DEM moving wall

[Michael_page]

Hi,

I am currently implementing a DEM module (Discrete Element Modeling) to simulate particle transport via conveyors. I have some questions regarding how friction is calculated within Unreal Engine 5.1.

I have established a hit event for when particles fall onto the conveyor. In order to account for conveyor movement, I’ve attempted to apply a friction force to the particles against the conveyor’s surface. The friction force is determined by extracting the normal impulse from the hit event, dividing it by the tick time to derive a force. This force is then multiplied by the average friction coefficient of the contacting meshes. To offset the effect of friction from the particle’s dead weight, this friction force is further multiplied by 2.

Currently, my programming functions correctly when the force is multiplied by values greater than 5. However, when using a multiplication factor of 2, the friction force is not substantial enough to counteract the friction from the particle’s dead weight.

Could someone kindly assist me in comprehending how friction is calculated and why a multiplication factor of 2 falls short in producing the intended movement?

Here is a video to give you an idea of my program : https://youtu.be/FyZNbmIrfLA

[Michael_page]

On initial setup, I divided the hit normal impulse by the delta T of the tick event to calculate a force. This force was applied with Add Force to my particule.

I switch to work directly with the hit normal impulse multiplied by 2 time the friction coefficient and applied it with Add Impulse. The result is as expected.