Simulations Of Compression Tests Research Articles

Mechanical Behavior of Al-Si10-Mg P-TPMS Structure Fabricated by Selective Laser Melting and a Unified Mathematical Model with Geometrical Parameter.

Compared with the traditional lattice structure, the triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) structure can avoid stress concentration effectively. Here, it is promising in the fields of lightweight and energy absorption. However, the number of structural parameters and mechanical properties of the TPMS structure is plentiful, and the relationship between them is unclassified. In this paper, for the first time, a unified mathematical model was proposed to establish the relationship between TPMS structural design parameters and mechanical properties. Fifteen primitive models were designed by changing the structural parameters (level-set value C and thickness T) and manufacturing by selective laser melting. The geometric defects and surface quality of the structures were explored by optical microscope and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The mechanical properties were investigated by quasi-static compression test and finite element simulation. The influence of building direction on structural mechanical behavior (failure mode, stress-strain curve) was studied. The real mechanical properties (Young's modulus and plateau stress) of the structure could be predicted according to different C and T combinations. Finally, the energy absorption characteristics were explored. The results showed that when the C value is 0.6 in the range of 0-0.6, the energy absorption performance of the structure is at the maximum level.

Effects of Porosity on Piezoelectric Characteristics of Polyvinylidene Fluoride Films for Biomedical Applications.

Objective: The objective of this work is to study the effects of porosity on mechanical and piezoelectric properties of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) films for biomedical applications. Impact Statement: By investigating the piezoelectric properties of PVDF and the porosity effect on its electromechanical performance, there is potential for further development of PVDF as a hemodynamic sensor that can lead to further technological advancements in the biomedical field, benefiting patients and physicians alike. Introduction: PVDF thin films have shown potential in the application of hemodynamic flow sensing and monitoring the effects on blood flow caused by prosthetic valve implantation via the transcatheter aortic valve replacement operation. The piezoelectric performance of PVDF films can be influenced by the porosity of the material. Methods: In this study, strain tracking was performed on thin film PVDF specimens with various levels of porosity and pore sizes to determine the mechanical properties of the specimens. The mechanical properties were used to model the PVDF material in COMSOL multiphysics software, in which compression test simulations were performed to determine the piezoelectric coefficient d33 of the PVDF. Results: A decline in the elastic modulus was found to be highly inversely correlated with porosity of the specimens and the simulation results show that elastic modulus had a much greater effect on the piezoelectric properties than Poisson's ratio. Conclusion: A combination of experimental and computational techniques was able to characterize and correlate the mechanical properties of PVDF films of varying porosities to their piezoelectric properties.

基于不同加载速度的苹果果肉TPA力学特性与微观结构分析

In order to enrich the apple quality evaluation system, TPA mechanical tests were carried out on Fuji, Guoguang and Golden delicious apple pulp at 10 loading speeds of 0.01, 0.1, 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 9, 13 and 17mm/s, and the mechanical characteristic parameters of pulp were obtained. The effects of loading speed on pulp hardness, elasticity, cohesiveness, chewiness and resilience were analyzed. The microstructure of pulp of different varieties pulp was observed by laser confocal microscope. Based on the Voronoi model of pulp tissue structure, the compression test was simulated to construct the relationship between microstructure and mechanical properties. The results showed that the loading speeds had a certain effect on the cohesiveness and chewiness, and had a linear relationship with the cohesiveness of Guoguang variety and the chewiness of Golden delicious. The microstructure of pulp directly determines its mechanical properties, the smaller the roundness of cells and pores, the greater the hardness, cohesiveness, chewiness and resilience. Using Abaqus for compression test simulation, the maximum deviation of stress is 4.3%, which proves that the model is effective and the accuracy is improved. The results provides technical parameters for mechanical system improvements for apple during harvesting, storing and transporting and perfect evaluation system of apple texture.

Analysis of the Microstructure Development of Nb-Microalloyed Steel during Rolling on a Heavy-Section Mill.

It is not realistic to optimize the roll pass design of profile rolling mills, which typically roll hundreds of profiles, using physical modelling or operational rolling. The use of reliable models of microstructure evolution is preferable here. Based on the mathematical equations describing the microstructure evolution during hot rolling, a modified microstructure evolution model was presented that better accounts for the influence of strain-induced precipitation (SIP) on the kinetics of static recrystallization. The time required for half of the structure to soften, t0.5, by static recrystallization was calculated separately for both situations in which strain-induced precipitation occurred or did not occur. On this basis, the resulting model was more sensitive to the description of grain coarsening in the high-rolling-temperature region, which is a consequence of the rapid progress of static recrystallization and the larger interpass times during rolling on cross-country and continuous mills. The modified model was verified using a plain strain compression test (PSCT) simulation of rolling a 100-mm-diameter round bar performed on the Hydrawedge II hot deformation simulator (HDS-20). Four variants of simulations were performed, differing in the rolling temperature in the last four passes. For comparison with the outputs of the modified model, an analysis of the austenite grain size after rolling was performed using optical metallography. For indirect comparison with the model outputs, the SIP initiation time was determined based on the NbX precipitate size distribution obtained by TEM. Using the PSCT and the outputs from the modified microstructure evolution model, it was found that during conventional rolling, strain-induced precipitation occurs after the last pass and thus does not affect the austenite grain size. By lowering the rolling temperature, it was possible to reduce the grain size by up to 56 μm, while increasing the mean flow stress by a maximum of 74%. The resulting grain size for all four modes was consistent with the operating results.

A machine learning approach for determination of coefficient of friction from ring compression test

A framework is defined for determining the coefficient of friction (COF) using numerical simulations of ring compression tests and machine learning techniques, utilizing von Mises plasticity with the three-parameter Swift law material model. A big dataset, containing 18750 rows and 20 columns, is created from 3750 numerical simulations of ring compression test in ABAQUS using MATLAB scripts. A dense feedforward neural network is trained to predict the values of COF from geometrical changes in the cross-section of the ring and the applied load. When the machine learning model is tested and the desired accuracy is obtained, we collect the measurements of the cross-section of the deformed ring from the experiments, and put the measurements, along with the applied load, into the trained machine learning model based on the numerical simulations and obtain the value of predicted COF. The average error of the predictions is around 4%. By this method, the COF is determined from only one ring compression test by stopping the test at an arbitrary compression ratio, regardless of the geometry of the ring, without utilizing the calibration curves, and with or without prior knowledge about the material properties of the ring.

Auxetic and failure characteristics of composite stacked origami cellular materials under compression

The mechanical properties of cellular materials made by stacking layers of origami sheets could be designed over a wide range due to its rich suite of geometry parameters. However, due to the nature of high-volume fraction of air in the structure, these materials may show low stiffness and low strength. Fiber reinforced composites show both higher specific strength and specific stiffness compared with homogeneous materials such as metals and plastics. It could be expected that both the stiffness and strength of stacked origami structures can be improved by introducing fiber reinforced composites. In this investigation, hot molding process is used to produce composite fiber reinforced stacked origami structures. Composite stacked origami structures with different stacking angles and thickness of origami sheets are designed and fabricated. Finite element simulation and experimental compression tests are carried out to investigate their mechanical properties and auxetic characteristics. The effects of origami sheets thickness and stacking angles on the in-plane and out-of-plane auxetic characteristics of the structure are discussed. Finally, the failure modes of the structures during compression are analyzed, and their energy absorption capacity are compared with other honeycomb materials.

Calibration of strain-softening constitutive model parameters from full-field deformation measurements

Many offshore geotechnical problems—such as cyclic T-bar penetration and lateral buckling of pipelines—are affected by the tendency of fine-grained soils to strain-soften due to remoulding. Careful calibration of the constitutive model parameters that control strain softening is essential for accurate simulation of these processes. This is usually achieved by matching constitutive model response with standard element test data, which implicitly assumes that homogeneous stress/strain fields exist within the sample. However, popular element test protocols (e.g., triaxial, simple shear) cannot apply sufficient deformation—at least as measured at the boundaries—to achieve fully remoulded conditions. This work explores the potential to determine strain-softening parameters experimentally, directly from image-based full-field deformation measurements and external loading data. Artificial data generated from finite element simulations of biaxial compression and T-bar penetration tests, using a non-locally regularised strain-softening constitutive model based on Modified Cam Clay, are then used to demonstrate the potential of the proposed technique. The results demonstrate significant potential for the application of the technique to identify constitutive parameters from full-field measurements even when polluted with modest measurement noise.

Gyroid minimal surface-based composite porous structure with superior mechanical property via triangular grid design and stress distribution optimization

Triply periodic minimal surface structures (TPMS) possess excellent printability during additive manufacturing processing and mechanical properties. However, for TPMS shell structure due to the single connected regions, the porosity and connectivity become limited on the premise of mechanical property. In this study, triangular grid-based design of Gyroid composite porous structure (CPS) and optimized CPS through assigning diameter based on stress distribution were proposed for obtaining higher porosity and improved mechanical properties, following the analysis of curvature distribution characteristics. Afterwards, finite element simulation and quasi-static compression tests were performed for studying the stress distribution and mechanical responses. The results showed that the designed Gyroid CPS with high porosity did not obviously destroy the original curvature characteristic, while strength, modulus and specific energy absorption were enhanced simultaneously. It is expected to provide beneficial inspiration for the design and application of TPMS-based porous structures with the integration of high porosity and mechanical property.

Study on parameter acquisition and optimization methods of JH-2 constitutive model for ceramic

In this study, based on AD995 and sapphire, the method of obtaining and optimizing the key parameters of the Johnson-Holmquist constitutive model (JH-2 model) for typical brittle materials was established. The parameter acquisition method was optimized by analyzing the limitations of the traditional parameter acquisition method. The value ranges of the intact strength parameters were calculated using the results of the mechanical property tests of the materials; the well-fitted intact strength parameters (A, N, C and T) were obtained by combining with the parameter optimization procedure. The sensitivity of the dynamic compression test and the penetration process to the damage-related parameters (B, M, D1 and D2) was analyzed by numerical simulation methods. The damage-related parameters in the JH-2 model were obtained using a chaotic global optimization algorithm combined with numerical simulations of dynamic compression tests and penetration tests. The calculation accuracy of the traditional and optimized parameters were compared by numerical simulation results of penetration tests for different ceramic composite structures. The simulation results of the optimized parameters basically match with the experimental results, and the calculation accuracy is much higher than that of the traditional parameters, which verifies the effectiveness and superiority of the parameter optimization method.

Multi-scale constitutive model of human trabecular bone

The present study aims to formulate a new multiscale constitutive model of human trabecular bone. The trabecular bone was modelled as a nonlinear viscoelastic material. The viscoelastic effects of single trabeculae were considered by means of a hereditary integral in which stress depends on time and strain, while the elastic response was described by the hyperelastic Mooney–Rivlin model. The cuboid bone sample was extracted from the femoral head during the hip replacement surgery. The material constants in the constitutive equation were identified based on the stress relaxation test performed on the cuboid sample and the microindentation tests performed on trabeculae using the curve-fitting procedure. The microindentation tests were performed using a spherical tip instead of Vickers or Berkovich tip to minimize plastic effects during trabecular deformation. In order to validate formulated constitutive model, results from a FE simulation of stress relaxation test and uniaxial compression test were compared to the results of the corresponding experiments conducted on a macroscopic bone sample. Good agreement was observed between numerical and experimental results. The viscoelastic behaviour predicted by the proposed constitutive equation corresponds well to the response of human trabecular bone under various types of load conditions. This demonstrates the high ability of our constitutive model to simulate the behaviour of trabecular bone on a micro- and macroscopic scale. Thus, we conclude that the model, which was formulated for a single trabecula, can be successfully applied to simulate mechanical behaviour of the tissue in a macroscale.

Coupled FDM-DEM simulations of axial compression tests on FRP-confined concrete specimens

• The significance of this study is to propose a calculation model by coupling with FDM-DEM to simulate the axial compression tests on FRP-confined concrete specimens, which can accurately obtain the macro- and micro-mechanical behavior of the specimen under different loading boundaries. • The post-peak strength of FRP confined concrete is controlled by the ratio of the linear modulus to bond modulus, and the internal friction angle must be corrected during the continuous cracking of contacts; • Stress accumulates from the end to the center of a specimen and the confined radial stress is about a quarter of the axial pressure; • The level of contact crack can be quantified in the mesoscale, in which the stronger the cracking resistance, the thicker the corresponding jacket, and the greater the compression strength. Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) has been widely used in the repair and reinforcement of concrete structures. In this study, the finite different method (FDM) and discrete element method (DEM) are coupled to simulate the interaction between an FRP jacket and concrete specimen. Numerical axial compression tests on concrete confined by an FRP jacket are first implemented and analyzed. The mechanical performances considering the effects of micro-parameters are validated using laboratory axial compression tests on FRP-confined concrete specimens. The results show that the post-peak strength of FRP confined concrete is controlled by the ratio of the linear modulus to bond modulus, and the internal friction angle must be corrected during the continuous cracking of contacts; stress accumulates from the end to the center of a specimen and the confined radial stress is about a quarter of the axial pressure; and the level of contact crack can be quantified in the mesoscale, in which the stronger the cracking resistance, the thicker the corresponding jacket, and the greater the compression strength.

Efficient DEM simulations of railway ballast using simple particle shapes

For complex shaped materials, computational efficiency and accuracy of DEM models are usually opposing requirements. In the literature, DEM models of railway ballast often use very complex and computationally demanding particle shapes in combination with very simple contact laws. In contrast, this study suggests efficient DEM models for railway ballast using simple particle shapes together with a contact law including more physical effects. In previous works of the authors, shape descriptors, calculated in a shape analysis of two types of ballast, were used to construct simple particle shapes (clumps of three spheres). Using such a shape in DEM simulations of compression and direct shear tests, accurate results were achieved only when the contact law included additional physical effects e.g. edge breakage. A parametrisation strategy was developed for this contact law comparing DEM simulations with the measurements. Now, all the constructed simple particle shapes are parametrised allowing to study their suitability and relating their shape descriptors to those of railway ballast. The most suitable particle shapes consist of non-overlapping spheres, thus have a high interlocking potential, and have lowest sphericity and highest convexity values. In a micromechanical analysis of the four best performing shapes, three shapes show similar behaviour on the bulk and the micro-scale, while one shape differs clearly on the micro-scale. This analysis shows, which shapes can be expected to produce similar results in DEM simulations of other tests/load cases. The presented approach is a step towards both efficient and accurate DEM modelling of railway ballast.Graphic abstract

Study on size effect of jointed rock mass and influencing factors of the REV size based on the SRM method

Based on the Yaojiayu tunnel of Binlai Expressway, the size effect of jointed rock mass and influencing factors of the representative elementary volume (REV) were studied. The point cloud image of jointed rock mass near the tunnel face was collected by 3D laser scanning technology. Through the Geology Plane software independently developed by Shandong University, the structural plane data were processed and obtained. According to the structural plane data, the discrete fracture network (DFN) was established. Based on the laboratory test results of rock samples in the tunnel site, the particles were embedded into DFN to construct the synthetic rock mass (SRM). The size effect and REV of the jointed rock mass were studied based on the uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) and Young's modulus obtained by uniaxial compression test simulations. It is concluded that the REV size of the jointed rock mass is 7 m × 7 m × 14 m, which provides the criterion and calculation parameters for simulating tunnel excavation in jointed rock mass by the continuous deformation calculation method. In order to study the influence of joint geometric parameters (trace length, spacing, and dip angle) on REV size, different multi-scale SRM models were established by changing the parameters of structural planes. It is observed that within a certain size range, the REV size is negatively correlated with the joint trace length and dip angle, while positively correlated with the joint spacing. And the size of REV is gradually stable with the increase of geometric parameters of joints. Based on the influence law of joint geometry parameters on REV, the REV size range of different engineering can be estimated approximately.

Numerical study on the surface morphology evolution and hardness during the spherical indentation of copper with plastic behavior described by different stress-strain relationships

Spherical indentation on flat surfaces of metallic materials is a very simple and useful test for evaluating mechanical properties. FEM-based simulations have been extensively employed to study pile-up and sink-in effects during indentation process for materials which have plastic behavior described by Hollomon’s power law, where the strength coefficient K is calculated by the continuity condition. In the present numerical study, the stress-strain data of OFHC copper was fitted by three relationships: Voce, Hollomon and continuity-based Hollomon. Then sequential simulations of frictionless compression and ball-indentation tests were carried out, resulting in indentation load-depth curves of workpieces at different hardening levels. These load-depth curves were analyzed to determine the Meyer’s index, the pile-up/sink-in effects, and the Brinell Hardness of each workpiece. The results were compared to literature models and experimental data. The different mechanical behaviors of the Voce- and Hollomon-driven materials during indentation were explained on basis of competition between elastic and plastic deformations along the process. When using Voce’s relationship, the simulated Hardness Brinell curve agreed perfectly with experimental data obtained by Tabor (1951) for annealed and work-hardened copper, and the predicted sink-in for annealed copper agreed very well with experimental data from Campbell et al. (2018). The numerical and mathematical model proved be consistent and results indicate that plastic behavior of copper under indentation test is better described by the three-parameters Voce’s hardening law.

A representation learning framework for detection and characterization of dead versus strain localization zones from pre- to post-failure

Experiments have long shown that zones of near vanishing deformation, so-called “dead zones”, emerge and coexist with strain localization zones inside deforming granular media. To date, a method that can disentangle these dynamically coupled structures from each other, from pre- to post- failure, is lacking. Here we develop a framework that learns a new representation of the kinematic data, based on the complexity of a grain’s neighborhood structure in the kinematic-state-space, as measured by a recently introduced metric called s-LID. Dead zones (DZ) are first distinguished from strain localization zones (SZ) throughout loading history. Next the coupled dynamics of DZ and SZ are characterized using a range of discriminative features representing: local nonaffine deformation, contact topology and force transmission properties. Data came from discrete element simulations of biaxial compression tests. The deformation is found to be essentially dual in nature. DZ and SZ exhibit distinct yet coupled dynamics, with the separation in dynamics increasing in the lead up to failure. Force congestion and plastic deformation mainly concentrate in SZ. Although the 3-core of the contact network is highly prone to damage in SZ, it is robust to pre-failure microbands but is decimated in the shearband, leaving a fragmented 3-core in DZ at failure. We also show how loading condition and rolling resistance influence SZ and DZ differently, thus casting new light on controls on plasticity from the perspective of emergent deformation structures.Graphic abstract

The relation among the stored energy, microstructure and hardening effect of SA508-III steel under different deformation conditions

The stored energy during deformation under different strains, strain rates and deformation temperatures was investigated in this paper. Thermal simulation compression and dynamic compression tests were carried out to obtain the deformed specimens with different strains, strain rates and deformation temperatures. By means of electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) analysis, the stored energy per volume under different deformation conditions was measured. Then, the effects of strain, deformation temperature, and strain rate on the stored energy were analyzed. The increase of strain and strain rate and the decrease of temperature are conducive to the accumulation of stored energy. The correlations between the stored energy and microstructure parameters including grain and subgrain size were determined. The results show that the grain size is inversely proportional to the stored energy, while the subgrain size is inversely proportional to the square root of the stored energy. The hardening effect during plastic deformation was well described from the side of stored energy. The stress-strain relationship and hardening rate can be accurately predicted based on the evolution of stored energy. A convenient method for the acquisition of stored energy through hardness measurement was provided based on the relationship between hardness and stored energy. The proportion of the stored energy to the plastic work and its dependence on the deformation conditions were discussed. It is concluded that the stored energy can be a comprehensive quantity to connect and analyze the macro and micro behavior in the plastic deformation.

3D Modelling of Excavation-Induced Anisotropic Responses of Deep Drifts at the Meuse/Haute-Marne URL

Understanding the excavation-induced fractured zone (EFZ) around drifts is paramount in the context of the deep geological disposal for nuclear waste since fractures can introduce pathways for the migration of radionuclides. Drifts in the Meuse/Haute-Marne Underground Research Laboratory (URL) have been essentially excavated following the two main directions of major and minor horizontal stresses. Field observations on the two drifts GCS (parallel to major horizontal stress direction) and GED (parallel to minor horizontal stress direction) in the URL show anisotropic shapes of EFZ around drifts through both orientations and anisotropic convergences. These anisotropic responses resulted from the inherent and/or induced anisotropies of the host rock as well as the anisotropic stress field. This study focuses on 3D numerical modelling of excavation-induced anisotropic responses including shape and extent of EFZ, and short-term convergences of drifts. The main assumption is that the failure of claystone material is due to fracturing along weakness planes (ubiquitous joints) and the failure of the rock matrix. The ubiquitous joint failure is represented by perfectly plastic models for both tensile and shear yield functions. Their orientation is determined from the stress state based on the fracture mechanics, which includes tensile, longitudinal splitting and shear (conjugate planes) cracks. The rock matrix is assumed to be elastoplastic with hardening, softening and residual behaviours. Confining pressure dependency for the post-peak behaviour with a brittle–ductile transition is taken into account for the rock matrix. The proposed model is implemented into a commercial numerical software FLAC3D. The main features of the implemented model are shown by the simulation of laboratory triaxial compression tests, as well as field observation within the URL. In particular, comparisons between 3D simulations of GCS and GED drifts with in situ observations shows promising results, which demonstrates advances of present model with respect to existing models.

Microscopic and macroscopic numerical simulation of the progressive failure of granular materials

<p indent="0mm">The onset and propagation mechanisms of strain localization in granular materials have been analyzed from both discontinuous microscale discrete element modeling (DEM) and continuum mechanics-based finite element modeling standpoints. Through DEM, the mechanical response before and after the inception of strain localization is obtained. The evolution characteristics of the shear band are obtained by analyzing the relative displacement angle of particles. By analyzing the size effect of strain localization in granular materials, the relationship between the sample size-to-average particle size ratio and the thickness of the shear band is obtained. A generalized thermodynamics framework based on the micromorphic approach is adopted, where a nonlocal microvariable as an additional kinematics variable is introduced. An implicit gradient softening plasticity model considering pressure dependence is then proposed. The additional so-called Helmholtz partial differential equation is derived using the principle of virtual power and the second law of thermodynamics. A regularized finite element method coupling displacement and microvariable are proposed. Numerical simulations of plane strain compression tests show that the proposed numerical method can produce solutions, which are independent of the spatial discretization, verifying the applicability of the proposed model on regularizing ill-posed boundary value problems of strain-softening granular materials. Through analyses of the bearing capacity of the foundation and the stability of the tunneling surface, the effects of strain-softening behavior on the inelastic strain localization characteristics and macroscale mechanical responses are investigated. The results show that strain-softening behavior results in smaller active instability regions and more concentrated localized deformation.

A gradient enhanced transversely isotropic damage plasticity model for rock ‐ formulation and comparison of different approaches

AbstractThe nonlinear mechanical behavior of intact rock and rock mass is characterized by irreversible deformation, associated with strain hardening, strain softening and degradation of stiffness. In the case of stratified rock types like shales or phyllites, the mechanical behavior additionally depends on the loading direction with respect to the orientation of the principal material directions, resulting in inherent anisotropic material behavior, or in many cases more specifically in transversely isotropic material behavior. On the basis of a critical review of several approaches for modeling nonlinear anisotropic material behavior, proposed in the literature, the linear mapping of the Cauchy stress tensor into a fictitious isotropic configuration, originally proposed by Boehler [1], was identified as the best choice for the application in 3D finite element simulations. Within this framework, an isotropic damage plasticity model for rock, proposed by Unteregger et al. [2], extended to inherent transversely isotropic behavior is presented. It is implemented into a FE‐program by means of the return mapping algorithm and it is regularized by an over‐nonlocal implicit gradient enhancement for ensuring mesh‐insensitive results. For validation, numerical simulations of triaxial compression tests on Tournemire shale, documented in Niandou et al. [3], are performed at both the integration point level and the structural level. The performance of the constitutive model is assessed by its ability to predict the complex direction‐dependent mechanical behavior of transversely isotropic rock and the failure modes observed in triaxial compression tests with different confining pressures and different inclination angles of the stratification planes with respect to the direction of axial loading.

A discrete element framework for the numerical analysis of particle bed-based additive manufacturing processes

This paper investigates the potential of the discrete element method to simulate the physics of particle bed-based additive manufacturing. This method naturally captures the discrete aspects of additive manufacturing processes, such as material addition. The proposed discrete element framework uses constitutive relations for loose powder, bonding kinematics and the thermo-mechanical behaviour of bonded particles. The mechanical bond interactions consist of beams that interconnect the particles. These beams are able to transfer forces as well as moments. The thermal conductive bond interactions assume an effective conductive area and density to account for the voids in the system. Simulated compression tests reveal that the macroscopic Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio of the bonded material are controlled by only two micro-scale parameters. Furthermore, a heat conducting rod of both powder and bonded material is simulated and compared to a continuum finite element simulation. The proposed discrete model is able to simulate a complete printing process, capturing the solid material behaviour accurately. A simulation of a printed sample shows various additive manufacturing aspects such as: the deposited powder layer, G-code input, heat source interaction, contact, bonding, thermal conduction and the accumulation of residual stresses and deformations.