When coupling EDEM-Fluent, where is the scaling factor adjusted?

heran_yiqi123

Hi everyone,

I'm currently trying to simulate a close-packed bed. Due to the extremely small size of the actual particles, I need to apply a coarse-graining approach to reduce the computational cost.

However, I'm having some trouble with the exact setup. Specifically, I can't seem to find where to actually input or configure the scaling factor in the software (I'm currently using Barracuda Virtual Reactor).

Additionally, could anyone advise on how to properly calibrate the material parameters to account for this scaling factor once it's set?

Any advice or pointing me to the right settings would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Stephen Cole

Hi, related to EDEM-FLUENT you can find a scaling factor in the Fluent drag models.

https://learn.altair.com/courses/cfd-dem-coupling-edem-and-fluent-elearning

In the e-learning you can see this in the "Coupling Example: Fluidized Bed" lesson. At 2:03 minutes into the video the drag model is shown and the particle-scale-up factor shown.

This only scales the fluid drag forces on the particle. You have to manually scale the particles in EDEM. For example if the real particle material is 0.1 mm diameter you can create particles in the EDEM Creator of 1 mm diameter and set the drag law scale in Fluent to 10.

This doesn't scale the particle-particle or particle-equipment interaction forces, though you should make a judgement on what the dominant forces are in the system. If it's relatively dilute and the particle flow is driven by the fluid forces then you should look to calibrate the particle interaction in a fluid with a representative test case.

If its density packed and material-material/material-equipment interactions are dominant then after you have decided on the appropriate scaling factor you would have to calibrate the scaled up material according to one of these methods:

https://community.altair.com/discussion/33971/discrete-element-method-calibration-with-edem

Regards

Stephen