Material Flow Analyses of Noncircular-Shaped Granular Media Using Discrete Element Methods

The mathematical development and application of two discrete element methods for analyzing the material flow of granular media is described. These two discrete element methods model the noncircular-shaped particles with analytical surface representations. 2D particles are modeled with a superquadric equation and 3D particles as ellipsoids. Two examples are then presented to illustrate the applicability of these techniques in engineering analysis. These examples include (1) flow of particulate media in a rotating drum; and (2) flow of ore material in an inclined ore pass system.