Grain Days 2024

The Australian Association for Granular Media (ANAGRAM) is delighted to announce the sixth edition of Grain Days (2024). This will be a two-day event, bringing together researchers in the broad field of granular materials with particular focus on experimental methods and imaging. The event will be held on 2–3 December 2024 at Monash University, Clayton Campus, VIC. 

Registration

Registration form available here. If you are not already a member of ANAGRAM, please note that it is a requirement of attendance to join this association. Join by emailing our Treasurer.

Programme

Doctoral School (2/12/24, Day 1): Experimental methods and imaging, lab visit.
Research Forum & AGM (3/12/24, Day 2): Keynote lecture, teaser presentations & posters, lab visit.

Venue - MONASH UNIVERSITY

2 December 2024 - Room 1.02, Woodside Building (Building 94), 20 Exhibition Walk, Clayton VIC 3168. Map.
3 December 2024 - Room LG02, Woodside Building (Building 94), 20 Exhibition Walk, Clayton VIC 3168. Map.

Both venues are located in the Woodside building, with catering spaces just outside the rooms, and a dedicated parking nearby. For more information, visit the Clayton campus map and the Woodside Building information.

DETAILED PROGRAMME

Doctoral School (2 Dec 24, Day 1)

The first day of the event will be a doctoral school on experimental methods and imaging, delivered across three lectures. The first lecture, presented by Dr Benjy Marks from the University of Sydney, will provide an introduction to imaging – covering the basics of the entire process from setting up and executing experiments till data analysis. The lecture will teach how to process images and videos, with various techniques and examples used to provide a basic overview of the topic and an introduction to more advanced techniques, such as tomography.
The second lecture, presented by Prof. Guillermo Narsilio from the University of Melbourne, will cover image processing methods for reconstructing X-ray computed tomography image stacks to obtain microstructural characteristics such as particle size and shape.
The first day will end in the afternoon with a tour of Monash University's experimental facilities.

Research Forum (3 Dec 24, Day 2)

The research forum is intended to be an opportunity for ANAGRAM members, especially PhD students and young researchers, to showcase their work to the broader granular mechanics community. The day will commence with an invited keynote lecture by Prof. Karen Hapgood from Swinburne University of Technology, followed by a round of short teaser presentations, and a poster session where the presenters will have an opportunity to interact with the audience. Here, the audience will be able to walk around, from one speaker to another, to ask more detailed questions on their previously presented teasers. The second day will end in the afternoon with a tour of Monash University's experimental facilities.

AGM: Annual General Meeting (3 Dec 24, Day 2)

The next AGM will be on the 3rd of December for all ANAGRAM members. If you would like to join the committee, please apply. Nominations must be made in writing, signed by two members of the association and accompanied by the written consent of the candidate (which may be endorsed on the form of the nomination), and must be delivered to our Secretary, at least 7 days before the date fixed for the holding of the AGM at which the election is to take place.

Preliminary TIMETABLE

Doctoral School (2/12/24, Day 1)

Research Forum & AGM (3/12/24, Day 2)

Lecture 1 (10:00-12:30, Day 1): Imaging of granular materials — Dr. Benjy Marks

Granular materials exhibit important structural features at many length scales. At the smallest scales, we can observe the frictional contact of asperities between individual grains. Zooming out we can describe the packing and arrangement of assemblies of particles. At larger scales still we can observe the runout of landslides and the evolution of sand dunes along a beach. The imaging of these systems is characterised by two important phenomena; opacity and heterogeneity. Almost all granular media are optically opaque. Even when the individual grains themselves are transparent, assemblies of particles rapidly become opaque due to refraction of light as it passes between the grains and the interstitial spaces. For this reason, we typically only ever see the outer layers of a granular medium. It is the heterogeneity of the material, and the interstitial spaces, that creates this opacity. The imaging of granular materials, therefore, is an uphill battle at almost all length scales.

In this Lecture we will cover the basics of imaging; from lighting to acquisition and finally data analysis. You will learn how to process both images and videos. We will see examples of reflection and transmission imaging, and put into a basic context more advanced techniques, such as tomography. Finally, we will go into detail on two techniques for measuring displacements of granular media from images. We will introduce both Particle Tracking Velocimetry and Particle Image Velocimetry (also referred to as Digital Image Correlation depending on your background) and provide a brief introduction to their use cases, pitfalls, and freely available software.

Lecture 2 (13:30-16:00, Day 1): X-ray computed tomography of granular materials — Prof. Guillermo Narsilio

In granular materials, force transmission, fluid flow and heat transfer through them are dominated by their microstructure. The development of accurate models to predict these transport processes has been hindered due to the limited ability to capture the microstructural information in traditional physical testing. X-ray computed tomography (XCT) is a powerful emerging technique that can access the microstructure of granular material non-destructively. During an XCT scanning, X-ray lights penetrate a rotating sample and reach a detector that records the attenuation of X-ray energy in a series of 2D X-ray plates. These data are then inversed to generate three-dimensional cross-sectional images of the sample. By applying image processing methods on the (2D and 3D) XCT images, a digital sample can be reconstructed for microstructure characterisation and transport phenomena simulations.

The Lecture will cover the image processing methods to reconstruct a digital sample based on the already inverted 2D XCT image stacks, with the goals to distinguish the different phases and identify individual particles from the sample to calculate microstructural characteristics such as particle size and shape. You will learn the basics of image filters and data analysis on XCT images. The XCT images of Ottawa sand 20-30 will be provided, and we will show the image processing procedures on them using open-source software: ImageJ (Fiji). More advanced examples generated using an XCT image approach under an Artificial Intelligence (AI) framework will be introduced as well.

Invited keynote (9:00 - 10:00, Day 2): Photoelastic Stress visualization in 3D printed particles and shapes — Prof. Karen Hapgood

Co-authors: Negin Amini, Josh Tuohey, John M. Long, Jun Zhang, David A.V. Morton (Deakin University), and Karen E. Daniels, Farnaz Fazelpour (NC State University).

Abstract: Stress visualization in 3D particles can provide insight and understanding of the behaviour of complex particles. Traditional photoelastic methods produce a polarised light signal in response to applied stresses, but can only be used for simple particle shapes such as discs. 3D-printing has created new possibilities for enhancing the scope of stress analysis of physically representative particles with irregular shapes and structures. Using X-ray computed tomography and 3D-printing combined with traditional photoelastic analysis, we are able to visualize strain for particles ranging from simple 2D discs to complex 3D-printed coffee beans, including internal voids. The relative orientation of the print layers and the loading force can affect the optical response of the discs without affecting the mechanical properties. Potential limitations and areas of future interest for stress visualization of 3-dimensional particles are also outlined.

Amini, N., J. Tuohey, J. M. Long, J. Zhang, D. A. V. Morton, K. E. Daniels, F. Fazelpour and K. P. Hapgood (2022). Photoelastic stress response of complex 3D-printed particle shapes. Powder Technology 409: 117852. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.powtec.2022.117852

Bio: Professor Karen Hapgood is an experienced and respected executive leader, who leads the development and implementation of Swinburne's Research strategy and builds impactful reseach partnerships to further Swinburne’s research nationally and globally. Her career has included over 7 years of industry experience in Australian and US, followed by 15 years of leadership roles in the higher education sector, all based around a common thread of manufacturing and STEM. Prior to joining Swinburne, Karen was the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Science Engineering and Built Environment at Deakin University and before that the Dean of Engineering. Karen is a renowned researcher in the fields of chemical engineering and pharmaceutical manufacturing, a Fellow of ATSE, IChemE, RACI and Engineers Australia, and a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She is passionate about diversity and inclusion in research, engineering and STEM.