2022/06/22 by Fei-Liang Yuan, Yuan, Fei-Liang
Engineering · #Computational Engineering #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Finance #Fluid Dynamics Simulations and Interactions #Granular flow and fluidized beds #Soil Mechanics and Vehicle Dynamics #and Science (cs.CE)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2206.13238
openalex publication_date 2022/06/22 · openalex created_date 2022/07/01 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
In this paper, the surface of revolution discrete element method (SR-DEM) is introduced to simulate systems of particles with closed surfaces of revolution. Due to the cylindrical symmetry of a surface of revolution, the geometry of any cross-section about the axis of rotation remains the same. Taking advantage of this geometric feature, a node-to-cross-section contact algorithm is proposed for efficient contact detection between particles with a surface of revolution. In our SR-DEM framework, the contact algorithm is realized in a master-slave fashion: the master particle is approximated by its surface nodes, while the slave particle is represented by a signed distance field (SDF) of the cross-section about the axis of rotation. This hybrid formulation in both 2D and 3D space allows a very efficient contact calculation yet relatively simple code implementation. We then apply SR-DEM to simulate particle-particle, particle-wall impact, granular packing in a cylindrical container, and tablets in a rotating drum, to demonstrate SR-DEM's ability to predict the post-impact velocities, packing porosity, and dynamic angle of repose, respectively. Finally, we suggest a simple approach to find an optimal surface resolution, by increasing the number of surface nodes until some of the bulk properties that could characterize the system converge.