EDEM Tutorial:

Heat Transfer
 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 simulation is abbreviated and basic functionality not
explained in detail. In case of any uncertainties or problems, refer to previous
tutorials or 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. EDEM Heat Transfer feature is required to run this tutorial.

The focus of this tutorial is on:

Hertz-Mindlin with heat conduction contact model.
Heat transfer through conduction between hot and cold particles.
Introduction of Temperature Update as Particle Body Force interaction.
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.
5. Remember to often press Save when setting up the simulation.

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 EDEM Tutorial: Heat Transfer

EDEM Creator: Setting up the model

Step 1: Set the Global Model Parameters
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

Enter the model title and description

1. In the Globals tab, enter the title Heat Transfer in the Title field.
2. Enter a description in the Description field.

Install the EDEM materials database

If you have installed the materials database previously, ignore this step.
1. In Windows go to Start > DEM Solutions > EDEM 2.7 and select Install
external libraries to My Documents.
2. When you navigate My Documents folder you will notice that new folder
EDEM_2.7.0 was created.
To make sure that the materials database is already available in your new simulation:
3. Go back to EDEM and navigate to: Tools > Options > File Locations.
4. In Materials Database section, click Browse button and go to EDEM_2.7.0
folder in My Documents.
5. Select materialsDB.ddb and click OK.

Set the gravity and define the material

1. Check that Gravity is set to -9.81m/s2 in the z-direction.
2. In the Materials section, click the Transfer button. The Material/Interactions
Transfer dialog will appear.
3. Expand the Materials tree in the Materials database window and select
medium-stiffness.
4. Click the left arrow to copy the material into your model. Click OK.
5. Rename this material to Plastic.

Define the interactions between the materials

1. Select Plastic from the drop-down list at the top of the materials section.

2. Click the button in the Interaction section and when prompted choose
Plastic to define interaction between particles made of the same material.
3. Leave the values as default.

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 EDEM Tutorial: Heat Transfer

Step 2: Define the Base Particles

Particles are made up of one or more spherical surfaces. In this case the particle is
represented by a single sphere.

Create a new particle type

1. Click on the Particles tab in the Tabs pane.

2. Click the button to create a new particle type.

3. Click the button and rename the particle type Plastic_ball.

4. Set the Radius of the surface to 40 mm.
5. Set the Material to Plastic.
6. Click the Calculate Properties button and pick the Surfaces option.

Step 3: Set the Contact Models

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. Go back to Globals tab.
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:

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 EDEM Tutorial: Heat Transfer

Step 4: Define the Geometry

In this exercise you do not need to import a CAD geometry as you will
construct it in EDEM.

Create a box
1. Click on the Geometry tab.

2. Click the button in the Sections part and choose Box.

3. Click the Box tab and set the specification as follows:

Create the particle factory plate

Particle factories are used to define where, when and how particles appear in a
simulation. All factories must be based on a section of geometry (whether 'real' or
'virtual'). This defines the area in the model that produces the particles.

1. Click the button again to create a Polygon.

2. Click the button to rename it Factory_plate.

3. Click the Details tab and set the type to Virtual, since it is not a physical part
of the machinery.
4. Click on the Polygon tab and set the specification as follows:

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 EDEM Tutorial: Heat Transfer

Step 5: 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, ie. a polygon created in previous section.

Create the particle factories

1. Click on the Factories tab.

2. Click the button o create a new factory.

3. Click the button to rename it Hot_factory.

4. Set the Factory Type to dynamic.
5. Select Total Number and set the value to 1.
6. In the Generation Rate Section, select Target Number (per second) and set
the rate to 10 particles/s.

Set the hot factorys initial parameters

1. In the Parameters section, select the Factory_plate from the Section pull-
down.

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

Create the cold particle factory

1. Click the button again to create a new factory and Rename it

Cold_Factory.
2. Set the Factory Type to dynamic.
3. Select Total Number and set the value to 2.
4. In the Generation Rate section, select Target Number (per second) and set
the rate to 1 particles/s.
5. Set the Start Time to 1 s.

Set the cold factorys initial conditions

1. In the Parameters section, select the Factory_plate from the Section pull-
down.

2. Set the Temperature to fixed then click the configure button to set a value
of 300 K.
3. Select File > Save.

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 EDEM Tutorial: Heat Transfer

EDEM Simulator: Run the Simulation

1. Click on the Simulator button on the toolbar.

Step 1: Set the Time Options

Set the time step
1. Set the Fixed Time Step lower box to 0.00015s. It is approximately 29% of
Rayleigh time step. To find out more about Rayleigh time step, refer to
Appendix A: Estimating Simulation Time of the EDEM Help.

Set the simulation time and grid options

1. In Simulation Time section, set the Total Time to 20s.
2. Set the Target Save Interval to 0.001s to specify write-out frequency.
3. Set the grid size to 3 Rmin.

Step 2: Run the Simulation

1. Click the Start progress button at the bottom of the simulation window.
2. 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. Click on the Analyst button on the toolbar.

Step 1: Configuring the Display

Configure the geometry
You need to modify the display of the geometry in order to be able to see the
particles.
1. In Model tab, Set the Display Mode of the geometry to Filled and opacity to
0.4.
2. Click Apply.

Step 2: Coloring Elements

1. Click the Coloring tab.
2. In the Attribute Coloring section, select Temperature as an Attribute.
3. Check the Show Legend box.
4. Set the Min and Max Values of temperature as follows:

5. Click Apply and watch the simulation.

Step 3: Adding Labels

1. Go to the Viewer Controls section on the right of the Viewer.

2. Click the button 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.

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 EDEM Tutorial: Heat Transfer

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 a second later.
Note how heat is transferred over time between the three balls. The images below
show two different time steps.

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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