Research Activities

XDEM Towards Advanced Multi-physics Simulation Technology (AMST)

The Luxembourg XDEM Research Centre dedicated to the Extended Discrete Element Method (XDEM) develops advanced simulation technology for multi-physics applications. The Extended Discrete Element Method (XDEM) is a novel and innovative numerical simulation technique that extends the dynamics of granular materials or particles as described through the classical discrete element method (DEM) by additional properties such as the thermodynamic state, stress/strain, or electromagnetic field for each particle. While DEM predicts the spatial-temporal position and orientation for each particle, XDEM additionally evaluates properties such as the internal temperature and/or species distribution. These predictive capabilities are further extended by an interaction to fluid flow by heat, mass and momentum transfer and impact of particles on structures, and thus couples to Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Finite Element Method (FEM) to cover a large range of engineering applications. All software modules are embedded into a well-designed object oriented hierarchy that relieves the user of underlying mathematics or software design, and therefore, is able to direct his focus entirely on the application. Both Linux and XP environments also in parallel mode are supported. Hence, the framework offers an efficient work flow including the following benefits:

  • Appropriate solution strategies for discrete and continuous phases
  • High resolution of a wide range of length scales
  • Significantly reduced experimental effort and number of empirical correlations
  • Advanced High Performance Execution for Parallel Coupled Simulations

Research areas

Digital Twin Technology

High Performace Computing (HPC)

Material Science

Multi-phase Flows for Engineering Applications

A Selection of Past Research Projects