Hi all,
I’m using Altair EDEM and would appreciate guidance on how to define surface energy for cross‑material contacts when using either EEPA or Hertz–Mindlin with JKR.
- Suppose I have two particle materials: A (surface energy = 5) and B (surface energy = 3) in consistent units (e.g., J/m²).
- For A–A and B–B contacts, I use their respective values.
- Question: For the A–B interaction, what is the correct way to set the surface energy (or work of adhesion) in EDEM?
I’m specifically trying to understand whether EDEM expects one of the following for dissimilar contacts:
- A simple arithmetic mean (e.g., (5 + 3) / 2),
- A geometric/harmonic mean or another mixing rule,
- A work‑of‑adhesion form (e.g., JKR often uses an interfacial work of adhesion rather than per‑surface values),
- The minimum/maximum of the two,
- Or a material‑pair matrix (per‑pair surface energy) that I can explicitly specify somewhere.
If there is an official recommendation/documentation (model‑specific for EEPA vs HM‑JKR) on cross‑material surface energy (or adhesion energy) in EDEM, I’d be grateful for a link. Also, if the correct approach is to define a per‑pair value via a UDF or preferences/material database, could you point me to an example or the recommended workflow.
