Maier Lukas, Mitterlindner Michael, Benabchiasli Hadie, Fasching Gregor, Radl Stefan
Institute of Process and Particle Engineering, Graz University of Technology, Inffeldgasse 13/III, 8010, Graz, Austria.
Sci Rep. 2025 Mar 4;15(1):7599. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-90129-6.
In industrial applications, the handling of heterogeneous mixtures of phases and materials poses challenges for direct measurements and experiments, necessitating complementary modeling approaches. The Discrete Element Method (DEM) is commonly used for simulating the flow of granular systems, typically with spherical particles. However, certain applications, such as recycled polymers and batteries, require alternative non-convex particle representations in DEM simulations. Tetrapods are a promising shape candidate for modeling the flow behavior of such materials, as well as the associated uncertainty. We investigate the impact of the tetrapods' properties on the outcome and uncertainty inherent to DEM-based simulations. We demonstrate that tetrapods are effective for modeling interlocking materials, with their shape and size parameter significantly affecting interlocking behavior. Most interestingly, we can correlate the shape and size of tetrapods to the uncertainty inherent to our simulations. Specifically, we find that this uncertainty is positively correlated with both tetrapod size and the interlocking parameter ξ/D that quantifies their non-convexity. Lastly, we provide guidelines for selecting optimal tetrapod parameter sets for accurately modeling materials based on mean and variability measured in experiments.
在工业应用中，相和材料的非均匀混合物的处理给直接测量和实验带来了挑战，因此需要采用互补的建模方法。离散单元法（DEM）通常用于模拟颗粒系统的流动，典型的是使用球形颗粒。然而，某些应用，如再生聚合物和电池，在DEM模拟中需要替代的非凸颗粒表示。四脚体是模拟此类材料流动行为及其相关不确定性的一种很有前景的形状候选。我们研究了四脚体特性对基于DEM模拟的结果和固有不确定性的影响。我们证明四脚体对于模拟互锁材料是有效的，其形状和尺寸参数会显著影响互锁行为。最有趣的是，我们可以将四脚体的形状和尺寸与模拟中固有的不确定性相关联。具体而言，我们发现这种不确定性与四脚体尺寸以及量化其非凸性的互锁参数ξ/D均呈正相关。最后，我们提供了基于实验中测量的均值和变异性来选择最佳四脚体参数集以准确模拟材料的指导方针。
