What's New in EDEM 2022.1 - Release Highlights
Altair EmployeeWe’re very pleased to announce that EDEM 2022.1 is now available from the Altair Marketplace. In this latest update we continue to deliver leading solver performance and innovative new features to allow you to tackle the toughest of granular material problems quickly and easily.
Here are some of the main highlights from this exciting release!
Continuum Analysis and Visualization
The value of simulation comes from the ability to extract key performance metrics that drive decision making. EDEM already provides extensive insight into how particles behave within a huge variety of industrial systems, and in this latest release we take this to a new level by offering continuum-based analysis of granular material behaviors.
Example of continuum analysis in action. Here the granular data from a mixing operation is adapted to a continuum representation to provide analysis of momentum density and solid fraction changes during the mixing process.
Continuum theory applied to particle-based data creates a powerful way of extracting and visualizing data to better drive decision making. By applying temporal and spatial averaging to key particle behaviors, engineers can gain insight into a host of performance metrics including stress, mass and momentum density, solid fraction, and more.
EDEM’s continuum analysis and visualization is applicable to a range of industry use cases and allows engineers to get even more insight to optimize the performance of their designs and processes.
Increased GPU Functionality
Delivering the best possible performance to our users is always our goal, and in EDEM 2022.1 we are pleased to bring more of our key capabilities to our GPU solver engine. All are compatible with both single and multi-GPU hardware and enable the rapid simulation of even more use-cases.
Tavares UFRJ Breakage Model on GPU
The Tavares UFRJ Breakage Model is the world-leading method for evaluating the effectiveness of a comminution process. Developed in close collaboration with Professor Marcelo Tavares (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) and Professor Jin Ooi (University of Edinburgh), the model delivers otherwise unattainable insight into the performance of equipment such as mills and crushers.
In 2022.1 our breakage model is now available to run using our GPU and we are seeing significant speed increases across different use cases. Depending on the scale of simulation, we have seen between 3 and 20 times speed up compared with a 12-core CPU. The more material you want to break, the greater the performance gain!
Cone crushing using the Tavares UFRJ Breakage Model courtesy of Colombia Steel which allowed them to increase mass flow by 15% through design improvements
Field Data & Lift/Drag Models on GPU
Bulk materials don’t exist in isolation, which is why EDEM has always offered couplings with other simulation methods such as computational fluid dynamics, multi-body dynamics, finite element analysis etc.
In EDEM 2022.1, both our field data capability and built-in lift/drag models are all available for use on GPU, delivering a significant performance boost (over 10x speed up in our tests) for those applications where one-way coupling is required to field data.
Particle separation based on EDEM’s field data coupling – now available on GPU – ideal for efficient running of cases where particles do not have a significant impact on the flow field
Field data is not just limited to CFD data – any field data (such as magnetic or electric fields) can also be brought into EDEM and combined with our powerful API to create a host of customized behaviors.
Cylindrical Periodic Boundaries on GPU
Advances in hardware, combined with step-change improvements in solver efficiency mean that now it is possible to solve large problems consisting of many millions of particles. However, successful engineering simulation isn’t just about throwing more and more particles at a problem; it is also about efficiently reaching a solution in the time frames required by industry. Solver aids, which help streamline the calculation loop and manage simulation size, are critical, and EDEM offers a range of tools such as our dynamic domain, block factories, and periodic boundaries to help our users get the required results in the shortest time possible.
In EDEM 2022.1 we have included a new cylindrical periodic boundary capability that has been optimized for our CUDA-based GPU solver. By using cylindrical periodic boundaries, users can exploit the radial symmetry present in their designs to reduce solver calculations.
Cylindrical periodic boundaries exploit the radial symmetry of a engineering system, reduce overall particle numbers, and allow for quicker analysis of designs.
Ideal for applications such as blast furnaces, large hoppers, and powder delivery devices, this capability means significant run-time savings are possible while still providing the quality of analysis from a full-scale model.
Block Factory on GPU
Our unique block factory has been adopted by many users as a way of quickly and easily creating large volumes of material. We’re continuing to advance this by making the block factory fully compatible with our GPU solver. This ensures both a smoother workflow, and by harnessing the power of the GPU, users can create even larger simulation inputs rapidly.
EDEM’s unique block factory capability means setting up large volumes of material is quick and easy. Ideal for a range of applications including the creation of off-road terrains, or providing initial starting states for powder hoppers etc.
EDEMpy for Pre-Processing
Hot on the heels of the EDEM 2022 'unlimited analysis' updates for EDEMpy, we are now bringing the power of python scripting to the EDEM Creator. Using the new capabilities within EDEMpy, users can set up entire EDEM models based on python scripts without needing to open the user-interface.
EDEMpy is a powerful scripting tool that now allows users to script and automate the set-up process for an EDEM simulation
This highly adaptable functionality can be deployed in a variety of ways, from quickly setting up multi-job cases, making adaptations to existing simulations outside of the UI, or running automated parameter optimization cases.
Other Enhancements
And that is just the start – in addition to the items shown here, there have been several additional improvements across the product. This includes:
- Workflow improvements to our unique volume packing capability
- User defined size distribution updates to allow target numbers to be achieved
- Improved bin group performance
- Enhanced performance for large-scale geometry on GPU
- API enhancements
To find out more about what’s new in EDEM 2022.1 then check out the release notes that are available on Altair One.