DRG presents at the Dutch OpenFOAM User’s Group 2018

DRG is actively involved in the research and application for Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Discrete Element Modelling (DEM). This involves particle-flow interactions and can such methods can successfully be applied to industrial projects such as dredging, drilling and erosion problems.

For this purpose DRG employs a combination of CFD tools including the open-source FD toolbox OpenFOAM. The research presented focuses on a robust coupling between CFD and DEM. The current discrete particle implementation in OpenFOAM already includes a rudimentary interaction between the modelled particles themselves and between the particles and flow.

During the presentation the advantages and disadvantages of the present OpenFOAM DEM implementation will be discussed and illustrated using academic and industrial examples. The latter is essential to verify the efficiency and robustness on large-scale industrial problems. These examples will also be related to the current coupling algorithms that can be used to model particle collisions, injection models, particle forces and the mutual interaction between the flow and the modelled particles. The presentation concludes with an exploration on how to improve the current implementation of the coupling between DEM and open-source CFD toolbox OpenFOAM such that it can be used on real industrial projects related to dredging, drilling and erosion.

Interested to know more? Please contact:
Email: Wijnand Schoemakers
Senior Engineer