Sofiane Benyahia

Open-source software in computational research: a case study

A case study of open-source (OS) development of the computational research software MFIX, used for multiphase computational fluid dynamics simulations, is presented here. The verification and validation steps required for constructing modern computational software and the advantages of OS development in those steps are discussed. The infrastructure used for enabling the OS development of MFIX is described. The impact of OS development on computational research and education in gas-solids flow, as well as the dissemination of information to other areas such as geophysical and volcanology research, is demonstrated. This study shows that the advantages of OS development were realized in the case of MFIX: verification by many users, which enhances software quality; the use of software as a means for accumulating and exchanging information; the facilitation of peer review of the results of computational research.

Improvement in Precision, Accuracy, and Efficiency in Standardizing the Characterization of Granular Materials

Useful prediction of the kinematics, dynamics, and chemistry of a system relies on precision and accuracy in the quantification of component properties, operating mechanisms, and collected data. In an attempt to emphasize, rather than gloss over, the benefit of proper characterization to fundamental investigations of multiphase systems incorporating solid particles, a set of procedures were developed and implemented for the purpose of providing a revised methodology having the desirable attributes of reduced uncertainty, expanded relevance and detail, and higher throughput. Better, faster, cheaper characterization of multiphase systems result. Methodologies are presented to characterize particle size, shape, size distribution, density (particle, skeletal and bulk), minimum fluidization velocity, void fraction, particle porosity, and assignment within the Geldart Classification. A novel form of the Ergun equation was used to determine the bulk void fractions and particle density. Accuracy of properties-characterization methodology was validated on materials of known properties prior to testing materials of unknown properties. Several of the standard present-day techniques were scrutinized and improved upon where appropriate. Validity, accuracy, and repeatability were assessed for the procedures presented and deemed higher than present-day techniques. A database of over seventy materials has been developed to assist in model validation efforts and future desig

Modeling the Collisional-Plastic Stress Transition for Bin Discharge of Granular Material

We propose a heuristic model for the transition between collisional and frictional/plastic stresses in the flow of granular material. Our approach is based on a physically motivated, nonlinear ‘blending’ function that produces a weighted average of the limiting stresses, depending on the local void fraction in the flow field. Previously published stress models are utilized to describe the behavior in the collisional (Lun et al., 1984) and quasi‐static limits (Schaeffer, 1987 and Syamlal et al.., 1993). Sigmoidal and hyperbolic tangent functions are used to mimic the observed smooth yet rapid transition between the collisional and plastic stress zones. We implement our stress transition model in an open‐source multiphase flow solver, MFIX (Multiphase Flow with Interphase eXchanges, www.mfix.org) and demonstrate its application to a standard bin discharge problem. The model’s effectiveness is illustrated by comparing computational predictions to the experimentally derived Beverloo correlation. With the corr...