Hello everyone,
I am trying to use the Fibers Bonding Model in Altair EDEM 2026 to create bonds between spherical particles (spheres) and sphero-cylindrical particles. However, the bonding behavior is not what I expected. I used the Volume Packing tool to generate a packed bed of spherical particles inside a closed geometry. I also introduced sphero-cylindrical particles near the domain using a Static Factory. In the Physics → Particle to Particle section, I applied the Fibers Bonding Model to the relevant material pairs and set what I believe are appropriate bonding parameters such as bond strength and cross-section area.
Surprisingly, bonds are successfully created between the sphero-cylindrical particles themselves. Even more unexpected, some fiber bonds have also formed between spherical particles, even though I did not define any bonding model for sphere-to-sphere interactions. However, although the spherical and sphero-cylindrical particles are in direct contact (and sometimes even overlapping within the defined contact range), the BondStatus for sphere-to-sphero-cylinder contacts remains 0 throughout the simulation, and no bonds form between the two different shapes.
I would like to know if the Fibers Bonding Model officially supports mixing spherical particles with sphero-cylindrical particles. I noticed in the EDEM documentation that the model is mainly described for sphero-cylinders, but some community posts mention that spheres and sphero-cylinders are listed as compatible. Are there any special requirements for cross-shape bonding, such as particle creation order, factory timing, contact radius settings, or the order of contact models? If mixing these shapes is not fully supported or has known limitations, what would be the recommended alternative (for example, Bonding V2, LEBM, or a custom API) to achieve flexible bonding between spheres and fiber-like cylindrical particles?
I have attached my EDEM simulation file for reference. I would really appreciate any insights, similar experiences, or suggestions from the community.
Thank you in advance!
