New Advancements in Computational Particle Mechanics

Dear Colleagues,

Numerical simulation is an increasingly powerful tool in extensive research studies and applications involving granular materials. Various computational methods, such as discrete element method (DEM), computational fluid dynamics (CFD), Monte Carlo method (MCM), molecular dynamics (MD), and smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH), are employed to simulate the mechanical behaviors of granular materials under various conditions, and many physical insights are obtained from the simulations.

DEM is applied to study the mechanical properties of various particle materials, especially granular materials. Granular materials are very common and widespread in the natural environment, daily life and industrial production. DEM is still in its development stage, but is the main and most powerful tool. DEM is widely used in various fields of research, such as automotive engineering, railway engineering, aircraft, and electric vehicle power batteries. Therefore, its applications will become increasingly extensive. The purpose of this Special Issue is to explore new developments in DEM for granular dynamics modeling, including but not limited to the following topics:

• New numerical methods to model complex particles or address the problems which remained unresolved before.
• Significant improvements to existing methods for better accuracy and efficiency or enhanced capacity.
• Novel applications of computational particle mechanics to new or interdisciplinary fields.
• Research on the microstructure of materials.
• More accurate and convenient tools for computational particle mechanics.
• Extended application of computational particle mechanics in engineering.
• New insights into some critical scientific problems of granular materials based on numerical simulations.

We look forward to receiving many excellent research papers for this Special Issue. Your contributions will promote both the scientific research and industrial applications of granular materials.

Dr. Xia Hua
Guest Editor

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