A High-Performance Discrete-Element Framework for Simulating Flow and Jamming of Moisture Bearing Biomass Feedstocks: Article No. 120548

Nicholas Deak, Hariswaran Sitaraman, Yimin Lu, Nepu Saha, Jordan Klinger, Yidong Xia

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We developed and verified a high-performance open-source discrete element method (DEM) solver with simultaneously-supported feedstock-specific interaction models, including bonded-sphere, liquid bridge, cohesion, and non-linear contact models. Our solver uses parallel data structures on hybrid central and graphics processing unit (CPU/GPU) architectures, with favorable strong scaling performance observed for large problem sizes comprised of (100 M particles), and 4X single-node GPU speedup. The particles for corn stover feedstock were conceptualized and calibrated based on experimental measurements and results. Sensitivity analyses demonstrate that the mass flow rate from a wedge hopper is governed primarily by moisture content, friction coefficient, and cohesion energy density. The model is used to reproduce experimentally observed hopper jamming results, highlighting that the experimental no-flow trends can only be achieved by using non-spherical particles, liquid bridge and cohesion models, highlighting the importance of using concurrent feedstock specialized models for the effective representation of biomass material handling problems.
Original languageAmerican English
Number of pages17
JournalPowder Technology
Volume452
DOIs
StatePublished - 2025

NREL Publication Number

  • NREL/JA-2C00-90649

Keywords

  • bioenergy
  • corn stover
  • granular flow
  • material handling
  • open-source software
  • wedge hopper

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