Abstract
A 2D hysteretic Discrete Element Method (DEM) model is developed for simulating the flow of food particles, specifically with multi-material 3D food printing processes in mind. Particles are modeled as arbitrarily shaped polygons due to the diverse nature of food powders, which can be highly irregular in shape. The developed hysteretic force model is applicable to both convex and concave polygonal particles. It is adjusted to use a proportional weighted maximum intersection area upon splitting of contact areas. This results in a continuous force trajectory, which would otherwise not be guaranteed. The model is validated with in literature reported packing ratios for ellipses. Simulated deposition of sugar-shaped particles shows that for dense packings the fraction of splitting interactions occurring can be up to 7%. Furthermore, the influence of particle shape on the coordination number and packing density is shown with a simulation of the deposition of sugar-like material.
Highlights
Controlling powder flow and dosing for small scale processes, such as 3D food printing, is challenging
We propose an extension of a 2D hysteretic force model for arbitrarily shaped particles that will be modeled by irregular polygons
Simulations were performed to validate the model against literature based on ellipse packing properties, to quantify the severity of the merging and splitting of the intersection areas, and to qualify the influence of particle shape on multi-material 3D food printing processes
Summary
Controlling powder flow and dosing for small scale processes, such as 3D food printing, is challenging This is especially the case when the used materials are widely different and have properties ranging from soft viscoelastic to hard elastic, spherical- and cube-shaped to irregular and non-cohesive to cohesive. The equations of motion for each individual particle are solved and their position and velocity are updated These values along with inter-particle forces are used to describe parameters of granular systems, such as particle flow, packing density, stress patterns, etc. An extension of a hysteretic force model will be given that has a consistent force trajectory during the merging and/or splitting of contact areas that can occur with arbitrarily shaped particles. As proof of principle the deposition of three different particle packings is shown with differently shaped particles
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