Technical Report 2013-01 An Investigation of the Extent to which Simulation Can Be Used to Predict the Dynamics of Granular Material

Granular materials, such as sand, gravel, grains, and salt, represent a large portion of the world around us, yet the dynamic behavior of these materials is not well understood. This lack of understanding is due, in large part, to the inherent difficulty in measuring the movement of and forces on individual particles. Computer simulations may be able to provide insight to this problem. Leveraging high-performance computing, simulations can calculate the dynamics (e.g., velocity, acceleration, contact forces) of each particle in a system of granular materials. This tool offers a means to better understand and predict the behavior of granular materials. However, before simulations can be truly useful, they must be shown to be realistic. This effort provides a measure of the accuracy of the simulation software, Chrono::Engine, for two models that investigate slit-flow and piling of granular materials. Data was gathered from physical experiments and then compared to the results of computer simulations. In this way, this research helps to (i) determine how closely granular material simulations match reality, and (ii) determine avenues for improving granular material simulations.