Special issue on the discrete element method: aspects of recent developments in computational mechanics of discontinua

Citation

Munjiza, A. (2009), "Special issue on the discrete element method: aspects of recent developments in computational mechanics of discontinua", Engineering Computations, Vol. 26 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/ec.2009.18226faa.001

Special issue on the discrete element method: aspects of recent developments in computational mechanics of discontinua

Article Type: Guest editorial From: Engineering Computations: International Journal for Computer-Aided Engineering and Software, Volume 26, Issue 6.

The second half of the twentieth century has witnessed exponential developments of numerical techniques, solutions, algorithms and software for solving continuum based problems of engineering, science and industry. This is especially true for computational methods such as the finite element method, the boundary element method, the finite volume method and recently a set of meshless methods. As a result computational mechanics has become an important new research discipline providing a key component of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research. Modern industrial, manufacturing, control and design processes supporting trillion dollar economies would not function without critical computational mechanics based components and software.

During the 1960s researchers working in fields as diverse as rock mechanics, nanotechnology and complex systems have noticed that very often continuum-based solutions simply produce results which do not match experiments. One can easily say that this was the beginning of a new quest to develop computational solutions for such problems. As a result, researchers started working on computational methods that did not use a set of differential equations to describe the problem – individual elements such as particles, agents or molecules were introduced instead. Depending on these, methods such as molecular dynamics (MD), discrete element methods (DEM), discontinuous deformation analysis (DDA) methods, agent based methods and similar were invented. With the advent of affordable computer hardware, these methods have offered powerful solutions to many complex problems covering both research and industry. In the process computational mechanics of discontinua has emerged as an important and fast growing branch of computational mechanics. Computational mechanics of discontinua has now become an integral part of cutting edge research such as nanotechnology, stem cell research, medical engineering, space propulsion; and industrial processes spanning such diverse fields as mining, milling, pharmaceuticals, powders, ceramics, composites, blasting, construction, etc.

Recent advances in some of the above methods were the subject of the Fourth International Conference on Discrete Element Methods, held in Brisbane, Australia in August 2007. The conference is a continuation of previous conferences held in Santa Fe, New Mexico (2002), Massachusetts, Cambridge, USA (1993) and Golden, Colorado (1989). This special issue comprises of ten papers, which characterize ongoing developments in the fields of numerical procedures, validation techniques and industrial scale simulations. The papers are broadly arranged in this order starting with algorithmic developments and finishing with ground breaking industrial scale applications of unprecedented realism.

The editors would like to thank the organisers of the Fourth International Conference on Discrete Element Methods, the contributors of papers, the reviewers and the Engineering Computations journal for helping put together this special issue. We hope that it will help to disseminate the state-of-the-art research. We also hope that it will help integrate different methods of computational mechanics of discontinua together with the coupling of these with continuum-based methods in order to solve a diverse range of problems.

Antonio MunjizaGuest Editor