Highlights

The author acknowledges the contribution of many past and present members of the CFD group at CSIRO Mathematical and Information Sciences who have made invaluable contributions to this work over many years. In particular, the author thanks Nick Stokes, Noel Barton, Mark Sawley, Francois Debroux, Geoff Robinson, David Morton, Matt Sinnott and Phil Owen. He also thanks his collaborators for both providing ideas and opportunities and most importantly for making experimental data available for the continuing challenge of DEM validation. In particular, he acknowledges the direct contributions of Bruno Laurent, Bill McBride and Rob Morrison. Finally, he thanks Charlie Campbell for originally inspiring the DEM study of long run-out landslides of which part of this paper is an extension.

Keywords Discrete manufacturing, Modelling

Abstract Particle scale simulation of industrial particle flows using discrete element method (DEM) offers the opportunity for better understanding the flow dynamics leading to improvements in equipment design and operation that can potentially lead to large increases in equipment and process efficiency, throughput and/or product quality. Industrial applications can be characterized as large, involving complex particulate behaviour in typically complex geometries. In this paper, with a series of examples, we will explore the breadth of large scale modelling of industrial processes that is currently possible. Few of these applications will be examined in more...