2010/11/27 by Derek C. Richardson, D. C. Richardson, Kevin J. Walsh +3
Engineering · Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Classical mechanics #Cylinder #Discrete element method #Finite element method #Geometry #Granular flow and fluidized beds #Granular material #Mathematics #Mechanics #Oscillation (cell signaling) #Particle (ecology) #Physics #Plane (geometry) #Planetary Science and Exploration #Rotation (mathematics) #SPHERES #Soil Mechanics and Vehicle Dynamics #astro-ph.EP #physics.geo-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2010.11.030
published as Icarus 212 (2011) 427-437 · 54 manuscript pages, 8 figures including 4 in colour (online version only)
openalex publication_date 2010/11/27 · arxiv created 2013/06/11 · arxiv updated 2013/06/12 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We present a new particle-based (discrete element) numerical method for the simulation of granular dynamics, with application to motions of particles on small solar system body and planetary surfaces. The method employs the parallel N-body tree code pkdgrav to search for collisions and compute particle trajectories. Collisions are treated as instantaneous point-contact events between rigid spheres. Particle confinement is achieved by combining arbitrary combinations of four provided wall primitives, namely infinite plane, finite disk, infinite cylinder, and finite cylinder, and degenerate cases of these. Various wall movements, including translation, oscillation, and rotation, are supported. We provide full derivations of collision prediction and resolution equations for all geometries and motions. Several tests of the method are described, including a model granular "atmosphere" that achieves correct energy equipartition, and a series of tumbler simulations that show the expected transition from tumbling to centrifuging as a function of rotation rate.