Modelling and numerical simulation of powder die compaction with a particle code

While powder compaction has usually been described by continuum mechanics models like the Drucker-Prager-Cap model, it is now modelled by a self-developed particle dynamics code. The interaction forces between the grain-particles are derived from finite element models of grain-grain compression. The particle code uses an efficient parallelisation combined with a fast neighbour-list algorithm enabling the treatment of granular systems with about 40,000 grains. The code allows a flexible specification of spatial and temporal boundary conditions and therefore arbitrary dies and compression histories can be simulated.