Intra-particle force distribution for polyhedral particles

jerrinjobs
jerrinjobs
Altair Employee
edited February 22 in Altair Exchange

Overview

The intra-particle force distribution is implemented as a post-processing python script that used EDEMPy. It reads all the .h5 files after the simulation is complete and calculates the force values based on the contact information at the save intervals.

Pre-Requisite

EDEMPy Installation: https://help.altair.com/edem/EDEMpy/EDEMpy_Introduction.htm

In your Python virtual environment, install PyVista library using the command pip install pyvista.
(As of 2023.1, Altair does not come with PyVista library, so the script cannot be run through the EDEM Analyst if you want to use the 'Plot' feature of the script.)

Usage/Installation Instructions

In your Python virtual environment, navigate to the folder where the zip file is extracted. Make sure all three python files are together. Run main.py using the command python main.py. 

  • A window will pop-up asking you to select the .dem file that you want to analyse.
  • Once the solution is selected, a second window will pop-up asking you to select the particle type that you would like to analyse. You will have to choose the time interval between which you would like to see the results. You will also have an option to save per-timestep results. Please note that you can only analyse polyhedral particles using this script.
  • After you run the analysis, a third window will pop-up with which you can save the force results and also plot (visualize) the force distribution over your particle. You can plot 'Sum', 'Mean', 'Max' and 'Count' for each particle type.
    • 'Sum' gives you the sum of the force values on each vertex across the time selected.
    • 'Mean' gives you the mean value of the forces on each vertex per contact across the time selected
    • 'Max' gives you the maximum value of the force on each vertex across the time selected (it is not necessary that all the max forces on each vertex happens at the same collision)
    • 'Count' gives you the total number of contacts every vertex had. If you checked ' Save per-timestep results', you will get the total number of contacts for every vertex in the simulation at every timestep. If you had not checked 'Save per-timestep results', you will get the total number of contacts for every vertex across the time selected.

Post-Requisite

If you wish to learn more about EDEMPy, please check out

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