Development of a particle breakage model for implementation in the discrete element method

Abstract

Particle breakage in the Discrete Element Method (DEM) is indispensable in the simulation of various unit operations, which is the case of crushing. Thus, the present work aims to develop a particle breakage model in DEM, based on the particle replacement model. In order to properly describe particle fragmentation, microprocesses related to breakage are coupled to the simulation algorithm. Both particle breakage properties and size of the generated fragments follow statistical distributions that have previously demonstrated to be valid for brittle materials, being able to describe the variability observed in practice. The implementation of the model has been carried out through an API for coupling in the commercial software EDEM. In order to validate the model, data from drop weight tests on particles as well as drop tests are compared to simulations, demonstrating good agreement.