Fundamentals of the Discrete Element Method
MOOC
DEM
The Discrete Element Method (DEM) is a computational method to predict the flow of particles. Since such flows are frequently encountered in nature and engineering practice…
Discrete Element Method (DEM) Background
The Discrete Element Method (DEM) is today a widely exploited method for studying engineering problems that deal with granular materials. It was first developed for analysis of rock mechanics (Cundall and Strack, 1979) but has since been employed to look at problems ranging from powder flow to bulk solids handling in a variety of different industries.
DEM is an explicit numerical method that looks at the interactions of all particles in a domain. The particles are rigid but are subject to local deformation in places of contact and the resulting forces from particle overlap are calculated (this is known as the soft-sphere method). The motion of the particles is modelled on a particle-by-particle basis, which makes the method computationally intensive.
Important
As each particle’s behaviour is modelled at an individual level, it is important that a small enough calculation timestep is chosen so that the reactions to the forces acting on a particular particle do not propagate any further than the particle’s immediate neighbours.
A key advantage of the method is that, as the particles are modelled separately, there is no need for a constitutive model to represent the bulk behaviour of the material. However, this also leads to DEM’s biggest weakness — it is a computationally intensive method since all particle interactions are computed. Fortunately, DEM is well suited to parallel computing and the use of HPC and GPUs mean simulations in excess of one million particles are now much more common.
Learning about DEM
The basics of DEM are taught in the following online courses which provide a deeper understanding of the method along with some examples and exercises.
Learning to use some DEM Codes
Detailed guides on how to run a variety of example simulations with specific DEM codes. Chapter 23 of the linked textbook also gives a very good overview of the basics of DEM (‘Discrete Particle Method’).
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Open-source DEM Software
A list of common open-source DEM codes.
Programming
The following resources provide an excellent introduction to various related topics such as using the command line, version control with git and programming with python.
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High Performance Computing (HPC)
The following resources provide an introduction to HPC and using HPC systems.
Training Workshops
The Software Carpentry often run various in-person workshops where they provide training on a variety of topics.
Information on upcoming workshops can be found on the Software Carpentry web page.
EPCC runs various training courses (online & in-person) to support usage of ARCHER2. ARCHER2 training courses are provided free of charge to all UK academics. Full details on these courses can be found at the ARCHER2 training web page.
