DEMocritus: an open source framework for simulating slurry flows using an SDPD-DEM coupled model

Abstract

This paper provides open-source code that works as a viscometer of particle-based simulations of three-dimensional fluid-particle interaction systems, targetting slurry or suspension flow in chemical engineering. The smoothed dissipative particle dynamics (SDPD), a fluid particle model developed for thermodynamic flow at mesoscale, is combined with the contact model of the discrete element method (DEM). The mechanics of fluid-particle interaction is modeled by a two-way interaction scheme using a drag-force model. We demonstrate our simulation code by several validation tests: simulations of reverse-Poiseuille flow, single-particle sedimentation, and a dam-breaking problem containing rigid particles, in reasonable calculation time. Our new open-source code is beneficial for scientists, researchers, and engineers in computational physics.