Investigation of solids transport in a single‐screw extruder using a 3‐D discrete particle simulation

Abstract A non‐isothermal, 3‐D discrete particle simulation based on the discrete element method (DEM) was developed to simulate the solids‐conveying zone and feed hopper of a single‐screw extruder. The method considers each particle in a granular assembly as a separate entity that can interact with other particles or boundaries through collisions or lasting contacts. By using DEM to model the extrusion environment, a priori knowledge of the …