PROBABILITY-BASED CONTACT ALGORITHM FOR ELLIPSOIDAL PARTICLES IN DEM AND SILO TESTS

A probability-based contact algorithm is proposed.It is implemented in a sphere-based DEM code for modelling non-spherical particles with the same computational efficiency of contact detection as that for spherical particles.An ellipsoid is considered as an example for the probability-based contact algorithm derivation.Processes of silo discharge of spherical sago,ellipsoidal mungbean and rice are simulated respectively.Corresponding silo tests are also carried out.The flow pattern and flow rate of a particle system with different particle shapes are compared between the results obtained from the simulation and experiment.It can be found that the probability-based contact algorithm is suitable for the study of flow characteristics of ellipsoidal particles,with sufficient accuracy and high efficiency.