CAE Simulates Particle Flows, Bulk Material Handling

By DE Editors

This image of a coal conveyor transfer chute simulation illustrating wear profile was created with the new EDEM 2.3 PSI visualization and wear customization capabilities. Image courtesy of Benetech Inc. and DEM Solutions Ltd.

DEM Solutions Ltd. has announced the version of 2.3 of EDEM,  its Discrete Element Modeling (DEM) technology-based simulation application for optimizing bulk materials flow, handling, and processing operations and equipment. The company reports that version 2.3 incorporates new tools for manipulating designs as well as visualizing equipment and flow performance.

EDEM 2.3’s physics-based analysis is designed to improve understanding of system fundamentals, enabling engineers to test virtual prototypes of bulk solids handling and processing equipment. Virtual prototypes can help optimize material flow and troubleshoot difficult particle processes. The net result can substantially reduce the number of physical prototypes and tests required to get a product to market or a process on-stream, according to the company.

EDEM 2.3 extends features for multi-format CAD file import and automatic meshing, allowing users to manipulate geometry components such as chutes, baffles, mixing blades, and other structures in imported CAD models of equipment. Users can now directly modify, translate, and rotate CAD model elements within EDEM without going back to the original CAD model.

Additionally, EDEM 2.3 has been enhanced to provide functionality for viewing of models with perspective or orthographic projection, and camera control as well as image rendering functions have been improved. The company says that existing EDEM users will find it easier to visualize the effects of interaction between bulk particles and equipment surfaces with version 2.3. Particle-structure interactions (PSI) such as impact loads, surface pressure, and charge distribution can be visualized on all equipment surfaces, even those with complex shapes.

The EDEM applications programming interface (API) in EDEM 2.3 has been further developed to increase the flexibility and extensibility of the software. In addition to customizable particle properties, it is now possible to associate any user-defined attribute with any model element—particle or geometry—at the level of a contact event, the equipment, or globally within a simulation.

“Many of the features in EDEM 2.3 are the direct result of working with our customers to help them solve their bulk material flow challenges,”said John Favier, CEO DEM Solutions, in a statement released to the press. “Our responsiveness to user needs, in a very wide variety of application areas, has led us to continually improve and upgrade our software platform.”

EDEM 2.3 is available for 32-/64-bit Windows and Linux systems with a minimum of 1GB RAM (4GB recommended). For more information,  visit DEM Solutions.

Click on the links you’ll find here to access some videos showing how EDEM enables bulk material flow simulations under an assortment of conditions.

See why DE’s Editors selected EDEM 2.3 as their Pick of the Week.