EDEM Creator - Set up the Model

Learn how to set up a simulation model and equipment, and define the generation of bulk materials using EDEM Creator.

To set up the model:
  1. Select the units of measurement to be used throughout EDEM.
    For more information about how to select units, see Select Units.
    1. Click Tools > Options... and then select the Units tab.
    2. In the Units tab, change the following measurement units:
      • Velocity to m/s
      • Stiffness per Unit Area to N/m3
      • Length to mm
    3. Click OK.
  2. Specify a title and description for the model.
    1. Click Project in the Creator Tree.
    2. In the Detailed View, specify a title (Flexible Particle).
    3. Enter a description in the Description field.
    The model title and description is displayed in the Data Browser window. You can close the Data Browser window to allocate more space for the windows that will be used throughout this tutorial. If required, you can open the Data Browser window again by right-clicking the menu bar and selecting Data Browser.

Define the Bulk Material

The first step in setting up the model is to add bulk material and bulk material particle shapes to a model and define their interactions.

To define the bulk material:
  1. Add the bulk material.
    1. Right-click Bulk Material in the Creator Tree, select Add Bulk Material , and enter the name Flexible Material in the BulkMaterial1 highlighted field. Alternatively, you can also use the icons in the Toolbar.
  2. Define the bulk material properties and interactions.
    1. Select Flexible Material in the Bulk Material section.


    2. In the Flexible Material Properties dialog box, specify the Poisson's Ratio, Solids Density, and Shear Modulus.
  3. Define the bulk material interactions.
    1. In the Interactions section, click the icon.
    2. In the Select Material dialog box, select Flexible Material from the dropdown list to define the interaction between all elements made of the material 'Flexible Material'.
    3. Specify the Coefficients as follows:


  4. Create a new particle called Stem particle and set the contact radius.
    1. Right-click Particle Material in the Bulk Material section and then select Add Particle > Add Dual Sphere.
    2. Enter the name 'Stem' in the Particle highlighted field.

      Optionally, you can rename the particle by right-clicking the particle and selecting Rename Particle.

    3. Select the Edit Contact Radius checkbox below the Viewer window.
      A new column will appear in the table as follows:


    4. Go to Stem > Properties.
    5. Clear the Automatically Center Particle checkbox as this is already centered.
    6. Select the Calculate Properties checkbox.
  5. Create a new particle called Leaf particle and set the contact radius.
    1. Right-click Particle Material in the Bulk Material section and then select Add Particle > Add Single Sphere.
    2. Enter the name 'Leaf' in the Particle highlighted field.

      Optionally, you can rename the particle by right-clicking the particle and selecting Rename Particle.

    3. Select the Edit Contact Radius checkbox and set the value of the Contact Radius to 1.2 mm.
    4. Go to Leaf > Properties.
    5. Select the Calculate Properties checkbox.
  6. Create a Meta-Particle shape.
    1. Right-click Bulk Material and select Add Meta-Particle.
    2. Right-click the meta-particle setup box and select Add Particle.
    3. Set the Particle Type as Stem and leave the position and orientation as 0.
    4. Create a combination of Stem and Leaf particles to generate a flexible shape as follows:


      Note:
      • Ensure that the particles are not overlapping when placing them in the Meta-Particle shape.
      • To increase the speed of shape creation, copy and paste from the included shape.csv file.


  7. In the Creator tree, select Meta-Particle 0 > Size distribution.
  8. Set the size distribution of the bulk material.
    1. Select Random from the Size Distribution dropdown list.
    2. In the Random Size Distribution section, select 0.8 from the Minimum size dropdown list and 1.2 from the Maximum size dropdown list.

Define the Equipment Material

The next step in setting up the model is to add the equipment material which will be used in the simulation.

To define the equipment material:
  1. Add new equipment material.
    1. Right-click Equipment Material in the Creator Tree, and then select Add Equipment Material and enter the name 'Geometry Material ' in the highlighted field.
  2. Define the equipment material properties and interactions as follows:


Define the Geometries

The next step in setting up the model is to define the sieve Geometry used in the model.

To define Geometries:
  1. Import the Geometry that has already been created and is ready to be imported into EDEM.
    1. Right-click Geometries in the Creator Tree and then select Import Geometry.
    2. Navigate to the files Sieve.stl and SieveBox.stl. and import them.
    3. In the Geometry Import Parameters dialog box, set the Units of measurement to Millimeters.
    4. Select the Merge Sections checkbox and ensure that all the settings have the default values.
    5. Click OK.
  2. Specify the sieve kinematics.
    1. Select Sieve in the Creator Tree Geometries section.
    2. Right-click and then select Add Motion > Add Sinusoidal Translation Kinematic.
    3. Select the newly created kinematic, and then specify the values as follows:


  3. Create the particle factory plate.
    1. Right-click Geometries in the Creator Tree.
    2. Select Add Geometry > Polygon and then enter the name Factory Plate into the highlighted field.
    3. Select the polygon and in the General section of the Detailed View set the type to Virtual.
    4. Expand Factory Plate in the Creator Tree and select the Transform subsection and set the Z position to 45 mm as follows:


    5. Select the Polygon subsection and specify the Number of Edges and Dimensions of the polygon as follows:


  4. Create the particle factory.
    1. Right-click Factory Plate in the Creator Tree.
    2. Click Add Factory and select Dynamic Factory.
    3. In the Factory Type section, select Unlimited Number and set the Target Number (per second) to 15.
    4. In the Overlap Check Based on section, select Contact Radius.

      This prevents the factory from creating particles with overlapping contact radii. When using the Bonding V2 model, two particles become bonded if they are created at the same time and overlap.

    5. Select Meta-Particle 0 from the Material/Meta-Particle dropdown list.
    6. In the Parameters section, click the icon next to Velocity and specify the velocity of the material as follows:

    7. Repeat steps a-g to create a factory for ‘Flexible material’ that is produced at 50 particles per second.

Define the Physics

The next step is to select the contact models that describe how elements behave when they come into contact with one another.

To define the Physics:
  1. Select Physics in the Creator tree.
  2. Select Particle to Particle from the Interaction dropdown list.
  3. Click Edit Contact Chain and select the Bonding V2 checkbox to add the model to the Base Model list.


  4. Select Bonding V2 and click OK.
  5. Select the Bonding V2 model and click the icon to define the bonds.


    Note: Bonds are created based on two methods, ‘current time’ or ‘fixed’. Once the Bonding V2 model is selected, these options are displayed in the factory creating the Meta-Particles. The current time method is mandatory as a default setting with no changes required.


    When the ‘current time’ bonding is selected, two particles are bonded together if all three of the following conditions are true:
    1. A pair of particles have been created in the current Time Step
    2. The particles contact radii overlap
    3. The Bonding V2 model is selected
    When the ‘fixed’ bonding is selected, you have the option to enter a value (X) for when the bonds are created. When fixed is selected, bonds are created if the following conditions are true:
    1. The particles contact radii overlap
    2. The particle pairs were created by a factory with the same user-defined ‘fixed’ time value X
    3. The simulation time is equal to X (to an accuracy of half the simulation Time Step to allow for the simulation time and user-defined value to vary)
    The following images show that the bond exists in the left image since there is an overlap of the contact radius. In the right image, the bond is not present as there is no overlap.


Define the Environment

The final step in setting up the Bonding V2 model is to set the domain of the simulation.

To define the environment:
  1. Select Environment in the Creator Tree.
  2. Ensure that the Auto Update from Geometry checkbox is not selected.


  3. Increase the Max domain to - 25 mm in the X-direction.
Next Step - Run the Simulation