For the Autumn 2020 semester, please contact Mark Sawley to discover what semester or Master projects will be offered by the CGD Group.
Illustrative examples of potential projects are provided below.
Liquid bridge effects on granular flow
Lab: CGD
Students: SGM, CSE
Level: Semester project
Supervisor: Mark Sawley
In many industrial devices, such as bead & ball mills and filter dryers, an unsaturated liquid flows between a semi-compact collection of moving spherical balls. The lubrication phenomena associated with this liquid affects the properties of the collisions between balls and with the device walls, and hence the liquid transport through the device. To be able to simulate numerically such interactions, accurate modelling of the collisional and cohesive processes is required.
It is proposed to study the influence of the formation and breakage of liquid bridges between particles on a model granular flow. Based on a literature survey of this phenomenon, a mathematical model for liquid bridges, implemented into an in-house Discrete Element Method (DEM) code, will be studied. Suitable test cases with existing experimental data will be selected and numerically simulated to study the validity of the liquid bridge model. Improvements in the model implementation will be considered.
Particle shape effects on granular flow
Lab: CGD
Students: SGM, CSE
Level: Semester project
Supervisor: Mark Sawley
Granular flows exhibit many interesting types of behaviour, some of which are strongly dependent on the shape of the particles. To investigate such behaviour, a sphere cluster model is often introduced into a Discrete Element Method (DEM) code. This project aims to implement efficiently an alternate approach using a generic non-spherical particle shapes.
It is proposed to consider spherocylinders as a generic particle shape. The project consists of three parts: development of an efficient contact detection algorithm for spherocylinders; implementation in a DEM code; comparison of the numerical results with those obtained using a sphere cluster model for selected granular flow cases.
Slurry flow through a porous filter
Lab: CGD
Students: SGM, CSE
Level: Semester project
Supervisor: Mark Sawley
To filter the solid material from the solvent in a slurry, a porous filter is commonly employed. In principle, the solvent flows through the filter, whereas the solid particles are inhibited due to their greater size compared to the filter pores. These filtered particles form a “cake” on top of the filter surface, which contributes to the filtering process.
This project involves the numerical simulation of the above filtering process. Of particular interest is the temporal evolution of the cake and blockage of the filter pores by small particles. The filter is designed to be a representative small section of material which has periodic boundaries at the transverse surfaces. One of the following two numerical approaches may be considered:
– two-phase Eulerian approach using a conventional continuum CFD (ANSYS Fluent)
– coupling of a particle-based Discrete Element Methods (DEM) and a background fluid (GFX & empirical relations)
This project may be taken by two students, who consider different numerical approaches and compare the results obtained.
Virtual reality for industrial applications
Lab: CGD
Students: SGM, CSE
Level: PDM in industry, Semester project
Supervisor: Mark Sawley
Although virtual reality (VR) is becoming increasingly accessible in the gaming industry, such technology may also be useful for scientific applications. Specific uses to date include training, maintenance and marketing. This project will examine the potential contribution of immersion into a virtual environment in the context of an engineering application. The use of two VR systems to examine collaborative virtual environments is also of potential interest.
The project will apply the different techniques that form the basic elements of an VR application to create an immersive virtual environment. These techniques will be employed to provide interactivity with a 3D model of an industrial device, such as a large-scale chemical filter. The project will involve the use of the CoViz3 VR room, containing a high-end (HTC Vive Pro) headset and associated software and hardware.
This project may be undertaken in the framework of collaboration with other EPFL laboratories and/or external industrial companies.