Biomass pellet breakage
A numerical comparison between contact models
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Abstract
The breakage behaviour of biomass pellets with a diameter of 6 mm under uniaxial compression test was studied experimentally and numerically using the discrete element method (DEM). Two types of the available bonding contact models in EDEM software were used to compare the macroscopic properties including the maximum stress at failure, strain at failure, and the pellet Young’s Modulus. The models are based on 1) the Timoshenko beam theory and 2) a bonded particle model. The results show that both models reasonably predict the maximum stress values, however, the bonded contact model is not able to predict the strain at failure and the Young’s Modulus while the results show a big deviation from the experimental results.