A review of the Discrete Element Method/Modelling (DEM) in agricultural engineering

With the development of high-performance computing technology, the number of scientific publications regarding computational modelling of applications with the Discrete Element Method/Modelling (DEM) approaches in agricultural engineering has risen in the past decades. Many granular materials, e.g....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of agricultural engineering (Pisa, Italy) Vol. 54; no. 4
Main Authors: Guo, Qing, Xia, Huihuang
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Bologna PAGEPress Publications 01.01.2023
Subjects:
Agricultural engineering
Agricultural land
Agriculture
Algorithms
Contact force
contact model
DEM
Design optimization
Discrete element method
Granular materials
Granular media
Irregular particles
Mathematical models
Numerical models
particle shape
ISSN:1974-7071, 2239-6268
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:With the development of high-performance computing technology, the number of scientific publications regarding computational modelling of applications with the Discrete Element Method/Modelling (DEM) approaches in agricultural engineering has risen in the past decades. Many granular materials, e.g. grains, fruits and soils in agricultural engineering are processed, and thus a better understanding of these granular media with DEM is of great significance in design and optimization of tools and process in agricultural engineering. In this review, the theory and background of DEM have been introduced. Some improved contact models discussed in the literature for accurately predicting the contact force between two interacting particles have been compared. Accurate approximation of irregular particle shapes is of great importance in DEM simulations to model real particles in agricultural engineering. New algorithms to approximate irregular particle shapes, e.g. overlapping multi-sphere approach, ellipsoid, etc. have been summarized. Some remarkable engineering applications of the improved numerical models developed and implemented in DEM are discussed. Finally, potential applications of DEM and some suggested further work are addressed in the last section of this review.
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ISSN:1974-7071
2239-6268
DOI:10.4081/jae.2023.1534