Trending Applications

Battery Modelling

Aspherix® and CFDEM®coupling can be applied to different aspects of battery modelling. Find below examples for modelling the electrical conductivity within a battery, its heating due to the change of the packing density, the simulation of a thermal runaway as well as the depiction of the drying process of a Li-ion battery with resolved-unresolved CFD-DEM.

Electrical conductivity

The design of future battery materials is a big challenge, and the battery performance strongy depends on the packing properties. In the below animation we model the paste as particles in an electric potential. The material experiences heating due to the electric current.

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Joule heating

This simulation shows a lithium-ion cell between two horizontal electrodes at different potentials.

The top electrode moves downwards two times to simulate compression of the battery pack due to impacts. As the distance between the two electrodes decreases, the electric current flowing through the cell increases (see top inset). A stronger current implies a higher Joule heating and, therefore, the reaching of higher temperatures in the cell (see top inset).

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Simulation of a thermal runaway

During a thermal runaway of a Li-Ion battery hot gas exits the battery and burns. Using CFD we investigate the propagation of the flame front, velocities and pressures occurring during such an event.

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Drying of Li-ion battery electrodes

A large size difference between active material and carbon black requires using resolved and unresolved CFD-DEM at the same time.

The hybrid resolved-unresolved CFD-DEM simulation of the drying process of Li-Ion battery electrodes reveals high dynamics and segregation although the process is very slow.

The left side of the animation shows that large particles are represented using resolved CFD-DEM. The small particles are modelled using unresolved CFD-DEM.

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3D Printing

In this project we are investigating the effect of powder cohesiveness on the quality of the particle bed.

A rigid recoater moves forward and ocillates to account for external vibrations (e.g., induced by the machine, imagect with the printed objects, …).

With the current cohesion settings, occasional defects occur, caused by particle jamming.

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Pharmaceutical Processes

Pharmaceutical processes involve complex physical and chemical phenomena. Find below a number of modelling examples with Aspherix® and CFDEM®coupling.

Granulation process within a fluidized bed

This video shows a full-coupled CFD-DEM simulation of a fluidized bed granulation process. A liquid-solid mixture is sprayed into the granulator (see droplets in magenta) from a nozzle. The liquid and solid species are deposited onto the carrier particles and, partially, onto the granulator walls. The product quality (between 0 to 1) measures the coating/granulation level of the carrier particles. Finally, the temperature field changes dynamically due to the heating from the fluidization air and the cooling due to the liquid evaporation.

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Dry powder inhaler

The animation shows the simulation of the release of API from coated particles in a dry powder inhaler. On the left side we see the API concentration in the air, on the right side the coating on the particles.

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Tablet press

A specific powder compaction model allows for the simulation of an entire tablet pressing process.

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Chromatography Column

The group of Prof. Weuster-Botz at TUM (D. Hekmat, M. Dorn) showed impressive scientific progress on modelling chromatography columns:

“…packing non-uniformity may cause peak asymmetry and limit the performance of packed-bed chromatographic columns.”
“Using coupled CFD-DEM modeling, the measured packing behavior was reproduced qualitatively providing valuable information regarding intrinsic packing properties that up to now have been inaccessible.”

Wave Attenuation by Vegetation

Modelling of the wave attenuation by flexible vegetation. Due to the flow resistance caused by the vegetation the wave pattern as well as the erosion pattern on the bottom is affected.

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1D-3D Model of Catalytic System

Simulation of methane dehydroaromatization using a combined 3D-1D model
Activity conducted in the Zeocat 3D project (EU’s Horizon 2020)
LaEuScalarTempIB: prescribe a mass diffusivity inside the immersed bodies to control the transport of chemical species inside/outside the body.

Meso-scale Catalyst Model

CFDEM®coupling can use Immerse Boundary Method (IBM) to calculate the conductive heat flux between a rigid body and the surrounding fluid.
The heat transfer is enabled by the force model LaEuScalarTempIB (on the coupling side) and by the Aspherix® command enable_heat_conduction (on the DEM side).
Additional feature of LaEuScalarTempIB: prescribe a mass diffusivity inside the immersed bodies to control the transport of chemical species inside/outside the body.

1D-3D Model of Twin Screw Extruder

Process times and system size are often an issue when modelling industrial applications with a high degree of resolution. To overcome these limitations we have developed a mixed 1D-3D model, in this case applied to a twin-screw exruder case. The approach consists of two parts:

3D: DEM simulations of some relevant “chunks” of the extruder are carried out for capturing effects that occur on small scales. These chunks are called “representative volume elements” (RVE) hereafter.
1D: A low-order model is used to reproduce the series of conveying elements connecting the RVEs. The model is obtained from a 3D simulation of RVE 1.

This is a sketch of the scheme:

Planetary Exploration

The mole is about 30 cm in the regolith and probably still 7 cm in the tube of the support structure. It is approximately pointing 15° away from the vertical and has undergone either some rotation or precession of its rotation axis. It is still healthy but, of course, Its life time is limited.

Publication DLR with Goniva & Kloss 2011

Grosse, Lange, Burrow, van Zoest, Goniva, Kloss, (2011) First Design Concept for a Combined Thermal and Mechanical Penetration Device for Investigations of Icy Planetary Bodies – The ‘Cryo-Mole’. EGU General Assembly 2011, Wien, Österreich.

Trending Applications

Trending Applications

Battery Modelling

Electrical conductivity

Joule heating

Simulation of a thermal runaway

Drying of Li-ion battery electrodes

3D Printing

Pharmaceutical Processes

Granulation process within a fluidized bed

Dry powder inhaler

Tablet press

Chromatography Column

Wave Attenuation by Vegetation

1D-3D Model of Catalytic System

Meso-scale Catalyst Model

1D-3D Model of Twin Screw Extruder

Laser Modelling

Planetary Exploration

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