EDEM Research Spotlight- Modelling of Motion Damaging of Pharmaceutical Tablets in Tumbling Drums with DEM
Altair Employee- RESEARCHER
- Ramon Cabiscol Martinoli
- INSTITUTE
- Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany
- DEPARTMENT
- Institute for Particle Technology
- SUPERVISOR
- Prof. Dr.-Ing. Arno Kwade
- TIMELINE
- 09/2014 - 09/2017
Attrition and breakage are major problems during manufacture and transportation of pharmaceutical tablets, as a result of non-optimal compaction conditions. The extent of each individual failure mechanism, namely erosion and chipping, is dependent on formulation parameters (elasto-plastic mechanical properties of tablet components and compaction parameters) as well as geometry, stress field, and inertia within subsequent process steps (e.g. drum coating, conveying). The aim of this study is to assess the extent of damaging of tablets within a tumbling drum - a geometry widely used in the industry for finishing operations such as film coating. After a Design of Experiments (DoE), a parametric study of the influence of operation parameters (filling degree and rotational regime) and packing fraction of the tablets is carried out. A Discrete Element Method (DEM) modelling of the experimental setup is performed by reproducing the shape of the tablet with the so-called Multi-sphere and applying the Hertz-Mindlin contact model. The stress regime profiles within the bulk are used as an input to the empirical Archard Wear model in order to predict the formation of fines and to be implemented for subsequent upscaling of the system.
Simulation video of pharmaceutical tablets in tumbling drum
Fig. 1. Snapshot of powder compaction (particles colored by Compressive Force) 
Fig. 2. Snapshot of a tumbling drum simulation (tablets colored by Kinetic Energy) 
Fig. 3. Snapshot of a tumbling drum simulation (tablets colored by Kinetic Energy) I have been using EDEM for around 2 years and I am really amazed with the performance of this software. If I had to stress the most important aspect for me, I would choose the API. It allows me to modify the code for my application without having to renounce EDEM's visualization and post-processing tools.
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