Modeling and simulation of grinding wheel by discrete element method and experimental validation

A simulated grinding wheel (GW), a numerical representative that describes the geometric and physical properties of realistic GWs, is the prerequisite and foundation of grinding research. However, most proposed numerical GWs treated realistic GWs as continuums without internal structure (e.g., binder and pores) and analyzed realistic GWs’ behaviors based on continuum-based material theories. To fill this gap, this study attempts to introduce a discontinuum-based method, discrete element method (DEM), into GW modeling and simulation. DEM GW simulation begins with two grinding-customized modifications to classic DEM theory. Then, with the aid of experimental measurement and statistical analysis, a DEM GW is modeled. Experimental validations are conducted thereafter. Results show acceptable agreements between DEM and realistic GWs in terms of topography, microscopic structure, fracture behavior in compressive test, and performance in grinding process. The proposed DEM GW’s ability in describing a discontinuous structure of realistic GWs covers the shortage of existing numerical GWs and might have other promising applications (e.g., GW formula optimization in production, GW preparation technology and parameter optimization, and GW wear and life prediction).