EDEM-FLUENT Tutorial:

2-Phase Lagrangian Simulation

Revision 2.2/2
 EDEM-FLUENT Tutorial: 2-Phase Lagrangian Simulation

Introduction
This tutorial describes how to set-up a coupled 2-phase EDEM-FLUENT simulation.
The model shows particles flowing through a pipe. The particles are small and take
up very little volume, therefore this can be coupled using the Eulerian-Lagrangian
method. This tutorial assumes you have some experience using Fluent.

Fluent: Setting up the model

Step 1: Set the fluid phase of the simulation
Import and scale the mesh file
1. Start FLUENT in 3d.
2. Select File > Read > Case then navigate to curved_tube.msh. Click OK to import
the mesh file.
3. Select Grid > Scale. Be sure the Grid Was Created In is set to meters (m). Note
the maximum and minimum cell volume (8.6e-8 m3 to 1.3e-6 m3).
The particles used in this simulation have a volume of 5.24e-10 m3. The local volume
fraction does not increase past 10% therefore the Lagrangian coupling method can
be used.

Setup the materials and operating conditions

1. Select Define > Materials.
2. Click Fluent Database then select water-liquid. Click Copy then Close.
3. Select Define > Operating Conditions.
4. Enable and set Gravity to -9.81 m/s2 in the Z direction. Click OK.

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 EDEM-FLUENT Tutorial: 2-Phase Lagrangian Simulation

Set the boundary conditions

1. Select Define > Boundary Conditions.
2. Click on fluid in the Zone section then click Set.
3. Select water-liquid from the Material Name pulldown menu then click OK.
4. Click on inlet in the Zone section, velocity-inlet in the Type section, then click Set.
5. Set the Velocity Magnitude to 1 m/s then click OK.

Set the simulation parameters

2-phase simulations cannot be steady state, so a time dependent simulation must be
set. The fluid flow parameters (such as the Reynolds number) should be calculated
and the simulation setup accordingly. The viscous models available are Laminar, k-
epsilon and Reynolds Stress.
1. Select Define > Models > Solver.
2. Set the time to Unsteady then click OK.
3. Select Define > Models > Viscous.
4. Select k-epsilon then click OK.
5. Select File > Write > Case to save the case file as curved_tube.cas.

Set the EDEM scheme panel and launch the Creator

1. Select Define > Models > EDEM.
2. Click New to create a new EDEM input deck. Save as curved_tube.dem.
3. Set the units to meters.
4. Click Creator in the Launch section to start EDEM.
The mesh file and the orientation of Gravity are imported from Fluent. Set the Display
Mode to Mesh: only the walls have imported from Fluent; the Velocity inlet and Outlet
are not shown.

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 EDEM-FLUENT Tutorial: 2-Phase Lagrangian Simulation

EDEM Creator: Setting up the model

Step 1: Set the solid phase of the simulation
Enter the model title and description
The model title and description will appear in the Data Browser window.
1. Click on the Globals tab in the Tabs pane.
2. Enter the title '2-Phase Lagrangian simulation of Particles in a curved pipe' in the
Title field in the Simulation section.

Define the materials

1. For the particle material, set the Poisson's ratio, Shear modulus, and density as
shown below:
Poisson's ratio to 0.5
Shear modulus to 1e+06 Pa
Density to 1200 kg/m3
2. Click the Transfer button to open the Material/Interactions Transfer dialog.
3. Transfer High-stiffness from the materials database to your simulation.
4. Click OK then rename the material steel.
5. Set the material interactions (using the default values) for particle particle and
particle steel.

Step 2: Define the Base Particles

Create a new particle type
1. Click on the Particle tab in the Tabs pane.
2. Click the + button and type a name Lagrangian particle in the Name field.

Define the surfaces and properties

Particles are made up of one or more spherical surfaces. In this case we are going to
examine a single-sphere particle.
1. Set the surface radius to 0.5 mm.
2. Set the material to 'particle material'.
3. Click Calculate Properties. Note the particle volume and the mesh cell volume.

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 EDEM-FLUENT Tutorial: 2-Phase Lagrangian Simulation

Step 3: Define the Geometry

Define the geometry material
1. Click on the Geometry tab in the Tabs pane. The mesh has been automatically
imported.
2. Change the name of the geometry to curved_tube.
3. In the Details tab, select steel from the Material pulldown menu.

Create the particle factory plate

1. Click the + button in the Sections section and choose polygon.
2. Name the polygon factory.
3. Click on the polygon tab and set the polygon specification as follows:

4. Click on the Details tab and set the type to virtual.

5. Set the surface normal (x, y, z) to (1, 0, 0).

Step 4: Create the Particle Factory

Create the particle factory
1. Click on the Factories tab.
2. Click the + button to create a new factory.

Set the factory type

1. Set the factory type to Dynamic.
2. Select Create Unlimited Particles.
3. Set the creation rate to 200 particles/s.

Set the factory parameters

1. Set the Section to the polygon you created and named factory.
2. Select File > Save.
The particles will be created with zero velocity and acquire the velocity of the fluid.
The setup of the solid phase of the model is now complete. Next we move back into
the Fluent-EDEM scheme panel and launch the Simulator.

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 EDEM-FLUENT Tutorial: 2-Phase Lagrangian Simulation

EDEM Simulator
Step 1: Set the Time and Grid Options
Set the time step and data write-out frequency
1. From FLUENT, select Define > Models > EDEM.
2. Click Simulator in the Launch section to start EDEM.
3. Set the time step to 35%.
4. Set the write out frequency to 0.005s.
5. Set the full data save to be every 1 write-out.

Set the grid options

1. Set the grid size to 11 Rmin. This will produce 78,000 grid cells.
2. Close the Simulator to save changes.

Fluent: Complete setup and simulate

Step 1: Set the Coupling method
Select the coupling method, the number of sample points and the relaxation factors.

Setup the 2-phase simulation

1. In the Fluent-EDEM scheme panel, select Lagrangian as the coupling method.
2. Highlight the zone fluid under coupled fluid zones.
3. Set the sample points to 10.
4. Set the momentum relaxation factor to 0.7.
5. Select OK.
Fluent will now run through a series of pre-set commands and apply the multiphase
Lagrangian model to the simulation.

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 EDEM-FLUENT Tutorial: 2-Phase Lagrangian Simulation

Initialize and set file options in Fluent

1. Initialize the solution.
1. Select Solve > Initialize > Initialize.
2. Select Compute from Inlet > Init > Close.
2. Set the autosave case and data option.
1. Select File > Write > autosave.
2. Enter a a file name and location to save to.
3. Set the Autosave Case File Frequency and Autosave Data File Frequency to
50 iterations. At a time step of 1e-3 s, data files are saved every 0.05 s.
3. Select File > Write > Case & Data to save the case (.cas) and data (.dat) files.
The .dat file contains the fluid (and solid phase) flow information at this point in time
(0s). The .cas file contains the geometry, boundary conditions and other simulation
parameters as well as the corresponding EDEM time step and EDEM file locations.
As the simulation progresses and the case and data files are autosaved, the
corresponding EDEM time is also saved in the .cas file.

Setup the time settings in Fluent

1. Select Solve > Iterate then set the Time Step Size to 1e-3. This is 50 times larger
than the EDEM timestep.
2. Set the Number of Time Steps to 1000. The simulation will run through 1s of
simulated time.
3. Set the max iterations per time step to 20. For Eulerian-Lagrangian simulations
this is typically 20 to 50.
4. Select Iterate to run the simulation. EDEM will start automatically once the fluid
phase converges, or the maximum number of iterations is reached.

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