Arbitrary-shaped wall boundary modeling based on signed distance functions for granular flow simulations

•We developed a simple and extendible boundary model for granular flow simulations.•Practical systems were modeled easily with the signed distance functions (SDF).•A new potential-based particle interaction model was developed for the SDF.•The cohesive force was introduced into the new SDF model.•The new model was shown to be applicable to various practical systems.

A simple and extendible boundary model is proposed for three-dimensional granular flow simulations. This model is based on the level-set method, where the boundary walls are created by a scalar field expressed by the signed distance functions (SDF). In this model, the particle-wall interaction is modeled with the gradient of potential energy. In this study, the physical phenomena involving granular flows are shown to be simulated precisely by using the new SDF. To prove the applicability of the new model to arbitrary shaped domains, the interaction of particles with vertical, horizontal, inclined, and curved surfaces is investigated in the present study. The new SDF model is shown to be as accurate as the existing mesh model through verification tests. In the current study, it is also shown that the new SDF can be applied to the moving boundary. Besides, the new model is proven to have high computational efficiency and to possess versatility which is extendible to be applied to cohesive particle systems.

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