Mechanical and Civil Engineering Seminar

New GPU-based computers and new algorithms enable researchers to perform numerical simulations of particulate flows in which the particles are resolved and the hydrodynamic forces on them are obtained from first principles rather than from correlations. One such method will be briefly outlined and then several applications described: kinematic waves and the statistics of various quantities in a fluidized-bed-like system, the rotational dynamics and thermal wakes of particles immersed in an incident turbulent flow, a fluid-particle system in shear flow and others. The outstanding problems in this general area motivating the work will be described.