2-DIMENSIONAL AND 3-DIMENSIONAL SIMULATIO NS OF VIBRATION AND PERCOLATION BEHAVIOR OF PARTICLES BY PARTICLE ELEMENT METHOD

The vibrating motion of a particle bed and percolation of a tracer par ticle with relatively small size in the cyclic vibrating field are inv estigated using two-and three-dimensional simulation techniques based an the particle element method (PEM). The vibration and percolation be havior are influenced by the dimension in the simulation. That is, the particles motion simulated three dimensionally is animated in compari son with that simulated two dimensionally. In addition, the three dime nsional simulation enables us to cause a mutual exchange of particles in the bed. On the other hand, the tracer particle is percolated towar ds the bottom of the bed in the three dimensional simulation, while it remains in the vicinity of the surface layer in the two dimensional o ne. According to the model analysis of the rearranging distance of par ticles in the bed in which the tracer is able to percolate into the be d, the distance analyzed three dimensionally is wider than that analyz ed two dimensionally The discrepancy in the vibration and percolation behavior is attributed to the difference in the two and three dimensio nal porosity and their space structure formed in the vibrating bed.