Determination of mechanical properties for wood pellets used in DEM simulations

Wood pellets are increasingly being used to produce energy as a part of the decarbonization process of the economy, but their handling is associated with several problems, which usually requires that the equipment used has to be modified and improved. The discrete element method is a numerical technique suitable for simulating individual particles and handling systems. This paper focuses on the determination of the mechanical and physical parameters for wood pellet particles which are required to develop a discrete element method model to improve handling and transport systems. This study reports the experimentally determined values for wood pellet particles with respect to particle density, modulus of elasticity, particle - particle and particle - wall coefficients of restitution, and particle - particle and particle - wall coefficients of friction. Following the previous findings by other researchers with large samples of bulk material, it has been found that the modulus of elasticity for individual wood pellets depends on the water content, and the particle - wall coefficient of restitution depends on the impact velocity.