Discrete Element Methods: Basics and Applications in Engineering

A computational approach is presented in this contribution that allows a direct numerical simulation of 3D particulate movements. The given approach is based on the Discrete Element Method (DEM) The particle properties are constitutively described by specific models that act at contact points. The equations of motion will be solved by appropriate time marching algorithms. Additionally coupling schemes with the Finite Element Method (FEM) are discussed for the numerical treatment of particle-solid and particle-fluid interaction. The presented approach will be verified by computational results and compared with those of the literature. Finally, the method is applied for the simulation of different engineering applications using computers with parallel architecture.