the experiment. A parametric study is conducted on the effect of the gas flow rate on the raceway parameters.

The reliable design and operation of bulk materials handling and processing plants can be difficult when dealing with complex geometries and difficult-to-handle materials, such as wet and sticky bulk solids. There is increasing pressure for mining and engineering companies to reduce operating costs by optimising equipment design for maximum cycle life and availability. Often a deterioration of bulk solids handling characteristics requires modification of plant equipment to increase efficiency and productivity of mine operations.

A lack of detailed design and analysis of bulk material flow can lead to sub-optimal performance and can result in substantial financial cost from delayed-start up, unscheduled downtime, reduced throughput and increased maintenance costs. These problems can occur due to inaccurate characterisation during design, inappropriate assumptions and extrapolations, miscalculations of particle trajectories and velocities and a lack of engineering tools to thoroughly visualise and analyse material flow through complex dynamic designs.

Discrete Element Modelling (DEM) is a powerful simulation method used to virtually prototype and test the performance of transfer equipment throughout a design cycle. When developed and applied correctly, DEM can provide insight into performance that exceeds the traditional, analytical methods.

This talk explores the ways engineers can leverage the power of particle simulation tools including the development of calibrated DEM Material Models and multi-physics capabilities to reduce operating costs and to examine the role that simulation-driven design tools can play to optimise the design and operation of material handling systems.

Tata Steel handles yearly several million tons of sinter for ironmaking. At present, a significant amount of the sinter becomes fines during handling and needs to be recycled. These fines are generated mainly during handling of sinter from plant to the blast furnace, inside transfer chutes. Repeated impact loading of particles against each other and against wall surfaces lead to their surface and body breakage thus, fines generation. The present work describes the calibration of a detailed breakage model of a sinter product, followed by model validation through simulation using the Discrete Element Method (DEM) in a simple laboratory handling system, besides a 14-m high, complex industrial-scale chute system. The full-scale validation consisted of comparing the final size distribution of material at the discharge belt of a transfer chute from the simulation using a commercial software (Altair EDEM) to results from an industrial survey, demonstrating reasonable agreement. In-depth analysis of the simulations made it possible to locate the problematic areas for the existing chute design, demonstrating the value of DEM not only to predict flow in chute systems, but also breakage and fines generation during sinter handling.

Recent advances in particle breakage modelling, besides microscale population balance models (PBM) and the discrete element method (DEM) now make possible the simulation of crushing and grinding operations, besides mechanical degradation during handling using DEM. Depending on the type of application, different approaches may be used, including embedded breakage in DEM or describing it using the specially formulated PBM. In the heart of both resides the Tavares breakage model, which is a suite of mathematical equations that describe the different modes of fragmentation (body or surface), besides breakage probability, energy-dependent fragment distribution and weakening due to unsuccessful stressing events – all calibrated on the basis of bench-scale experiments. Examples of application of the different approaches to simulate degradation in chutes, ball and stirred mills, besides selected crushers, are presented.

This session will feature key companies in the pharmaceutical, chemical and other process industries who will reveal how they use DEM simulation to get key insights into processes involving powders, tablets and other particulates.

Learn how this technology can help optimize processes, minimize the number of experiments, improve product quality, get products to market quicker and support the move towards continuous manufacturing.

Once registered for the event you will be able to view the times in your time zone and save specific sessions to your calendar.

In recent years, continuous mixing of powders has been a topic of great interest in the pharmaceutical industry.  Despite these advances, many solid oral dosage manufacturing processes still rely on batch powder blending to mix incoming raw ingredients.  In this work, we describe a comprehensive assessment of bin blending performance/blend homogeneity via calibrated DEM simulations and experiments with an acetaminophen formulation.  A range of process conditions are examined including bin scale, rotation speed, and powder fill level.  Various blend performance assessment techniques are utilized including on-line NIR and off-line NIR of powder thief samples.  Each of these are compared with corresponding virtual powder samples from DEM simulations as well as a DEM system-wide mixing index.  Several key points related to the impact of process parameters and sampling/analysis methods on the observed blending performance are described.

Achieving efficiency and reliability in pharmaceutical manufacturing processes that involve particulate solids requires fundamental micro and macro mechanical insight beyond that obtainable through experiments alone. In this context, numerical methods such as the Discrete Element Method (DEM) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) have significant potential to deliver a deeper understanding of process mechanics at macro and micro scales and can be used to directly perform virtual process optimisation. In this talk we discuss the ongoing use of DEM and CFD-DEM modelling at Novo Nordisk focusing on two fundamental components of the drug product manufacturing process – pneumatic conveying and tableting.

Particulate products are widely used in industry, but manufacturing processes such as granulation or milling remain poorly understood. This is primarily because of the complexity of a typical particulate system involving particle–particle and particle–fluid interaction phenomena. Modelling of such particulate systems has become increasingly popular as a powerful means to gain insight into the phenomena that govern the particulate processes. However, it remains a challenge to translate reality into an efficient computational model.

This presentation describes an academic–industrial partnership project to develop a generic framework for creating digital models and enable industry to implement efficient state-of-the-art models, taking twin screw granulation as an exemplar case study. A multi-scale modelling approach is adopted, using Discrete Element Method (DEM) to provide particle-scale physics and inform the process-scale using Population Balance Model (PBM).

Flavor delivery systems are widely used in food applications such as coffee, tea, powdered soft drinks and chewing gum to protect volatile flavors and deliver them to in a consumer application upon a specific trigger (e.g., dissolution). It is important that these flavor particles are stable against elevated humidity and temperature conditions, and they should ideally have excellent flow properties without the help of flow aids.

In this application study we apply Discrete Element Methodology modeling to simulate the flow and mixing behavior of spherical particles to simulate the processing of these flavor products. Experimentally we conducted both static angle and dynamic angle of repose measurements on different flavor particles. In particular, we focus on the effect of particle size on flow properties in a rotating drum at around 1-50 rpm. We compare the agreement between measurements and simulations. This approach allows prediction of the bulk properties of this orange-flavored product, and it could also be used to predict the behavior of these flavors in a client’s final product, for example when blended with coffee or tea to ensure flavor uniformity.

Developing a drug into a drug product is a challenging and time-consuming undertaking. In particular, transferring the drug product manufacturing process from development to production scale is exceptionally critical and sometimes associated with unforeseen issues, which are only occurring in larger scales. Additionally, changes in material properties can heavily impact the processability of the material, but the significance of certain changes is often not easily predictable. In both cases, DEM has proven itself to be valuable in providing insights and identifying root causes for certain observations during drug product development.

In this session discover new and emerging applications of DEM for additive manufacturing, batteries, automotive, and more.

Look forward to presentations from Sumitomo Mining Metals, University of Sheffield, TU Munich and Pratt & Miller.

Soft-Soil Mobility Modeling has lagged behind on-road mobility modeling primarily due to the limitations of available soil and corresponding tire models. Pratt Miller in collaboration with Altair’s EDEM and MotionSolve teams have developed breakthrough soft-soil mobility simulation capability. The coupling of EDEM’s state of the art DEM soil modeling solution and a new flexible, pneumatic, treaded tire model, PM-FlexTire, it is now possible to extend what is possible via virtual development early in the PD process. This limits or avoids the need for prototypes at an early stage of mobility platform development with soft-soil use cases. Pratt Miller will present an overview of the PM-FlexTire/EDEM/MotionSolve solution, and brief on latest developments including Linux porting for HPC environments, CPU-GPU coupling to reduce solve time in many cases by more than 40%, and a post-processing utility for the PM-FlexTire simulation results.

The ever increasing demand for renewable energy worldwide means that developing efficient energy storage techniques are of critical importance. Materials in particulate forms are commonly used in essential energy storage systems, e.g. lithium-ion battery electrodes. In this project, Discrete Element Method (DEM) simulation is used to investigate the calendering process of lithium-ion battery electrodes. By combining DEM, X-ray computed tomography and electrochemical analysis, electrode mechanical and structural properties were investigated. Detailed stress and structural evolutions at microscopic particle scale were analyzed. This work provides a highly promising way to digitalize the next generation battery electrode manufacturing and design.

Recent improvements in computer performance have made it possible to simulate the behavior of many particles and heat transfer using the discrete element method (DEM). However, in the case of large scale equipment in industries, simulating particle behavior and heat transfer using DEM is still difficult due to a large number of particles required. To address this issue, we have developed the newly coarse-grained method named the Modified Coarse-grained method for Granular Shear Flow (M-CGSF)[1]. In this study, we conducted validation tests of M-CGSF for the sliced drum as a part of rotary kiln. As a result, it was confirmed from the DEM simulations applying M-CGSF for particle behavior and heat transfer agreed with the original case.

[1] M. Saruwatari, H. Nakamura, Chem. Eng. J. 428 (2022) 130969

High-performance and low-cost batteries have become a key feature in various applications, critical for reaching climate protection goals. Battery production requires significant improvements to achieve energy density and cost targets. The battery production process chain comprises many consecutive process steps significantly influenced by the material properties and electrode compositions. Therefore, it is crucial to deeply understand how the production processes affect the battery cell and determine what special requirements the battery production processes must fulfill. By creating Discrete-Element-Simulations, the processes can be observed at a micrometer scale, explaining multiple correlations of process parameters and the formation of the microstructure of battery electrodes. The Discrete-Element model is used to predict the process parameters for the calendering process, which significantly influences the electrodes’ mechanical and electrochemical properties and is decisive in defining their volumetric energy density and performance. In this presentation the parametrization and modeling of the calendering process are explained, followed by an outlook where DEM modeling will be used to simulate the battery production.

The Indian Cement industry is targeting to replace 25% of coal by utilizing Alternative Fuels (AFs) by 2030. However, available AFs in India have different characteristics & properties, and handling multiple types of AFs with a single system is a challenge. Although the technical know-how for AFs material handling equipment is well established now, yet the transfer of material from one equipment to another through a transfer chute may lead to jamming issues if the chute is not designed as per AFs properties and equipment kinetic parameters. Transfer chute design is often overlooked, leading to build-up, blockage, and wear in chutes. This presentation covers right approach to design the transfer chute while handling various types of alternative fuels by utilizing DEM Application.