EDEM Tutorial

Heat Transfer

September 2017 Revision

 EDEM Tutorial: Heat Transfer

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 EDEM Tutorial: Heat Transfer

Introduction
This intermediate tutorial is directed at users who have covered introductory
exercises, as the initial set-up of the simulation is abbreviated and basic functionality
not explained in detail. In case of any uncertainties or problems, please refer to
previous tutorials or the EDEM Help section.
This exercise explores further options of EDEM, focusing on the heat transfer
capabilities. In this model heat is transferred through conduction between hot and
cold particles. The EDEM Heat Transfer feature is required to run this tutorial.

The main focus of this tutorial is on:

• Using the Hertz-Mindlin with heat conduction contact model
• Modelling Heat transfer through conduction between hot and cold particles
• Coloring particles according to the temperature
• Adding text to the model in Viewer

Time = 1.42s Time = 14.92s

1. Start EDEM.
2. Go to File > Save As…
3. Select a location on the local machine (e.g. C:\EDEM_Tutorials).
4. Enter a file name (e.g. Heat_Transfer_tutorial.dem) and click Save.

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 EDEM Tutorial: Heat Transfer

EDEM Creator: Setting up the model

Step 1: Define the Project and Settings
Choose the units
1. Go to Tools > Options… menu and select the Units tab.
2. Change the following measurement units:
▪ Temperature to Kelvin (K)
▪ Length to mm
3. Click OK.

Enter the model title and description

1. Click on Project in the Creator Tree.
2. In the Detailed View, enter the title Heat Transfer in the Title box in the
Simulation section.
3. Enter a description in the Description field.

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 EDEM Tutorial: Heat Transfer

Step 2: Define the Bulk Material

Add a new Bulk Material and define its properties
1. Right click on the Bulk Material and select Add Bulk Material.
2. Rename this material to Plastic.
3. Set the Poisson's Ratio, Solid Density and Shear Modulus as shown:

Define the bulk material interaction

1. Click the button in the Interaction section and define the interaction between
particles made of Plastic.
2. Leave the values as default.

Create a new particle type

1. Create a new particle of Plastic.
2. Rename the particle to Plastic_ball.
3. Modify the shape of the particle to a sphere by selecting Single Surface.
4. Set the Radius of the surface to 40 mm.
5. Click the Calculate Properties button and pick the Surfaces option.

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 EDEM Tutorial: Heat Transfer

Step 3: Define the Equipment Material

The geometry in this tutorial is made of the same Plastic material that was
defined for the particles, however Bulk Materials can only be assigned to
particles. Therefore, the same material also needs to be defined as an
Equipment Material.

Add new equipment material

1. Right click on the Equipment Material and select Add Equipment Material.
2. Rename this material to Plastic_equip.

Define the equipment material properties

1. Set the Poisson's Ratio, Solid Density and Shear Modulus as previously shown
for the Plastic material.

Define the material interaction properties

1. Click the button in the Interaction section and define the interaction between
particles made of Plastic and geometries made of Plastic_equip.
2. Leave the values as default.

Step 4: Define the Geometry

Create a box
1. Right click on Geometries.
2. Hover over Add Geometry and
select Box.
3. Expand the new geometry in the
Creator Tree and select Box.
4. Set the Box details as follows:
5. Rename the geometry Box.

Create the particle factory plate

1. Right click on Geometries.
2. Hover over Add Geometry and select
Polygon.
3. Click the Details tab and set the type to
Virtual, since it is not a physical part of
the machinery.
4. Expand the new geometry in the
Creator Tree and select Polygon.
5. Set the Polygon details as follows:

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 EDEM Tutorial: Heat Transfer

6. Rename the geometry Factory_plate.

Create the particle factories

Two particle factories are needed in this simulation - one to produce hot particles and
the other to produce cold particles. Both factories can be based on the same
geometry, i.e. the polygon created in the previous section.
1. Right click factory in the Creator Tree and select Add Factory.
2. Expand the new factory in the Creator Tree.
3. Ensure that the Factory Type is set to dynamic.
4. Select Total Number and set the value to 1.
5. In the Generation Rate Section, select Target Number (per second) and set the
rate to 10 particles/s.
6. Rename the factory Hot_factory.
7. Repeat steps 1-6, with a Total Number of 2 particles, Target Number (per
second) of 1 particles/s and name this factory Cold_factory.
8. For the Cold_factory, set the Start Time to 1s.

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 EDEM Tutorial: Heat Transfer

Step 5: Define the Physics

The Hertz-Mindlin with heat conduction contact model is used to represent the heat
transfer between particles of different temperatures.

Set the Heat Transfer model

1. Select the Physics section in the Creator Tree.
2. Select Particle to Particle from the Interaction pull-down in the Physics section.

3. Select Hertz-Mindlin (no slip) then click the button to remove it.

4. Click the button and select

Hertz-Mindlin with heat
conduction.

5. Click the configure button to set

the Thermal Conductivity as follows:

6. Select Particle Body Force from the

Interaction pull-down.

7. Click the button and select

Temperature Update.

8. Click the configure button to set

the Heat Capacity as follows:

Set the hot factory’s initial parameters

1. Go back and select Hot_factory from the expanded menu of the Factory_plate in
the Creator Tree. In the Parameters section, two new parameters will have
appeared: Temperature and Heat Flux.

2. Set the Temperature to fixed then click the configure button and set a
value of 400 K.

Set the cold factory’s initial conditions

1. Select Cold_factory.

2. Set the Temperature to fixed then click the configure button and set a
value of 300 K.

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 EDEM Tutorial: Heat Transfer

Step 6: Define the Environment

Set the domain
1. Select the Environment section from the Creator Tree.
2. Check that the Auto Update from Geometry option is selected.

Set the acceleration due to gravity

1. Check that Gravity is set to -9.81m/s2 in the z-direction.
2. Select File > Save.

EDEM Simulator: Running a Simulation

1. Click on the Simulator button on the toolbar.

Step 1: Set the Time Options

Set the time step
1. If checked, uncheck the Auto Time Step checkbox.
2. Set the Fixed Time Step lower box to 0.00015s. The percentage of Rayleigh time
step is calculated automatically (~29%).

Set the simulation time, data write-out and grid options

1. In the Simulation Time section, set the Total Time to 20s.
2. Set the Target Save Interval to 0.001s to specify the write-out frequency.
3. In the Simulator Grid section, set the Cell Size to 3 Rmin, which creates 3 grid
cells.

Step 2: Run the Simulation

1. Select the appropriate number of Cores for your simulation. The total number
available depends on your license and hardware.
2. Click the start Progress button at the bottom of the simulation window.

3. In Viewer Controls, click the Refresh Viewer button or enable Auto Update

at any point to update the Viewer and see how the simulation is
progressing.

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 EDEM Tutorial: Heat Transfer

EDEM Analyst: Analyzing the Results

1. Switch to the Analyst by selecting the button on the toolbar.

Step 1: Configuring the Display

Configure the geometry
Experiment with different visualizations and coloring options for particles and
geometries.
For more information on Configuring the Display, refer to the introductory tutorials
(Tutorials 1-3).

Step 2: Visualizing the Heat Distribution

1. Expand Display in the Analyst Tree and select Particles.
2. Set the Color by attribute to Temperature.
3. Check the Show Legend box.
4. Set the Min and Max Values of temperature to 300K and 400K, respectively.
5. Click Apply All.
6. Rewind the simulation and play it back from the beginning.

Step 3: Adding Labels

1. Click the button next to Text in the Text Label menu on the toolbar:

2. Click in the Text area

3. Replace Message 1 with the label Initially Hot.
4. Set the text color to Red.
5. Enable the Position Text checkbox and place the label appropriately.
6. Repeat previous instructions to add a Initially Cold label in Blue font.
7. When finished, uncheck the Position Text box.

Step 4: Review the Simulation

1. In the Viewer Controls, set the Step Factor to Time of value 0.02 s.
2. Watch the simulation again.
You will observe that a hot ball is created followed by two cold balls. Note how heat
is transferred over time between the three balls. The images below show two
different time steps.

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 EDEM Tutorial: Heat Transfer

You can modify the display further for your convenience. You may also extend the
simulation time to establish when all the particles would reach the same temperature
state.

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