ACADEMIA

Fluent Asia Pacific, the wholly owned subsidiary of Fluent Inc., is to begin immediate distribution of EDEM, a revolutionary discrete element modeling software solution for particle flow simulation developed by DEM Solutions Ltd. Fluent Asia Pacific will be the exclusive distributor of EDEM in Japan, providing sales, technical support and training. EDEM delivers a powerful capability to customers who need to simulate and analyze the behavior of particulate matter during processing, manufacturing and handling operations. It is based on advanced DEM (Discrete Element Method) technology that simulates and analyzes the behavior of individual particles. EDEM is being deployed in a wide range of process industries including chemical, materials, pharmaceutical and minerals as well as oil & gas production, mining, agriculture and geo-technical engineering. David Street, Director of Marketing for Fluent Asia Pacific comments on this relationship, "We are very excited about distributing EDEM in Japan. The EDEM product has many unique particle modeling capabilities. We are delighted by the enormous interest that has already been shown by our clients in the product. EDEM can be used both as a standalone DEM modeling package and coupled with our flagship CFD product, FLUENT V6, when interactions between particles and fluid flow are important." EDEM provides a robust and easy-to-use graphical user interface containing a unique suite of DEM modeling tools. Particle shapes and equipment geometry can be imported from either generic CAD (IGES, STEP, ACIS) or native CAD formats (Pro/Engineer, CATIA, Ideas, AutoCAD etc.). Geometry can be moved using combined rotation and translation or user-defined kinematics. A mixture of particle shapes (spherical and non-spherical) can be simulated in the same model, each with its own size distribution. EDEM provides a unique Particle Factory(TM) tool which enables batch or continuous generation of particles within complex geometries. The state-of-the-art DEM solver provides a fast, robust solution with real-time model visualization. An easy-to-use applications interface is provided where users can define particle contact laws, interactions with surrounding media, data exchange and coupling with third party software. A powerful set of data analysis and mining tools includes graphing, data export and animation of particle flows based on any model parameter using particles, vectors or streamlines. John Favier, CEO of DEM Solutions notes, "We are very pleased that Fluent is distributing EDEM in Japan. They have an excellent reputation for the highest standards of customer service and technical expertise. We look forward to working closely with them to provide a world class solution to particle flow simulation in Japan."