September 2004

The company FAM has asked Itasca Consultants GmbH (the Itasca office in Germany, organizer of the UDEC/3DEC Symposium) for support on the re-design of an existing spreader for open cast mining. PFC3D simulations focus on the transition point between belts. In order to enable the lower belt's pivoting a deflector has to be used. The simulations optimized the shape and location of the deflector to allow optimal throughput for bulk solids as well as for single embedded rocks. For different bulk solids selected materials are calibrated by simulation of shear tests in a Jenike-shear tester. These materials will be tested for optimal performance at the transition point in further simulations.

PFC2D and PFC3D 3.1 prerelease versions are available now. The codes have a number of new features, including: new general walls, fluid analysis option, AC/DC (Adaptive Continuum/Discontinuum) logic, periodic boundaries, new parallel processing option (MPI), movie feature, and a network license version. Information and documentation are available from the PFC2D/PFC3D Prerelease page.

Also, attendees at the Second PFC Symposium: Numerical Modeling in Micromechanics via Particle Methods will be receive a preview copy of PFC2D Version 3.1, which will allow users a chance to see first-hand the updates to the code. The Symposium will be held October 28-29 in Kyoto, Japan. Complete information on the symposium is available: Symposium page.

UpdateAlert:

Updated since 7/15/2004:

Join the more than 100 attendees who will be present at the UDEC/3DEC Symposium September 30-October 2! In addition to the excellent opportunity to share ideas and experience in the use of UDEC and 3DEC in engineering practice and science, those in attendance will also receive:

• the conference proceedings, which will be a valuable resource in examining the state-of-the-art in numerical modeling via distinct element methods
• an advance preview copy of UDEC 4.0, with substantial new features including a graphical user interface that provides visual access to all program functions and commands

Conference Site
Program
Registration

One-Day Symposia Events
UDEC/3DEC: Workshop at the 1st International UDEC/3DEC Symposium: Numerical Modeling of Discrete Materials in Geotechnical Engineering, Civil Engineering and Earth Science. September 29, 2004. See the Symposium Page for complete information.
PFC2D/PFC3D: Short Course at the Second PFC Symposium: Numerical Modeling in Micromechanics via Particle Methods. October 27, 2004. See the Symposium page for complete information.

FLAC Practical Applications Course
This course will focus on geotechnical modelling related to urban construction, such as tunneling, cut and cover underground structures and slope stability. The training will be oriented towards hands-on problem solving with minimum discussion on the theoretical basis of FLAC. Simple examples will be run by participants to demonstrate the principles of various code features (e.g., geo-material models, mechanical and groundwater analysis, structural support, factor-of-safety calculation) and their application. Participants are encouraged to bring their own design situations. The course will be offered December 1-3, 2004, at the Croydon office of the tasca code agent in England, Mott MacDonald. For further information, please contact Yu Sheng Hsu, the code representative at Mott MacDonald.

Side views of particle flow from a conveyor belt to a storage bunker. The figure comes from a study of the flow of coke in the feeding system of a blast furnace. A PFC simulation provides the means to examine the process where an experimental study would prove infeasible. This study is presented in the paper "DEM Simulation of bulk material flow in a feeding system of blast furnace," which will appear in the Proceedings of the Second PFC Conference. The work was done by J.F. Ferellec, C. Mochizuki & A. Hirata of Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industry Co., Ltd, Yokohama, Japan.

Q: "Is there an easy way to change the program directory for storing project files?"

A: Yes. It is very simple in Windows 2000 and Windows XP to create a shortcut for this task. Right-click and drag (do not release the button) on the program file (for instance, "udec.exe"), and drag to the desired location (the desktop, another folder, a taskbar, etc.). Release the right button. A popup menu appears; choose "Create Shortcut(s) Here" from the menu. When the shortcut is created, right-click on it and select "Properties" from the popup menu. In the resulting dialog, enter your desired path in the "Start In" edit box on the "Shortcut" tab. The folder you specify becomes the location where project files will be stored unless a different path is explicitly indicated when naming files.

When running FLAC with the GIIC, you can simply choose the working directory from the "Project File" dialog on code startup.

   ©2004 HCItasca, Inc.

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