Short Course „DEM Simulations in Geoscience using ESySParticle“

Short Course „DEM Simulations in Geoscience using ESyS­Particle“
Date: 21.­25. September 2009
Location: RWTH Aachen
Audience: ­ Geoscience researchers and students interested in using the Discrete Element Method (DEM)
Content: ­ Introduction to the Discrete Element Method (DEM)
­ Use of ESyS­Particle software, model setup, scripting simulations, postprocessing / visualisation
­ Extending and modifying the EsyS­ Particle software (optional, 1 day) Contact: Steffen Abe ([email protected]­aachen.de)
More Information:
www.ged.rwth­aachen.de
Short Course on DEM Simulations in Geoscience
using EsyS­Particle
Geologie­Endogene Dynamik, RWTH Aachen University
Overview
We are offering a 4­5 day compact course introducing the participants to the discrete element method (DEM) using the open source DEM software ESyS­Particle. The aim of the course will be to enable the participants to used DEM for the investigation of geoscience problems. An additional day will be provided for participants who are interested in the inner workings of ESyS­Particle and
/ or are considering to modify or extend the software. ESyS­Particle is a fully parallel, script­driven DEM software package (see also www.launchpad.net/esys­particle). The course will be given by one of the current developers of the software (Steffen Abe).
Date and Place
21th – 25th September 2009
Geologie­Endogene Dynamik, RWTH Aachen Univesity
Lochnerstr. 4­20
52056 Aachen
Germany
contact : Steffen Abe, [email protected]­aachen.de
Target Audience
The course is aimed primarily at students and researchers who are interested in using the Discrete Element Method and specifically the parallel DEM software ESyS­Particle to investigate problems in geomechanics or related areas or are interested in gaining an insight into the possibilities of the DEM approach. The course may also be useful for people from a computer science or similar background who are interested in DEM from a software point of view.
The course should be suitable for participants from MSc­student level upwards. Requirements are
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Basic knowledge in maths and physics (differential equations, vector algbra, basic mechanics . . . ) Preferably some programming knowledge. The programming language used in the course will be Python, but any programming experience (Matlab etc.) will be helpful. Some basic experience with Unix­like operating systems (Linux, Mac OSX ...) For those participants who want to attend the optional day on modifying and extending the ESyS­Particle software: strong knowledge of C++, experience with numerical algorithms, some understanding of distributed memory parallelisation and MPI
Course Outline
The course will consist of 3 major parts:
1. A short introduction into the theory of the Discrete Element Method inccluding the algorithms used in ESyS­Particle (1 day)
2. Hands­on training using ESyS­Particle, including the setup of model geometries, scripting of simulation and post­processing / visualisation (3 days)
3. For those participants interested, an overview of the implementation of ESyS­Particle and an introduction how to modify and extend the software(1 day)
Planned course schedule
Day 1: Introduction to DEM
• Basic ideas of DEM
– Lagrangian vs. Eulerian methods
– Particle dynamics
– Contact Laws, particle interactions
• Algorithmic considerations
– time stepping, stability
– neighbour detection
– parallelisation
• Applications, demos
Day 2: Using ESyS­Particle, Part I
• Running a simulation
• Simulation scripts
– Short introduction to Python
• Model geometry setup
• Model visualisation
Day 3: Using ESyS­Particle, Part II
• Boundary conditions, walls, boundary meshes ....
• Extracting Data: data savers, checkpoints, available post­processing tools
Day 4: Using ESyS­Particle, Part III
• Generating complicated model geometries
• Examples . . .
Day 5: Extending and Modifying ESyS­Particle
• A tour of the source code
• How to add a new type of particle interaction