A Coarse Grained Model for Viscoelastic Solids in Discrete Multiphysics Simulations

摘要

Viscoelastic bonds intended for Discrete Multiphysics (DMP) models are developed toallow the study of viscoelastic particles with arbitrary shape and mechanical inhomogeneity thatare relevant to the pharmaceutical sector and that have not been addressed by the Discrete ElementMethod (DEM). The model is applied to encapsulate particles with a soft outer shell due, for example,to the partial ingress of moisture. This was validated by the simulation of spherical homogeneouslinear elastic and viscoelastic particles. The method is based on forming a particle from an assemblyof beads connected by springs or springs and dashpots that allow the sub-surface stress fields to becomputed, and hence an accurate description of the gross deformation. It is computationally moreexpensive than DEM, but could be used to define more effective interaction laws.