EDEM Tutorial

EDEM Tutorial

Linear Elastic Bond Model (LEBM)

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 EDEM Tutorial: Linear Elastic Bond Model

Introduction
This exercise explores additional options and models of EDEM, focusing on the use of
the Linear Elastic Bonding Model combined with Volume Packing.
The focus of this tutorial is on:
• Using the LEBM contact model
• Setting up and defining the particle contact radius
• Using Volume Packing
• Displaying and analyzing the bonds between particles

There are two types of Bond model available in EDEM:

The Bonding V2 Model
The Bonding V2 model is an ‘Additional’ model that can be added to any Base model.
At a set point in time, or on particle creation, bonds are created between particle
elements. The bonds apply normal and tangential forces to the particle in addition to
rotational torque. Forces and torques are applied up to a user defined limit after which
the bond will break. Details of the Bonding V2 model can be seen in the EDEM Help
> EDEM Creator > Creator Tree-Physics > Additional Models > The Bonding V2
Model.
The Bonding V2 Model is typically used for modelling rock and flexible materials.

The Linear Elastic Bonding Model (LEBM)

The LEBM model is an alternative to the Bonding V2 model. The LEBM model is a
combined model which contains the base physics in addition to the bonding forces.
At the start of the simulation bonds are created between the particle and apply normal
and tangential (shear) forces to the bonded particles, up to the pre-defined bond
strength limits. Details of the Linear Elastic Bonding Model can be found in the EDEM
Help > EDEM Creator > Creator Tree-Physics > Plug-in Models > The Linear Elastic
Bonding Model.
The LEBM model is typically used for modeling rock and soil type materials.

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EDEM Creator: Setting up the model

1. Start EDEM
2. Go to File > Save As…
3. Select a location on the local machine (e.g., C:\EDEM_Tutorials)
4. Enter a file name (e.g., LEBM_setup.dem) and click Save

Step 1: Set the Global Model Parameters

Choose the units
The first step in creating the model is to set the units used throughout EDEM.
1. Go to the Tools > Options… menu and select the Units tab.
2. Change the following measurement units:
▪ Velocity to m/s
▪ Length to mm
3. Click OK.

Enter the model title and description

1. Click on Project in the Creator Tree.
2. In the Detailed View, enter the title LEBM Unconfined Compression in the Title
box in the simulation section.
The model title and description will appear in the Data Browser window.

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Step 2: Define the Bulk Material

Add new Bulk Material
1. Right click Bulk Material in the Creator Tree and select Add Bulk Material
(BulkMaterial 1)
2. Set the Poisson's ratio, Shear Modulus and Density:

3. Select BulkMaterial 1 > Click the button in the Interactions section

4. Select the material and leave the settings as default

Create a new particle type

In this exercise, a bonded particles model is used. When using bonded models, it is
best to have a Contact Radius between the particles which is greater than the Physical
Radius. The Contact Radius is important as it determines the area in which a bond
can exist. When the particles no longer overlap the bond information is lost.
A bond will be formed in the first Time Step of the simulation only. After these initial
bonds have been created, no new bonds will be formed. Due to the formation of bonds
during the first Time Step, either the Volume Packing tool can be used which creates
particles prior to the first time-step starting (as detailed in this tutorial) or export a
previous simulation with particles already in place and the particles are created using
a Contact Radius (where possible) to allow for bonds to be created between particles
even when physically not in contact.

1. Right click on BulkMaterial 1 > Add Shape from Library > Single Sphere
2. Rename the particle to Bonded particle

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3. Set the Radius of the sphere to 1.5 mm

4. Check the Edit Contact Radius box, situated below the Viewer Window. A new
column will appear in the table below
5. Set the value of the Contact Radius to 1.7 mm

6. Set the size distribution:

7. Go to Bonded particle > Properties and select Calculate Properties based on

Spheres.

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Step 3: Define the Equipment Material

Add new equipment material
1. Right click Equipment Material in the Creator Tree and select Add Equipment
Material.

Define the equipment material properties

1. Set the Equipment Material name as Steel and define the Poisson's ratio, Shear
Modulus and Density as shown below:

Define the material interaction properties

1. Click the button in the Interactions section

2. Select BulkMaterial 1 and then click OK
3. Leave the settings as default

Step 4: Define the Geometry

Create a Loading Plate
1. Right click on Geometries
2. Hover over Add Geometry and select Polygon
3. Rename this geometry to CompressionPlate
4. Set the Transform Z position to be 100 mm
5. Expand Polygon in the Creator Tree and set the Number of Edges and Radius as
shown:

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6. Right Click on CompressionPlate > Add Motion > Add Linear Translation Kinematic

Create the Base Plate

1. Right click on Geometries to create a second Polygon
2. Rename to GroundPlate
3. Set the number of edges to be 50 and radius to 80 mm
4. Leave the transform position to 0,0,0

Create the particle factory

1. Right click on Geometries to create a Cylinder and rename to Particle factory
2. Set the Type to be Virtual
3. Set the transform Z position to be 50 mm
4. Set the Radius start, end and Length as shown:

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5. Right click on Particle factory to Add Volume Packing

6. Use to add BulkMaterial 1

7. Set the Imposed Solid Fraction to be 60%
8. Set the Start Time to be 0s
9. Select the configuration option to de-select “shrink overlapping particles” as shown

Step 5: Define the Physics

Set the contact models
1. Select the Physics section in the Creator Tree
2. Select Particle to Particle from the Interaction pull-down menu and click on Edit
Contact Chain
3. Select No Base Model from the Base model list (this is to be replaced with the
LinearElasticBonding model which includes the base component)
4. Choose LinearElasticBonding and select OK

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5. Highlight the LinearElasticBonding model and click the configure button to

define the bonds

6. Click the button and set the parameters as follows:

EDEM Simulator: Running a Simulation

Once the model has been set up in the Creator, we move to the Simulator to run it.

1. Click on the Simulator button on the toolbar

Step 1: Set the Time Options

Set the time step
1. If checked, uncheck the Auto Time Step checkbox
2. Set the Fixed Time Step lower box to 1e-05 s. The percentage of Rayleigh time
step is calculated automatically (~5%)

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Set the simulation time and data write-out frequency

1. In the Simulation Time section, set the Total Time to 2s
2. Set the Target Save Interval to 0.01s to specify the write-out frequency

Step 2: Set the Solver Engine

• Choose either the CPU or GPU solver engine
• If CPU is chosen, set the grid size to 3 Rmin

Step 3: Run the Simulation

Simulation run time depends on the number of Cores or GPU hardware used.
1. Click the start Progress button at the bottom of the simulation window

2. In Viewer Controls, click the Refresh Viewer button or enable Auto Update

at any point to update the Viewer and see how the simulation is progressing

EDEM Analyst: Analyzing the Bonds

Configure the geometry
1. Switch to the Analyst
2. Expand Display, select Geometries and set the Opacity of the geometry to 0.7
3. Hide the particle factory cylinder by selecting it then de-selecting “display particle
factory”

Configure the particles

1. Select Particles and Color By, there are two options:

customBondsInitial – Indicates the number of bonds that an element has after the

initial bond formation time.

customBondsDamage – Indicates the metric for the damage to the bonds for a

given particle, calculated as:

A value of 0.0 indicates all initial bonds are still formed. A value of 1.0 indicates all

initial bonds are now broken.

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2. In the Particles section uncheck Display All Particles and click Apply All. The
particles will disappear from the Viewer.

Configure the bonds

1. Select Contact from the Display Section of the Analyst Tree and choose the
following settings:

2. You can color the contact by the following metrics:

customInitialOverlap – Indicates the initial value of the overlap of the elements in

contact before the bond is formed.

BondStatus – Indicates the property that determines whether the bond exists or not.

A value of 1.0 indicates a successful bond has been formed and is currently active. A

value of -1.0 indicates that the bond has been broken. A value of 0.0 indicates a

bond was never formed.

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customShearForce – Indicates the Shear force acting on the contact.

Plotting the Force vs. Time graph (stress – strain)

1. Go to the Create Graph tool

2. Choose the following settings to plot the total force on the CompressionPlate
over time

This data can be exported to plot Stress vs. Strain for the compression sample.
The stress is the total force / sample area. Where the area can be calculated
from the original particle factory cylinder (40 mm radius).

The strain is the extension of the sample / length. Length is the original length
of the cylinder (100 mm), and the extension is the compression plate speed
(0.005 m/s) multiplied by the Time value.

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