Release Notes

EDEM fully supports all polyhedral particle shapes and allows them to be deployed in simulations alongside convex polyhedral, Multi-Sphere and Sphero-Cylinder particles. You can import particle as CAD or pre-defined meshes (STL, and so on), and must form a single, closed volume with no additional steps.

Rigid Link for Fixed Particle Velocities

Rigid Link is a new boundary condition to assign the velocity from a Geometry section to a specified group of particles. The Rigid Link condition can be applied when the particle is created, on contact with a specific Geometry section, or at a pre-defined time. Ideal for attaching fibers, roots, brushes, and so on, to a moving Geometry section.

Normal and Lognormal distributions by Mass Fraction

EDEM has the ability to define normal and log-normal distribution by mass for particles and meta-particles which are generated from a factory or volume-packing. This allows a much easier recreation of a size distribution which has been measured experimentally by mass.

EDEM Creator

EDEM Analyst

• EDEMpy : support for Factories improved

  Factory support for EDEMpy has been extended to static and dynamic types, position, velocity, angular velocity, orientation and custom property, and the ability to change any of these parameter types. For example, changing a factory from static to dynamic or changing the velocity type from fixed to random. The createFactory method has been extended to include these options along with the addition of new get and set methods for each.

• EDEMpy: Physics setters updated to be more consistent

  The format for setting parameters of Physics models in EDEMpy have been changed to be more consistent with the rest of EDEMpy. The parameter setters will only work on the last Time Step, so the Time Step index will be ignored. A warning will be issued if the setters are not called on the final Time Step.

Additional information in Licensing error messages

The level of information reported during license check-out failure has been extended to provide more relevant details, effectively echoing the error message from the licensing system. The error message is written to a message window in GUI mode, terminal in command-line mode, and the debug log, if enabled.

• Grid bin groups were not exporting per bin with Simulator Queries.
• EDEM was shutting down when loading a truncated deck.
• EDEM no longer inverts the minimum and maximum values when opening a deck with random initial velocity.
• Multiple Geometries could be selected and common parameters were available for editing.
• If the simulation attempts to start with the lower cap being greater than the upper cap, an error message indicating manual revision of the values is displayed. Additionally, if the lower cap is greater than the upper cap, the spin box was turning red. This applies to normal, lognormal, and random distributions.
• API Particle Body Force plugins using v3.0 or v3.1 were ignored due to missing setters.
• A physics-linked material block was not transferring plugin dialog information.
• Redundant checks for polyhedral particle shapes were causing delays at the start of simulation.
• Conflicts could occur if the same name was used between Particle, Meta-Particle or Material. The name must now be unique across these areas.
• The Export Data to STL script is now fixed when exporting Geometry data.
• The API GUI was not detecting valid ranges for some fields in the model parameter dialog box.
• The CUDA Solver was not setting non-zero default values for custom contact properties.
• EDEM was shutting down if a simulator export query was enabled for particle coordination number.
• The ExportBreakage Particle Size Distribution script has been fixed.
• Particles were not being broken correctly when using the CUDA Solver on Linux with the Tavares UFRJ Breakage model.
• Particles were not displayed in the simulator on completing a simulation run or on switching from the Creator/Analyst to Simulator.
• EDEMpy: a new setDomainMinMax function was added to avoid the checks in the separate calls setDomainMin and setDomainMax. These would fail during setting a new maximum below the current minimum and vice-versa.
• EDEMpy: setting only the particle physical radius would result in the contact radius not being defined correctly.
• EDEMpy: createBoxGeometry() now creates boxes in their specified location.
• EDEMpy: Heat Conduction parameters are now separated between surface-surface and surface-Geometry parameters.
• Python scripts would fail from EDEMCal as the Python path was not being detected correctly.
• Paths to EDEMpy scripts are now checked for validity before running in EDEM.
• Opening decks in 'write' mode with EDEMpy no longer corrupts the existing External Forces.
• Calibration Kit script files were not correctly included in the installer.

Non-manifold Geometry sections from legacy decks

In versions prior to EDEM 2024, Geometries could incorrectly be assigned as volume (closed) Geometries instead of surface (open) Geometries. From EDEM 2024 onwards, if non-manifold Geometries (when more than two triangles share the same edge) are loaded from an older deck, they will be converted to surface (open) Geometries. This will not affect simulation behavior unless the Geometry had volume packing, a factory attached, or if the mass, center of mass, or moment of inertia was being used (in which case, it is recommended to recompute them in the Geometry Mass tab or re-import the CAD file). A warning will be displayed when this conversion happens.

EDEM Solver Compatibility

The EDEM Solver Engine has some restrictions on the types of simulations it can run in the current version. For more information about solver capabilities, see EDEM Solver Capabilities.

MotionView Geometry Import

To use the parent-child functionality in EDEM with a rotating Geometry imported from MotionView, the local origin of the Geometry must be moved using the local origin offset to the center of the Geometry. If the local origin is not at the center of the rotating Geometry, the child will move around an axis relative to the automatic local origin (0,0,0). This will cause the child to move in unwanted directions.

EDEM CPU utilization can be higher than expected

On some computers, the Windows Task Manager can show that EDEM is using significantly more CPU threads than expected. This will typically happen when there are many idle CPU threads available. As a workaround, you can create the following environment variable: OMP_WAIT_POLICY=passive. This will restrict the number of CPU threads EDEM is using to the number that you have specified. Testing has not shown this issue to have any noticeable effect on simulation performance.