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Discrete Element Modelling of Particulate Solids Processes in Industry

Discrete Element Modelling of Particulate Solids Processes in Industry

Tuesday, 28 October 2025 | Online

15:00 (London) | 16:00 (Berlin)
0​8:00 (Los Angeles) | 11:00 (New York)

About the Webinar

Particulate solids (granular materials) are to be found in a wide variety of fields and encompass natural soil deposits, pharmaceutical powders, food ingredients (e.g., powdered milk, flour), aggregates and cement used in construction, etc. They are often inputs to manufacturing processes but are also commonly produced as intermediate/final products and as such, they have significant economic and societal importance. For example, they are fundamental to the UK chemical & pharmaceutical industry which annually generates over £60bn of exports and directly employs more than 130,000 people across over 4,000 businesses.

In this webinar, we will introduce the Discrete Element Method (DEM) and learn how it can be used to understand complex phenomena in particulate solids. We will provide some real-world examples highlighting how DEM can help optimise your particulate solids processes. We will also introduce the CCC-ParaSolS project (https://www.ccc-parasols.ed.ac.uk/) which is establishing a Collaborative Computational Community in Particulate Solids Simulations in the UK.

Who should attend

Engineers and researchers working in the wide variety of fields that interact with particulate solids such as mining, construction, foods, pharmaceuticals, additive manufacturing and battery manufacturing that wish to enhance their simulation capabilities and better understand the complex nature of granular materials.

Details

Event Type Webinar
Event Date 28 Oct 2025
15:00 (London) | 16:00 (Berlin) 08:00 (Los Angeles) | 11:00 (New York)

S​peakers

Kevin Hanley

Kevin Hanley

Dr Kevin Hanley is a Senior Lecturer in Chemical Engineering and Deputy Head of the Research Institute for Infrastructure and Environment in the School of Engineering at the University of Edinburgh.

He completed his undergraduate degree and PhD in chemical engineering at University College Cork, Ireland. He then spent three years as a postdoctoral researcher at Imperial College London, working on the simulation of granular soils using DEM, before joining the University of Edinburgh in 2014.

His research focuses on the methodological development of DEM and its application to problems in both chemical and geotechnical engineering. He is the Project Lead for the UK’s Collaborative Computational Community in Particulate Solids Simulations (CCC-ParaSolS).

 

Catherine O’ Sullivan

Catherine O'Sullivan

Prof. Catherine O’Sullivan is a Professor of Particulate Soil Mechanics. She is currently Head of the Geotechnics Section of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Imperial College London.

She completed her PhD studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and has worked as a geotechnical engineer in California. Recognition for her research includes the 2015 Géotechnique lecture and the 2016 Shamsher Prakash Research Award.

She is currently Editor in Chief of the ASCE Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering. She is the author of the book ‘Particulate DEM: A geomechanics perspective’ and has co-authored over 120 journal papers.

 

J.P. Morrissey

J.P. Morrissey

Dr J. P. Morrissey is Research Fellow specialising in particulate mechanics and the Discrete Element Method (DEM) at the University of Edinburgh. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh in 2013.

JP has continued working at the University of Edinburgh on all things DEM and during his career has worked with numerous companies such as Altair, AstraZeneca, LKAB, Johnson Matthey, P&G, PepsiCo, Pfizer, Siemens and Tensar.

His research interests include mechanics of particulate solids, computational methods, numerical simulations and data analytics.