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:
      • Temperature to Kelvin (K)
      • 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 (Heat Transfer).
    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 Plastic 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 Plastic in the Bulk Material section.


    2. In the Plastic 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 Plastic from the dropdown list to define the interaction between all elements made of the material 'Plastic'.
    3. Ensure that the Coefficients have the default values.
  4. Create a new particle shape after defining the bulk material and interaction properties.
    1. Right-click Plastic in the Bulk Material section and then select Add Particle > Add Single Sphere.
    2. Enter the name 'Plastic_ball' in the Particle highlighted field and set the Radius as 40 mm.


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

    3. Under the Plastic_ball > Properties section, click Calculate Properties.

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. The Geometry in this tutorial is made of the same plastic material that is defined for the particles,

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 'plastic_equip' in the highlighted field.
    Note: The Geometry in this tutorial is made of the same Plastic material that was defined for the particles. However, you can assign Bulk Materials only to particles. Therefore, the same material also needs to be defined as an Equipment Material.
  2. Define the equipment material properties.
    1. Select plastic_equip in the Equipment Material section.
    2. In the plastic_equip Properties dialog box, specify the Poisson's Ratio, and Shear Modulus, and Density.
  3. Define the bulk material - equipment material interaction.
    1. In the Interaction dialog box, click the icon to define the interaction between particles made of plastic and Geometries made of Plastic_equip.
    2. Ensure that the settings have the default values.

Define the Geometries

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

To define Geometries:
  1. Define a box.
    1. Right-click Geometries in the Creator Tree.
    2. Hover over Add Geometry, select Box and name it Box.
    3. Expand the new Geometry in the Creator Tree and then select Box.
    4. In the Box dialog box, set the dimensions as follows:


  2. Create the particle factory plate.
    1. Right-click Geometries.
    2. Select Add Geometry > Polygon and then enter the name Factory_plate into the highlighted field.
    3. Set the Geometry type to Virtual.
    4. Expand Factory_plate in the Creator Tree and select the Transform subsection and set the Z position to 100 mm.


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


  3. Create the particle factory.
    Note: Two particle factories are required for this simulation - one that produces hot particles and the other that produces cold particles. Both factories can be based on the same Geometry, that is the polygon created in the previous section.
    1. Right-click Factory_plate in the Creator Tree and rename to Hot_factory.
    2. Click Add Factory and select Dynamic Factory.
    3. Select Total Number and set the value to 1.
    4. In the Generation Rate section, select Target Number (per second) and set the rate to 10 particles/s.
    5. Repeat steps a-d, and set the Total Number to 2, Target Number (per second) to 1 particles/s.
    6. Name this factory Cold_factory and set the Start Time to 1 s.


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. The Hertz-Mindlin with heat conduction contact model is used to represent the heat transfer between particles of different temperatures.

To define the Physics:
  1. Select Physics in the Creator tree.
  2. Select Select Particle to Particle from the Interaction dropdown list.
  3. Click Edit Contact Chain and select the required contact models.


  4. Select the Hertz Mindlin (no slip) model from the Base Model dropdown list.
  5. Select the Heat Conduction checkbox and then click OK.
  6. Select the Heat Conduction model and click the icon to define the thermal conductivities.
  7. Click the icon and set the parameters as follows:


  8. Select Particle Body Force from the Interaction dropdown list and click Edit Contact Chain.
  9. Select Temperature Update.
  10. Select the Heat Conduction model and click the icon to set the heat capacity as follows:


  11. Set the Heat Transfer model Particle-Geometry.
    1. Select Select Particle to Geometry from the Interaction dropdown list.
    2. Click Edit Contact Chain and select Heat Conduction.
    3. Set the Thermal Conductivity Settings as follows:


  12. Set the hot factory’s initial parameters.
    1. Expand Factory_plate and then select Hot_factory.

      In the Parameters section, two new parameters are displayed - Temperature and Heat Flux.

    2. Set the Temperature to fixed then click the icon and set a value of 400 K.




  13. Set the cold factory’s initial parameters.
    1. Expand Factory_plate and then select Cold_factory.
    2. Set the Temperature to fixed then click the icon and set a value of 300 K.
Next Step - Run the Simulation