Influence of Timestep on Archard Wear Results in EDEM2024

Jack11111

Hi,

I am using EDEM 2024 to simulate excavation using a bucket and exporting the Archard wear data directly from EDEM’s built-in Archard wear model. To verify the accuracy of the wear calculations, I conducted multiple simulations with the same setup but varied the timestep dt to observe its impact on the Archard wear results. The red line in the figure below represents my findings.

As I increased dt across different simulations, the Archard wear initially increased, then decreased, with variations reaching an order of magnitude. This unexpected behavior raises concerns about the reliability of Archard wear calculations in EDEM.

I have two questions:

1. Intuitively, I would expect that reducing dt should lead to more precise results, implying a monotonic trend in Archard wear (either increasing or decreasing with decreasing dt). However, my results show a non-monotonic trend—first increasing, then decreasing with dt. Is there an explanation for this behavior?
2. Based on your experience, what would be the recommended timestep dt for obtaining the most accurate Archard wear results in EDEM?

Any insights or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Best,

Jack

Stephen Cole

Hi Jack,

I wouldn't expect Archard wear to be so time-step dependent however it could be related to the geometry mesh and how the forces are transferred between mesh elements.

In the EDEM Simulator > Simulator Engine > Advanced Settings there is a "Preserve contacts between triangles " option. If you select this it will maintain the contact history when particles are sliding between geometry triangles, if you select this option does it improve the results for you?

Regards

Stephen