Energy dissipation in agglomerates during normal impact

This work presents the results of the computational analysis of the influence of interparticle cohesion on the energy propagated and dissipated in agglomerates during impact against a rigid target. Agglomerate impact was simulated using Discrete Element Method (DEM). The cohesion between particles was simulated using the Johnson, Kendall and Roberts model. Four different regimes of breakage have been identified and the energy dissipated by the agglomerate upon impact has been determined for each regime of breakage. A comparison between the energy dissipated by the breakage of individual interparticle contacts and the net loss of kinetic energy has shown that the rupture of interparticle bonds utilises less than 10% of the total kinetic energy dissipated during agglomerate impact for all cases analysed here. In contrast, most of the incident kinetic energy is dissipated by contact damping and tangential deformation between the individual particles forming the agglomerates.