Download this testcase.

Bidimensional body Sedimentation (Hexagonal Packing)

This example illustrates the sedimentation of dense solid particles in a viscous fluid under gravity in two dimensions using MigFlow. Particles are initialized in a dense hexagonal packing.

Keywords

DEM, FEM, Generation

Description

The test demonstrates: - How to generate a 2D rectangular fluid domain with named boundaries in Gmsh. - How to initialize a dense cloud of circular particles. - How to couple the particle solver (scontact) and the fluid solver (fluid). - How to export derived fields (pressure, velocity, porosity, dynamic pressure) for post-processing in Paraview or similar tools.

import os, sys, shutil
import numpy as np
import gmsh
from migflow import fluid, scontact, time_integration

Output Directory

Create a clean output directory for simulation results.

outputdir = "output" if len(sys.argv) < 2 else sys.argv[1]
shutil.rmtree(outputdir, ignore_errors=True)
os.makedirs(outputdir)

USE_BODY = True if len(sys.argv) < 3 else bool(int(sys.argv[2]))

Geometrical parameters and mesh generation

A rectangular 2D mesh is generated using Gmsh with named boundaries.

height = 0.6  # domain height [m]
width = 0.4  # domain width [m]
mesh_size = 0.01  # element size [m]
h = 0.15  # particle bed height [m]
w = 0.4  # particle bed width [m]
origin = [-width / 2, -height / 2]  # mesh origin (bottom-left)
eps = 1e-8  # small numerical tolerance


def gen_mesh(width, height, mesh_size, origin=np.array([0, 0])):
    """Generate a rectangular 2D mesh with physical boundaries."""
    origin = np.asarray(origin)
    gmsh.model.add("box")
    gmsh.model.occ.add_rectangle(origin[0], origin[1], 0, width, height)
    gmsh.model.occ.synchronize()

    def get_line(x0, x1, eps=1e-6):
        r = gmsh.model.get_entities_in_bounding_box(
            x0[0] - eps, x0[1] - eps, -eps, x1[0] + eps, x1[1] + eps, eps, 1
        )
        return [tag for dim, tag in r]

    h, w = height, width
    gmsh.model.add_physical_group(
        1, get_line(origin + [0, 0], origin + [w, 0]), name="Bottom"
    )
    gmsh.model.add_physical_group(
        1, get_line(origin + [0, h], origin + [w, h]), name="Top"
    )
    gmsh.model.add_physical_group(
        1, get_line(origin + [0, 0], origin + [0, h]), name="Left"
    )
    gmsh.model.add_physical_group(
        1, get_line(origin + [w, 0], origin + [w, h]), name="Right"
    )
    gmsh.model.add_physical_group(2, [1], name="domain")
    gmsh.model.mesh.set_size_callback(lambda dim, tag, x, y, z, lc: mesh_size)
    gmsh.model.mesh.generate(2)


gen_mesh(width, height, mesh_size, origin)

Physical Parameters

g = np.array([0, -9.81])  # gravity [m/s²]
r = 1.5e-3  # particle radius [m]
rhop = 1500  # particle density [kg/m³]
rho = 1000  # fluid density [kg/m³]
nu = 1e-6  # kinematic viscosity [m²/s]
mu = rho * nu  # dynamic viscosity [Pa·s]

Particle Problem Initialization

Particles are placed in a hexagonal patch at the top of the domain.

p = scontact.ParticleProblem(2)
p.set_fixed_contact_geometry(0)
p.load_msh_boundaries(None, ["Top", "Left", "Right", "Bottom"])

# Generate a hexagonal dense packing of particles
step = 2 * r + eps
lx, ly = w, h
y0 = height / 2 - r - eps
x = np.arange(-lx / 2, lx / 2 - 2 * r, step)
y = np.arange(y0, y0 - h, -np.sqrt(3) * step)
x2 = np.arange(-lx / 2 + r, lx / 2 - 2 * r, step)
y2 = np.arange(y0, y0 - h, -np.sqrt(3) * step) - np.sqrt(3) * step / 2
x, y = np.meshgrid(x, y)
x2, y2 = np.meshgrid(x2, y2)
x = np.concatenate([x.ravel(), x2.ravel()])
y = np.concatenate([y.ravel(), y2.ravel()])
x_off = w - ((x.max() + step / 2) - (x.min() - step / 2))
x += r + x_off / 2
# Sort particles by height for body ordering, for better visualization
order = np.argsort(y)
x, y = x[order], y[order]
for xi, yi in zip(x, y):
    p.add_particle((xi, yi), r, np.pi * r**2 * rhop)

Fluid Problem Initialization

f = fluid.FluidProblem(2, g, mu, rho)
f.load_msh(None)
for wall in ["Bottom", "Left", "Right", "Top"]:
    f.set_wall_boundary(wall)
f.set_strong_boundary("Left", velocity=[0, 0])
f.set_strong_boundary("Right", velocity=[0, 0])
f.set_mean_pressure(0)


def get_fields(fluid):
    """Return derived output fields for visualization."""
    y = fluid.coordinates_fields()[fluid.pressure_index()][:, 1].reshape(-1, 1)
    p1_element = fluid.get_p1_element()
    return {
        "pressure": (fluid.pressure(), p1_element),
        "velocity": (fluid.velocity(), p1_element),
        "porosity": (fluid.porosity(), p1_element),
        "u_solid": (fluid.u_solid(), p1_element),
        "dynamic_pressure": (fluid.pressure() - rho * g[1] * y, p1_element),
    }

Simulation Parameters

outf = 1  # number of iterations between outputs
dt = 1e-2  # time step [s]
tEnd = 3  # final simulation time [s]
t = 0
i = 0

Simulation Loop

Time integration of coupled fluid–particle motion.

mass = np.pi * p.r() ** 2 * rhop
while t < tEnd:
    print(f"{i:4d}, {t:.6g}/{tEnd:.6g}")
    print("----------------- ")
    if USE_BODY:
        density = np.divide(
            rhop * p.r() ** 2 * np.pi,
            p.volume(),
            out=np.zeros_like(p.volume()),
            where=p.volume() != 0,
        )
        f.set_particles_body(
            p.position(),
            p.r(),
            density,
            p.velocity(),
            0 * p.omega(),
            p.contact_forces(),
            discretisation="overlap",
        )
    else:
        f.set_particles(
            p.delassus(),
            p.volume(),
            p.position(),
            p.velocity(),
            0 * p.omega(),
            p.contact_forces(),
        )
    if i % outf == 0:
        f.write_mig(outputdir, t, get_fields(f))
        p.write_mig(outputdir, t)
    f.implicit_euler(dt)

    if USE_BODY:
        f_fp = f.get_forces_on_bodies()
        # print(f"  Fluid forces on particles: min {f_fp.min(axis=0)}, max {f_fp.max(axis=0)}")
    else:
        f_fp = f.compute_node_force()
        # print(f"  Fluid forces on particles: min {f_fp.min(axis=0)}, max {f_fp.max(axis=0)}")
    fext = g * mass + f_fp
    time_integration._advance_particles(p, fext, dt, 1, 1e-3 * r)
    t += dt
    i += 1

Plot

python3 -m migflow.plot.migplot output --actors fluid particles --fluid-field velocity