A discrete/continuous numerical approach to multi-physics

A variety of technical applications are not only the physics of a single domain, but include several physical phenomena, and therefore are referred to as multi-physics. As long as the phenomena being taken into account is either continuous or discrete i.e. Euler or Lagrangian a homogeneous solution concept can be employed. However, numerous challenges in engineering include continuous and discrete phase simultaneously, and therefore cannot be solved only by continuous or discrete approaches. Problems include both a continuous and a discrete phase are important in applications of the pharmaceutical Industry e.g. drug production, agriculture and food processing industry, mining, construction and Agricultural machinery, metal production, power generation and systems biology. The Extended Discrete Element Method (XDEM) is a novel technique, which provides a significant advance for the coupled discrete and continuous numerical simulation concepts. It expands the dynamics of particles as described by the classical discrete element method (DEM) by a thermodynamic state or stress/strain coupled as fluid flow or structures for each particle in a continuum phase. XDEM additionally estimates properties such as the interior temperature and/or species distribution. These predictive capabilities are extended to fluid flow through an interaction by heat, mass and momentum transfer important for process engineering. © 2015, IFAC (International Federation of Automatic Control) Hosting by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.