We report on the synthesis of the Discrete Element Method (DEM) modelling the
behaviour of granular materials and a finite volume model for the continuous interstitial fluid
using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). As real industrial problems are often
characterized by high computational effort, the need for a CFD-DEM solver able to run on
large clusters is obvious. To take a first step into this direction, the authors developed a
coupled solver joining the two software packages LIGGGHTS and OpenFOAM®. While the
former covers the DEM modelling, the latter describes the fluid dynamics of the continuous
phase. The implementation of the code permits fully parallel simulations on distributed
memory machines using MPI functionality. In a test case the correct prediction of pressure
drop and minimum fluidization velocity is shown.
Forschungs-