A coupled thermo‑mechanical model for the simulation of discrete particle systems

Abstract

This work presents a computational model for the simulation of problems involving thermo-mechanically active particles forming discrete particle systems. Our approach is based on the discrete element method for description of the particles’ dynamics, combined with simple heat transfer equations to describe the various thermal effects that may take place when the system is excited by temperature gradients and external heat sources. We are able to track the motion of the particles and their thermal states over time under the influence of body (e.g., gravitational) forces, contact and friction forces (and the related moments w.r.t. the particles’ centers), as well as applied heat from external devices, heat transfer through conduction (at the particles’ interfaces upon contact with other particles and objects), convective cooling and radiative effects. Numerical examples are provided to validate our scheme and illustrate its applicability to the simulation of a wide range of engineering applications. We believe that simple, consistent particle models of the type as shown here may be a useful tool to the modeling of discrete particle systems that are consisted of thermo-mechanically active particles and, in a broader sense, many other multiphysical discrete systems.