| Granular flows are present in various types of industrial applications and exhibit complex behaviors that are complex and difficult to analyze. In the context of the work carried out at the Research Unit on Industrial Flows (URPEI), it was discovered with some experiments in a rotating mixer that it is possible to control the cohesive force between particles by coating the latter with a certain type of polymer. Indeed, it was found that the cohesive force can be increased either by increasing the thickness of the polymer, or by increasing the temperature of the particle bed. In addition, one of the ways to study granular flows is to perform computer simulations using the discrete element method (DEM). However, the computer code based on the DEM and available at URPEI did not include the possibility to add cohesive forces between particles.;The main objective of this project was the numerical modeling of cohesive granular flows. To perform this task, appropriate cohesive models were selected for the normal direction of the contact, as well as for the tangential direction. The JKR model was used for the normal direction, and the Thornton model for the tangential direction. Both models were introduced in the computer code available at URPEI and developed in Fortran 90. To ensure the proper functioning of the program, eleven verification tests were performed. These tests, containing one, two or five particles have ensured the validity of the results obtained for impacts in the normal direction of the contact. In addition, in order to simulate cohesive granular flows and to validate the results, static repose angle tests were conducted as well as cohesive flows in a rotating mixer. First, it was shown that an increase of the cohesive force between particles increases the repose angle, which is in agreement with the literature. Also, for the simulations in the rotating mixer, it was shown that increasing the cohesive force between the particles allows the expansion of the particle bed due to the increase of porosity. |
