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:
      • Angle to degrees (deg)
      • Angular velocity to rpm
      • 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 (Breakage_Model_Tutorial ).
    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 Particle Material in the BulkMaterial1 highlighted field. Alternatively, you can also use the icons in the Toolbar.
    2. Create two materials and name them Ore and Steel respectively.

      Only Ore is expected to break.

  2. Define the bulk material properties and interactions.
    1. For each bulk material, set the properties and interactions as shown in the following tables:
      Table 1. Bulk material properties
      Properties Ore Steel
      Poisson’s ratio 0.25 0.25
      Solids Density (kg/m³) 2071 7800
      Shear Modulus (Pa) 1e+07 1.00E+09
      Table 2. Bulk material interaction properties
      Restitution Static Friction Rolling Friction
      Ore – Ore 0.35 0.34 0.2
      Ore – Steel 0.3 0.27 0.15
      Steel – Steel 0.7 0.35 0.1
  3. Create the particle for the bulk material.
    Note: The Tavares Breakage Model only supports single sphere shapes.
    1. Right-click Ore in the Bulk Material section and then select Add Shape from Library > Add Single Sphere.
    2. Enter the name 'Ore Particle' in the Ore highlighted field and specify the Physical Radius as 15 mm.

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

    3. Select Edit Contact Radius and add a contact radius of 15.6 mm (4% greater than the physical radius).
      Note: Breakage model requires a contact radius to determine when the contact has ended. If the contact ends and the particles contact radii no longer overlap, the last contact point is not included in the energy calculation for breakage.
    4. In the Creator Tree, select Ore Particle > Size distribution.
    5. Select normal from the Size Distribution dropdown list.
    6. In the Normal Size Distribution Parameters section, select 1 from the Mean list and 0.2 from the Std Dev list.
    7. Click Properties and clear the Auto Calculation checkbox.
    8. Repeat the same steps for the Steel material.
    9. Enter the name 'SteelParticle' and specify the Physical Radius as 25 mm.
    10. Select normal from the Size Distribution dropdown list.
    11. In the Normal Size Distribution Parameters section, select 1.2 from the Mean dropdown list and 0.15 from the Std Dev dropdown list.
    12. Click Properties and select the Auto Calculation checkbox.


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 'Rubber' in the highlighted field.
  2. Define the equipment material properties.
    1. Select Rubber in the Equipment Material section.
    2. In the Rubber Properties dialog box, specify the Poisson's Ratio as 0.25, Solids Density as 860, and Shear Modulus as 7.1e+06 .
  3. Define the bulk material - equipment material interactions.
    1. In the Interaction dialog box, click the icon.
    2. In the Select Material dialog box, select Ore from the dropdown list to define the interaction between elements made of 'Ore' and elements made of 'Steel'.
    3. Specify the coefficients as follows:
      Table 3. Equipment material interaction parameters
      Restitution Static Friction Rolling Friction
      Rubber – Ore 0.51 0.1 0.06
      Rubber – Steel 0.44 0.17 0.1

Define the Geometries

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

To define Geometries:
  1. Import the mill 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 file SAG_Mill.stl and import it.
    3. In the Geometry Import Parameters dialog box, set the Units of measurement to Millimeters.
    4. Select the Merge Sections and Rename using Filename checkboxes and ensure that all the settings have the default values.
    5. Click OK.
  2. Add the mill kinematics.
    1. Select SAG_Mill in the Creator Tree Geometries section.
    2. Right-click and then select Add Motion > Add Linear Rotation Kinematic.
    3. Set the Initial Velocity to 13 rpm.
    4. For Axis of Rotation set the Start Y value to -1000 mm and the End Y value to 1000 mm.
  3. Create the particle factory Geometry.
    Note: Particle factories are used to define where, when and how particles will appear in a simulation. All factories must be based on a section of Geometry (whether 'real' or 'virtual'). This defines the area or volume in the model that produces the particles.
    1. Right-click Geometries in the Creator Tree.
    2. Select Add Geometry > Cylinder and then enter the name factory_plate into the highlighted field.
    3. Select the cylinder and in the General section of the Detailed View, set the type to Virtual, since the cylinder is not a physical part of the machinery.
    4. Expand factory in the Creator Tree and select Cylinder.
    5. Set the Radius Start and Radius End to 2000 mm.
    6. Set the Length to 500 mm.
    7. the Transform subsection and set the X Rotation Angle to 90 deg.
  4. Create the particle factory.
    1. Right-click factory in the Creator Tree.
    2. Click Add Factory and name it OreFactory.
    3. Repeat the same steps and add another factory called SteelFactory.
    4. Click Add Factory and select Dynamic Factory.

      Optionally, right-click the new factory in the Creator Tree and then select Change Factory Type.

    5. In the Particle Generation dialog box, select Total Mass and set the value to 2145.
    6. In the Generation Rate section, select Target Mass and set the rate to 2145 kg/s.
  5. Set the initial parameters for the factory.
    1. In the Parameters section, ensure that you have selected Ore from the Material/Meta-Particle dropdown list.
    2. Set the Velocity to 'fixed' and click the icon to set the velocity in the Z-direction to -1 m/s.
    3. Repeat the same steps for SteelFactory.
    4. Set the Total Mass to 8073 kg and the Target Mass to 8073 kg/s.
    5. Ensure that you have selected Steel from the Material /Meta-Particle dropdown list and set the velocity in the Z-direction to -1 m/s.
    6. Select File > Save.


Define the Physics

The next step is to select the contact models for the Particle to Particle, Particle to Geometry and Particle Body Forces 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 Tavares UFRJ Breakage model from the Additional Modelslist.
  4. In the Model section, select Tavares UFRJ Breakage model then click the icon .
  5. In the Physics section, click the icon and select OreParticle.
  6. Set the breakage parameters as follows:


    Note: Since only the OreParticle is allowed to break, you need to set only its breakage parameters. For more information about the values set, see Tavares UFRJ Breakage Model .

Define the Environment

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

To define the environment:
  1. Select Environment in the Creator Tree and select Boundary Conditions.
  2. In the Linear section, select the Y checkbox to enable the periodic boundaries in that direction.
    You can select more than one direction.
Next Step - Run the Simulation