Development and validation of CFD-DEM coupling interface for heat & mass transfer using partitioned coupling approach

This work demonstrates the rapid development of a simulation environment to achieve Heat and Mass Transfer (HMT) between Discrete Element Method (DEM) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). This coupling holds potential for simulating various processes like drying, pyrolysis, combustion, melting, and solid-fluid reactions, finding applications in biomass furnaces, boilers, heat exchangers, and flow through packed beds among others. To accurately model these applications, diverse CFD features and solvers must integrate with DEM to capture intricate physics.

The proposed method employs the preCICE coupling library on volumetric meshes, uniting CFD-DEM through an Eulerian-Lagrangian approach for HMT. The prototype uses eXtended Discrete Element Method (XDEM) for DEM calculations and OpenFOAM for CFD. XDEM receives key CFD data fields through preCICE, setting particle boundary conditions based on fluid domain properties and flow conditions. Heat and mass source terms computed by XDEM are fed into the CFD solver, representing the particle contributions.

This coupling framework, comprising preCICE, XDEM, and its adapter, accommodates a wide array of applications involving convective heat transfer between particles and fluids. Validation includes comparisons with experiments and a specialized solver, affirming the accuracy of predicted numerical results across heat transfer, drying, and pyrolysis cases. Additionally, the study delves into the computational costs associated with different coupling approaches, offering valuable performance insights.