Release Notes

Aspect Ratio Distribution

• EDEM now allows you to apply a scaling factor to alter the aspect ratio of polyhedral and Sphero-Cylinder particles. Like the existing Particle Scale and Particle Mass Scale, it is unique to each particle to allow a distribution of the particle shape as well as size.
• You can use the new Shape Scale Distribution option in the Size Distribution section of the Creator Tree with particle factories and volume packing. You can choose a direction to scale (x, y, or z) and set a distribution for the scale factor along that direction.
• A Preserve Volume option is now available. When enabled, it normalizes the scale factors along all the three axes to maintain the particle's overall volume. This helps separate the effects of particle shape and volume, ensuring that only the size distribution influences the volume.

Python Coupling

Field Data Manager

• The Field Data Manager now includes both Active and Available field lists. Previously, all available fields were loaded into memory for the entire simulation. Now, you can define an active time range, making the process more flexible. This allows you to use more fields to represent changing flow conditions, as not all fields need to be active in memory at the same time. As a result, overall memory usage is reduced, and hardware limitations have less impact.
• No changes are required to the API models to use this feature. The Active time range is set in the Field Data Manager (default is '0-max'), and EDEM will automatically handle field data substitution within the solver. You can also loop the loading of fields to simplify setup.
• There have been changes to how field data files are stored. They are no longer kept within the *.efd file due to size limits. Instead, EDEM retains them in their original format and moves them into the simulation folder structure.
• Field visualization has also been improved. EDEM will now automatically update the display to show the appropriate Active field. This update enables load-on-demand with Active and Available field lists, reducing memory requirements and increasing flexibility.

Fibers Bonding Model

The Fibers Bonding Model has been updated to include more failure modes, such as combinations of buckling, breakage, and plasticity due to different load combinations. Additional error messages and warnings have been added to help ensure correct setup. Note: After this update, bonds are only generated for physical contacts. In the previous version, bonds could form at the contact radius distance.

EDEM-OptiStruct Coupling

The C/OptiStruct Coupling has been updated to support Custom Property handling. Thermal capability has been added using custom properties.

Default Gravity Defined in Settings

Users can now set a default gravity value using Tools > Options. This feature is useful for those who need gravity in a different direction or want to use a custom value.

Analyst

• Particle Aspect Ratio

  Aspect Ratio has been added as an attribute in the Analyst. This represents the ratio of two sides of the particle's bounding box. Users can select between Max/Mid or Max/Min dimensions in the Component dropdown list.

• Particle Acceleration

  A new Acceleration attribute for particles is now available in the Analyst. This attribute can be used for coloring, graphing, binning, and query tools.

• Particle Scale

  Particle Scale is now exposed as an attribute in the Analyst. This value is used by the EDEM Solver and Factories to set particle size.

• Export to STL: Export Specific Geometries

  When exporting data to STL from Analyst > File > Export > Data to STL, users can now select individual Geometries for export, instead of exporting all Geometries.

• Particle Mass Scale

  The Particle Mass Scale, recently introduced in the EDEM API, allows users to change particle mass and density without affecting size. This scaling factor is now also available as an attribute in the Analyst.

• Particle Shape Scale

  The Particle Shape Scale is a new parameter used by the EDEM Solver to set or adjust the Aspect Ratio of a particle. By default, it is an XYZ unit vector. Changing these values scales the particle along each axis relative to the orientation of the particle prototype.

API

• API Versions Before 3.0 Deprecated

  API versions earlier than 3.0 are now deprecated and will not be available in a future EDEM release. If you use an older API model, EDEM will display a warning, but simulations will continue to run until these versions are removed.

  The affected API model ranges are as follows:

  • Contact Model: 1.0 to 2.6
  • External Force: 1.0 to 2.4
• Particle-Geometry Coordination Number

  The Particle-Geometry coordination number is now accessible within the Contact Model and Particle Body Force plugins.

• Factory API Update

  The IPluginParticleFactoryV3_10_0 update aligns the Factory API with the approaches used in the Contact Model and Particle Body Force APIs.

  Key changes include:

  • All managers are accessible using the getApiManagers() function.
  • Added EApiParticleFactoryFeatureFlags, which can be enabled during setup to activate specific features.
  • Reduced the number of input parameters for createParticle() by using new and existing structs.
• Coordination Number in Particle Body Force

  Particle-Particle and Particle-Geometry coordination numbers are now accessible within Particle Body Force plugins from version 3.10.

• Identify Particle-Particle or Particle-Geometry Chain

  A new EChainType parameter has been added to the starting() and setApiParametersTemplate() Contact Model API functions. This allows users to write custom code for Particle-Particle and Particle-Geometry models.

• Geometry Surface Normal and Node Positions in calculateForce()

  In the Contact Model plugin v3.10 (on GPU), you can now access a Geometry element's surface normal and node positions within the calculateForce() function.

EDEM-OptiStruct Coupling

The EDEM-OptiStruct Coupling now supports specifying a port number for the connection.

EDEMpy Version 1.9.0

The latest EDEMpy release includes several updates:

• Particle Acceleration Update: A particle acceleration attribute has been added to EDEMpy, matching the new attribute in EDEM Analyst.
• Return Empty List Update: An error where some property returns an empty list would fail if no data was available in the deck was fixed.
• Altair Python Package Update:The Python version included with EDEM has been updated to Python 3.10.

Contact Models

• Deprecate Wet Mixing Model

  The Wet Mixing model is now deprecated and will be removed in a future version of EDEM.

• Heat Conduction Model now Compatible with EDEM-OptiStruct Coupling

  The Heat Conduction model has been updated to work with the OptiStruct Coupling. It now uses custom properties to store temperature for each Geometry element.

• Heat Conduction Model Update

  The Heat Conduction model now allows heat to be tracked per Geometry element. Thermal conductivity values are now assigned per material, rather than per Geometry section.

EDEM

EDEM contains fixes for the following issues:

• Continuum Analysis values would not respond to changes in Units.
• Unnecessary command line output was being produced from the Tavares UFRJ Breakage model during solve.
• Breakage post processing tool was using absolute file paths, causing data to be overwritten when running multiple simulations.
• Ganser Drag model K1 parameter was the inverse of the correct equation.
• GPU device names would not display correctly on Linux.
• Incorrect tool tip in the Tavares UFRJ Breakage dialog box.
• Plugin models from version 3.8 onwards can be transferred using the material database.
• Adding a .stop file to stop a simulation would not behave correctly with the CUDA Solver.
• Some units labels were missing from the drag model dialog boxes.
• The Add icon buttons for Plugin models was misaligned.

EDEMpy Bugs

EDEM contains fixes for the following EDEMpy issues:

• Switch to suppress warnings was being ignored when creating a deck in EDEMpy.
• Using EDEMpy to add custom properties to a deck ran with Selective Save values would not be added to the partial Time Steps. EDEMpy will now prevent adding custom properties where Selective Save is active to prevent data corruption.