Novel direct simulation Monte Carlo method for spherocylinders

Abstract

Traditional discrete element models of granular flows for non-spherical particles can be limited by costly contact detection. The aim of the current work is develop the foundation towards a more computationally efficient method to solve flows with non-spherical particles. This study investigates extending the direct simulation Monte Carlo, or DSMC, method to the rotational relaxation of spherocylinders. While rotational energies have been accounted for in gases within DSMC, similar models for non-spherical particles are unavailable. We propose a modified DSMC method that samples from post-collisional energies and scattering distributions derived from deterministic discrete element models. We demonstrate how to integrate derived distributions into an adapted DSMC method for spherocylinders. To assess the fidelity of the model, we consider the case of the rotational relaxing dilute gas. While the study considers spherocylinders, the methodology itself may be generalized to more complex particle shapes.