Calibration and validation of DEM parameters of food waste with high total solid content (≥20%) using physical experiments and EDEM simulations

Abstract

Abstract Since discrete element method (DEM) parameters are important for the calculation accuracy of EDEM simulations, the DEM parameters of food waste with high total solid content (≥20%) are calibrated and validated by experiments and simulations in this paper. The physical properties of food waste are obtained by physical experiments, and then the optimal values of DEM model parameters recommended for food waste can be obtained from the GEMM database. Finally, the repose angle and the average torque obtained by EDEM simulations are compared with the experimental results to validate the calibrated DEM parameters of food waste. The average relative error of the repose angle between the experimental values and the simulation values is 3.23%, and the average relative error of the average torque value is 5.29%. That means the DEM parameters of food waste calibrated in this paper are correct and can be applied for simulating the mixing performance of food waste with high total solid content (≥20%).