Description: A new particles method allows you to perform an analysis using the discrete element method (DEM). This method provides a versatile tool for modeling particulate material behavior in pharmaceutical, chemical, food, ceramic, metallurgical, mining, and other industries and is well-suited for particle mixing applications.

The discrete element method is an intuitive method in which discrete particles collide with each other and with other surfaces during an explicit dynamic simulation. Typically, each DEM particle represents a separate grain, tablet, shot peen, etc. For example, Figure 5–1 shows a sequence of deformed plots that represent the particle response as two augers turn in a particle mixing application. The discrete element method is not applicable to situations in which individual particles undergo complex deformation.

You can display output from a DEM analysis in the Visualization module of Abaqus/CAE by toggling on the Show discrete particle elements entity display option. When display of discrete particle elements is enabled, discrete particle elements are displayed for all output databases in your session.

Visualization module:
    ViewODB Options: Entity display tabbed page: Show discrete particle elements