EDEM 2020.

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Release Notes
 EDEM 2020.3 Release Notes

Copyrights and Trademarks

Copyright© 2020 DEM Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved.

Information in this document is subject to change without notice. The software described
in this document is furnished under a license agreement or nondisclosure agreement. The
software may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of those agreements.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording
for any purpose other than the purchaser’s personal use without the written permission of
DEM Solutions Ltd.

DEM Solutions Ltd.

1 Rutland Court
Edinburgh
EH3 8FL
UK
support@edemsimulation.com

This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group. EDEM uses
the SIMD-oriented Fast Mersenne Twister (SFMT) random number generator. Copyright©
2012 Mutsuo Saito, Makoto Matsumoto, Hiroshima University and The University of
Tokyo. All rights reserved. EDEM includes CGNS (CFD General Notation System)
software. See the Online Help for full copyright notice.

The EDEM corporate logo, EDEM Creator, EDEM Simulator, and EDEM Analyst are
registered trademarks of DEM Solutions Ltd. All other brands or product names are the
property of the respective owners.

DEM Solutions Ltd. has been part of Altair Engineering, Inc. since November 2019.

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 EDEM 2020.3 Release Notes

EDEM 2020.3
This Release Notes document contains the following information about EDEM 2020.3:

• Key Features
• Enhancements
• Bug Fixes
• Known Issues

Key Features
HyperMesh Data Export for Finite Element Analysis: Geometry
contact export
HyperMesh Export dialog has been expanded to include an additional option based on the
Particle-Geometry contact points. This option provides exporting of the force at the contact
points rather than the existing capability which takes the forces per triangle element. This
removes any mesh dependency but may result in a significantly larger data file.

Material Database reworked to allow multiple dependency groups

A new material database system has been created. This allows users to save information
on a per simulation basis. Entries in the database include particle shape, material
properties, interactions, Meta-Particles, contact model settings and material blocks. This
functionality addresses missing components in the previous material database.

Current databases will be merged into the new database format.

EDEM API includes Geometry Deformation

Functionality has been added to the API to allow for geometries to be deformed during the
simulation. This replicates the existing functionality in the Coupling Interface and makes it
available for use with EDEM Contact Models. This functionality is available on the CPU
initially and allows direct editing of node positions.

EEPA Model updated to include Particle-Geometry interactions

The Edinburgh Elasto-Plastic Adhesive (EEPA) contact model has been updated to
include particle-geometry interactions, as well as speed improvements and minor bug
fixes. The results for the particle to particle contacts remain consistent with previous
versions; however, the particle-geometry interactions will be affected. These changes will
give more realistic physics behavior than the previous version of the model.

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 EDEM 2020.3 Release Notes

Additional Enhancements
Creator

Meta-Particles: add transfer material capability

Meta-particles have been added to the database transfer window and can be saved in the
same way as materials, particles etc.

Support JT CAD Files

Intergraph JT CAD files (*.jt *.xml) are now supported for Geometry import.

Meta-Particles: add size distribution option

Meta-particles can now be generated with a size distribution. Meta-particles can have
fixed, lognormal, normal and random distributions. Meta-particles will be scaled according
to these settings when generated by the particle factories. NB. Physics model values
remain unchanged during scaling.

Add Replace Geometry capability to command line

--rg --replace-geometry has been added to the Command Line. This replicates the
behavior of the EDEM Creator > Replace Geometry option which replaces a geometry
section but retains all attributes from the previous geometry. Options normally selected in
the GUI for geometry import are replaced by a config file.

For information on using this Command Line flag please, refer to the EDEM help
documentation.

Reset the camera when Sphere Fitting Tool finishes generating particle
When generating a Particle Prototype using the Sphere Fitting Tool the camera view will
update to zoom to the extents of the particle.

Support inventor CAD Files

AutoDesk Inventor CAD files (*.ipt *.iam) are now supported for Geometry import.

Analyst
Improve Contact rendering
Updates have been made to the OpenGL engine to improve contacts visualization and
analyst performance (up to 70x speed improvement).

Coupling Interface
Add Replace Geometry capability to Coupling Interface
replaceGeometry() has been added to the EDEM Coupling Interface. This replicates the
behavior of the EDEM Creator > Replace Geometry option which replaces a geometry

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 EDEM 2020.3 Release Notes

section but retains all attributes from the previous geometry. Options normally selected in
the GUI for geometry import are replaced by a config file.

Add Save command to Coupling Interface

save() has been added to the EDEM Coupling Interface. This allows the simulation deck
to be saved once changes have been made by the coupling interface without needing to
advance the timestep.

Installer
EDEM Cal installed by default on Windows
EDEM Cal is now always installed during the installation of EDEM on Windows, allowing
easier access to the software without re-running the installer.

Miscellaneous
Add micrometer option to units
Micrometers have been added as a Length unit to the interface. Micrometer based units
have also been added for Acceleration, Velocity and Volume. Units can be selected
through Tools > Options > Units.

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 EDEM 2020.3 Release Notes

Bug Fixes
EDEM 2020.3 contains fixes for the following issues:

• Performance in the Creator Particle and Meta-particle view was slow due to the
number of spheres being displayed. Sphere display quality is now reduced in
relation to the number of spheres used for the prototype particle. Sphere tables
can now efficiently handle thousands of spheres.
• The spray factory could generate a fan shape rather than a conical shape.
• Factories using the Total Mass option were not considered complete. When
restarting the simulation additional particles could be generated by the factory.
• The point of action was not copied correctly when a motion was copied to a
different geometry part. Additional options have been added to resolve this issue.
• A difference in results was seen when running a simulation using the Field Data
Coupling on the CPU and the GPU.
• The Sphere Fitting tool would fail to create particles from templates imported in
micrometers
• An error was reported (Error -30) during the simulation when simulating using the
GPU.
• A crash could occur using the Dynamic Domain with the MotionSolve MBD
coupling.
• Geometries could fail during import if the filepath contained non ASCII characters.
• EDEM Cal section headings would not update when using 'next' and 'previous'
buttons.
• When importing using the Rigid Body option the Min size could be greater than the
Max size.
• A crash could occur when opening a deck following selecting of certain
components in the options menu.
• EDEM would crash in the Analyst when clicking on a selection properties widget
while the rename option was still active.
• A difference in results could be seen when using running a simulation with Linear
Periodic Boundary conditions on CPU and GPU.
• Binary STL files containing 'solid' at the start reported an error and were not
imported.
• Geometry import Rigid Body Mesh Min Value could not be greater than 10
• Step CAD files containing sketches could not be imported and reported and error.
• loadGeometry function could fail when running EDEM via command line.
• Classroom edition could have been preferred over professional.
• A runtime error when running EDEM-Fluent coupling on GPU.
• Certain IGES files could not be imported into EDEM.
• In GPU API, Geometry Group Index, Element ID and Index Within Type were
assigned incorrectly.
• When using a stop file to stop a command line run, the generation of particles was
not preserved correctly.
• File truncation and renaming errors were seen due to process conflicts at the final
timestep.
• The Analysis Time reported by in the index file for the HyperMesh Export were
incorrect when the simulation was run using selective save.
• HMBatch CAD import errors were not being logged in the EDEM Messages dialog.
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 EDEM 2020.3 Release Notes

• Particle Selection Groups were not displayed correctly when switching between
multiple overlapping Selection Groups.

If you have any concerns or questions about any of these fixes which have been applied,
please contact the EDEM Support Team - support@edemsimulation.com

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 EDEM 2020.3 Release Notes

Known Issues
GPU Solver Compatibility
The EDEM GPU Solver Engine has some restrictions on the types of simulations it can
run in the current version. These are documented in the EDEM help files (GPU guide) and
summarized in the table below:

CPU GPU Multi-GPU

Creator Features
All 1 1 1

Analyst Features
All 1 1 1

Simulator Features
Coupling Interface 1 1 1
Dynamic Domain 1 1 0
Periodic Boundaries 1 1 1
Cylindrical Periodic Boundaries 1 0 0
Track Collisions 1 0 0
Auto-timestep setting 1 1 1
Auto-grid setting 1 1 1
Time integration methods 1 0 0
Batch mode 1 1 1
Kinematics 1 1 1
Selective Save 1 1 1
Block import Factory 1 1 1

EDEM API
Contact Models 1 1 1
Particle Body Forces 1 1 1
Factories 1 1 1
Field Data Import 1 1 1
Custom Properties 1 1 1

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 EDEM 2020.3 Release Notes

Note: Existing EDEM API models need to be converted to work on the GPU solver. This
process is not automatic, but information is provided to help guide the user through this
process. [EDEM Documentation > Programming Guide > GPU API User Guide]. The
model will need to be updated to the latest version of the API before activation of the GPU
solver is possible. Most of the challenges arise from moving the code from C++ to
OpenCL, this normally involves checking for C++ functions which are not supported.
EDEM has also provided additional helper functions to assist with this process to cover
many of the tools commonly used in the API.

GPU Out of Memory

If the NVIDIA driver reports issues with memory, the recommended approach is to set the
3d profile to '3d app - visual simulation'

EDEM Help Search box is not working in Internet Explorer 11

Other browsers such as Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox do not have
this issue.

GPU limitations for Simulations with Imported Field Data

EDEM GPU Solver Engine cannot simulate with as much field data as the CPU Solver
due to the GPU cards generally having less available memory.

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 EDEM 2020.3 Release Notes

Red Hat 6 End Of Life (EOL)

Official support for Red Hat 6 will end 30th November 2020. EDEM will not be able to
continue to offer support on this platform beyond this date so users are advised to migrate
to a newer operating system on or before this date.

MotionView Geometry import issues

To use the parent-child functionality in EDEM with a rotating geometry imported from
MotionView, the geometries local origin must be moved using the local origin offset to the
center of the geometry. If the local origin is not at the center of the rotating geometry, the
child will move around an axis relative to the automatic local origin (0,0,0). This will cause
the child to move in unwanted ways.

CGNS Files

EDEM 2020.3 does not support CGNS files in HDF5 format. It is recommended to save
these in an alternative format for use with EDEM.

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