Voidage V2 API model

Voidage (built-in) calculation in EDEM

In EDEM 2017.2 and earlier, the Voidage can be obtained by creating a Grid Bin and creating a
Voidage query. The Voidage property is built-in and calculated as:
𝑉𝑏𝑖𝑛 − 𝑉𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑠
Voidage = ×100 (1)
𝑉𝑏𝑖𝑛

Where 𝑉𝑏𝑖𝑛 is the volume of the defined bin, and 𝑉𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑠 is the sum of the volume of all the
particles inside the bin.
The EDEM Voidage therefore does not consider the overlap between particles, which
quantifies the deformation of the particles.

Voidage V2 API model calculation

The voidage V2 API model considers the overlap between particle in the voidage. The Voidage
V2 API model uses the API contact and Particle Body Force plugins, and works as follows:
- In the API Contact Model section, a custom
particle property called “Overlapped Volume”
is created and calculates half of the total volume
overlapped for a particle in contact with other
particles.

- In the API Particle Body Force section, a custom particle property called
“Compressed Volume” is created and subtracts the “Overlapped Volume” to the
volume of the particle.
Compressed Volume𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒 = 𝑉𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒 − 𝑂𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑙𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒 (2)

Then, the Voidage V2 is obtained by calculating:

𝑉𝑏𝑖𝑛 − 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 (3)
Voidage V2 = ×100
𝑉𝑏𝑖𝑛
Use of the custom Voidage V2 API model

- Change the Prefs_file.txt according to the number of particle types in your simulation. In
the example attached to this document, there are 3 particles types: A, B and C.
- Run a simulation and load the Voidage_V2.dll API model in the Particle to Particle and
Particle Body Force model.
- Run the simulation
- In the Analyst, create a Grid Bin at the time T1 you want to check the voidage.
Based on the “Start Point” and “End Point”, you can calculate the volume of your bin Vb.

- Check the value of the “Compressed Volume” at the time T1: you can either look at this
with a custom query on the Grid Bin, or plot a Line graph, or export the Compressed
Volume in excel, etc.

Example: Total “Compressed Volume” = 0.044882, Volume of the bin = 0.066326 m3

→ Voidage V2 = (Vb – Compressed Volume)/Vb * 100 = 32.3
When to use the Voidage and Voidage V2
We recommend using the EDEM built-in Voidage when:
- The objective is to have an order of the voidage
- The voidage is not a critical value for the simulation
We recommend using the Voidage V2 API model when:
- The overlap between particle is relatively big compared to “normal” cases. This can
mean high compression forces, high velocities, low shear modulus, …
- The voidage is a critical value for the simulation
As the API is used for the Voidage V2 API, the simulation will be slower if the model is included
during the whole simulation.
If the value of the voidage is needed only at the end of the simulation, it will be faster to add the
Voidage V2 API model for just one time step at the end of the simulation.

Example case

Below are the results of the example attached to this file. The total particle volume, total
“Overlapped Volume” and total “Compressed Volume” are shown.
Compression of the particle starts around T = 0.15s, and we can see how the overlapped volume
changes over the compression. The Compressed Volume property will change consequently.
As a comparison, at T=0.245s,
- EDEM Voidage = 32.17
- Voidage V2 = 32.92
At T=0.316s (relatively high overlap)
- EDEM Voidage = 6.52
- Voidage V2 = 11.85
Compressed Volume
Limitations

- The EDEM Voidage and the Voidage V2 do not consider when a particle is “half” in the
bin and “half outside the bin, and considers that the particle is fully inside the bin.

- The Voidage V2 is bigger than it should be because when two overlapped volume
overlap, we do not consider the fact the intersection between two overlapped volume
should not be removed

Therefore, a more correct value of the voidage should be in a range between the
EDEM voidage and the Voidage V2.