Discrete element method (DEM) is used to simulate granular material at high precision or fracturing in continuous materials. I am interested in using PhysX as a DEM solver.
Some questions about PhysX’s capability as a DEM solver have been addressed in Longshaw et al 2010.
Longshaw lists several shortcomings inherent in PhysX as a DEM solver; however, this paper is nearly a decade old, which leads me to wonder if some have been addressed. I also have a few additional questions myself about PhysX’s potential as DEM solver:
- Is PhysX still limited to under 65,536 elements?
- Is physics able to set material properties of elements (i.e. restitution coefficient, Youngs modulus, Poisson ratio, friction coefficients)?
- Does PhysX have any kind of element-to-element bond model for simulating continuous materials?
I suspect PhysX will not work out-of-the-box for most DEM applications, but its GPU capability and long heritage make it appealing for this kind of work.
Interested to hear what people think!