A vision for CCC-ParaSolS
Particulate solids (granular materials) are found everywhere, encompassing natural soil deposits, pharmaceutical powders, food ingredients (e.g., powdered milk, flour), aggregates and cement used in construction, etc. Their ubiquity makes them important in many diverse industrial sectors and a subject of interest to scientists and engineers across many different disciplines.
Particulate materials form complex systems with behaviours that are difficult to understand and predict. Particulate solids simulations explicitly model particles and their interactions to provide insights into behaviour that are challenging, or even impossible, to obtain experimentally. The most popular particle-scale simulation method is the Discrete Element Method (DEM), although there are many others.
There is enormous scope to deliver internationally leading fundamental and applied research using particle-scale simulations. These tools can be applied to eliminate production stoppages due to silo clogging, prevent flood embankment failure due to internal erosion, mitigate natural hazards posed by landslides, and design equipment to explore the moon surface.
Currently, developments of simulation methods happen in discipline silos, inhibiting full exploitation of methodological advancements. CCC-ParaSolS will address this issue by creating an overarching community open to all UK-based scientists and engineers from academia and industry with a common interest in simulating particulate solids for a variety of applications.
Aims & Objectives
CCC-ParaSolS will:
Build the first and only overarching UK community including representatives from the different disciplines that exploit DEM and related methods from both academia and industry. The community will embed diversity and inclusiveness in its composition, governance, and activities.
Promote the use of open-source software for particulate solids simulations and best practices in validation, benchmarking, and research data management according to FAIR principles.
Develop code benchmarking cases and best-practice guidelines.
Identify major barriers to using open-source codes, and to accessing high-performance computing (HPC), in order to take advantage of the UK’s digital research infrastructure.
Hold physical events at different UK locations supplemented by online events for networking, research dissemination, facilitated discussions and training provision.
Deliver bespoke training to lower these identified barriers, prioritising the needs of underrepresented groups, with a specific focus on female participation.
Training on using open-source DEM codes (LAMMPS, MercuryDPM and YADE), using HPC (ARCHER2), handling and post-processing large data volumes, reproducible research, and FAIR data principles will be delivered by code developers, EPCC, the Computational Science Centre for Research Communities (CoSeC) and other subject experts.
Through community consultation, identify gaps in granular simulation capabilities which inhibit high-impact scientific discovery and/or slow the transition from workstations to HPC and from CPUs to GPUs to unlock improved energy efficiency and performance.
Undertake one or more high-priority code development projects based on this community needs analysis, led by CoSeC, which will be of greatest benefit to the community.
Create a five-year vision for the community.
Produce a viable plan for a Collaborative Computational Project in particulate solids simulations. By this means, CCC-ParaSolS will continue into the medium/long term.
