Home
Tutorials
Start using EDEM with our interactive tutorials.
Application Tutorials
These tutorials are intended to cover specific applications, or application-focused features of EDEM. They are primarily intended for users working in the relevant application areas, but may also be useful for new users intending to understand the areas where EDEM can be deployed.
EDEM 3000 Dozer Blade with Dynamic Domain
This tutorial describes how to create a moving domain around the blade. All material inside the domain will be active and any stationary material outside the Dynamic Domain will be excluded from the calculation, which improves the simulation speed.
EDEM Simulator - Run the Simulation
Once you have set up the model, learn how to run fast and efficient simulations using EDEM Simulator.

Welcome
What's New
This section describes the key features in EDEM version 2025.1.
About EDEM
EDEM is a high-performance simulation software for bulk and granular materials.
Hardware Requirements
This section details the minimum system requirements and requisites for running EDEM.
Release Notes EDEM 2025.1.1
This section contains information about the EDEM 2025.1.1 release, such as bug fixes.
Release Notes EDEM 2025.1
This section contains information about the EDEM 2025.1 release, such as key features, enhancements, and bug fixes.
Tutorials
Start using EDEM with our interactive tutorials.
- Introduction to EDEM Tutorials
  These introductory tutorials are intended for users who are new to EDEM, and want to get started with the fundamentals of setting up, running, and analyzing a simulation.
- Physics Models Tutorials
  These tutorials are intended for users who are new to the EDEM contact models (physics behavior of particle/Geometry elements when they come into contact with each other) and describes how to use the appropriate contact models.
- Application Tutorials
  These tutorials are intended to cover specific applications, or application-focused features of EDEM. They are primarily intended for users working in the relevant application areas, but may also be useful for new users intending to understand the areas where EDEM can be deployed.
  - EDEM 3000 Dozer Blade with Dynamic Domain
    This tutorial describes how to create a moving domain around the blade. All material inside the domain will be active and any stationary material outside the Dynamic Domain will be excluded from the calculation, which improves the simulation speed.
    - EDEM Creator - Open an existing Simulation
      Learn how to use the simulation that has been setup with a previously created material bed , along with the dozer blade CAD Geometry.
    - EDEM Simulator - Run the Simulation
      Once you have set up the model, learn how to run fast and efficient simulations using EDEM Simulator.
    - EDEM Analyst - Display the Features
      The final step in this tutorial is to learn how to review, examine, and change the visual properties of particles, and how to set dynamic camera views.
  - EDEM 3100 Slatted Conveyor with Concave Polyhedrals
    This tutorial describes how to create a family of equal parts that move in the same trajectory but with a delay from each other. Since you only need to define the kinematics once, this is useful for creating several Geometries moving in a complicated manner.
  - EDEM 3200 Mixing in a Tablet Coater
    This tutorial describes how to visualize mixing efficiency through particle representation.
- API Tutorials
  These tutorials are intended for users who are looking to get started with EDEM API models that they have previously created, or downloaded from the Altair Community.
Get Started with EDEM
The EDEM user interface comprises three icons for each simulation component - Creator, Simulator, and Analyst.
EDEM Creator
EDEM Creator is the pre-processor for creating an EDEM simulation model, including setting up equipment and defining the generation of bulk materials.
EDEM Simulator
EDEM Simulator is a powerful solver used for fast and efficient simulations.
EDEM Analyst
EDEM Analyst is the post-processor used to analyze and visualize the results of your simulation.
EDEM Physics Models
A Contact Model describes how elements behave when they come into contact with each other.
EDEM Cal Utility
EDEM Cal is a utility which works with EDEM and is designed to assist in performing calibration.
EDEM Calibration Kits
The EDEM Calibration kits are a collection of EDEM models of standard bulk solids characterization tests commonly used for EDEM material model calibration.
GPU CUDA Guide
The EDEM CUDA GPU module uses the latest General Purpose Computing on Graphical Processing Units (GPU) technology.
Programming Guide
The EDEM Programming Guide describes the EDEM API.
Coupling Interface Programming Guide
The Coupling Interface Programming Guide provides an overview of how to use the EDEM Coupling Interface to couple with a generic CFD code and/or Multi Body dynamics codes.
EDEMpy
EDEMpy is a Python library for accessing EDEM data from .h5 files (the underlying EDEM file format). EDEMpy does not require prior knowledge of advanced programming.
EDEM Solver Capabilities
EDEM contains four solver engines.
Appendix
This section provides additional information about how to estimate simulation time, supported EDEM File types, attribute definitions, and so on.
EDEM Terminology
Definitions of terms used in EDEM.
References and Bibliography
This section cites the contributions made by various authors and sources that have been used as reference material for EDEM, and the specifics of how they have been applied can be found in the individual contact model sections.

EDEM Simulator - Run the Simulation

Once you have set up the model, learn how to run fast and efficient simulations using EDEM Simulator.

To run the simulation:

Click the

icon on the toolbar to open EDEM Simulator.

Set the Time and Grid options

The first step in running the simulation is to set the Time Step. The Time Step is the amount of time between iterations (calculations).

To set the Time Step:

In this simulation, ensure that the Auto Time Step checkbox is not selected.
Set the Rayleigh Percentage to 20%.

Note: This value is the percentage of the Rayleigh Time Step to be used, which corresponds to a Time Step of ~9e-05 s.
Set the simulation time and data write-out frequency.
The simulation time is the amount of real time your simulation represents.
1. In the Simulation Time section, set the Total Time to 3 s.
2. Set the Target Save Interval to 0.15 s to specify the write-out frequency which corresponds to the data being written approximately every 63 Time Steps.
3. Set the Simulator Grid Cell Size to 3 R_min.
4. In the CPU Solver, select the number of CPU cores from the Number of CPU Cores dropdown list.
  Note: Optionally, you can select CUDA GPU from the Selected Engine dropdown list.

Run the Simulation

The last step is to run the simulation.

To run the simulation:

Click the Start Progress icon in the Simulation window.
Right-click Simulator Settings and then select Display as follows:
Click the icon to view the particles which are frozen outside the Dynamic Domain.
In the Viewer Controls, click the Refresh Viewer icon or the enable Auto Update icon at any point to update the Viewer to view the progress of the simulation.

Note: Any particles that are frozen are removed from the contact calculation, therefore, improving the simulation performance. In this case, since the simulation is small compared to a full size simulation, the time saving may be lower due to only a small portion of the domain being frozen.

Next Step - Display the Features