NonsphericalShapes
Superquadrics, multispheres, concave, fibers, ...
Aspherix® DEM Software for Particle and Bulk-Material Simulation
Discrete Element Method (DEM) software with a calibration module and a GUI for building, running and organizing your projects.
What Is Aspherix®?
Aspherix® is Discrete Element Method (DEM) software for simulating particles and bulk or granular materials, developed by DCS Computing in Linz, Austria. It is used across pharmaceutical, mining, iron and steel production, agricultural machinery, process industry, electrical equipment, and equipment manufacturing.
What Aspherix® Simulates
Aspherix® simulates spheres, multispheres, superquadrics, concave triangulated shapes, fibers, flexible membranes, and bonded particles, so bulk material behavior can be modeled with realistic particle shape (see all particle shapes).
It also models cohesive mixing, powder compaction, particle breakage, wear, heat transfer, rheology, and soil mechanics, so a wide range of bulk material processes can be captured accurately. Simulation time comes down through coarse-graining with scaling laws and dynamic load balancing, so large-scale industrial processes run on practical timescales.
Why Choose Aspherix®?
Complex Physics Models
From powders to flexible particles, from chemistry to breakage.
CFD-DEM Coupling
Native through CFDEM®coupling, owned by DCS.
CPU & GPU
MPI scaling to 1000+ cores. Aspherix® GPU included.
Explore Aspherix®
Feature Overview
Particle shapes, contact and cohesion models, meshes, coupling interfaces, post-processing: the complete list.
CFDEM®coupling
Extend Aspherix® with fluid flow: coupled CFD-DEM for particle-fluid processes, including multiphase and reacting flows.
Aspherix® Calibration
An extension for Aspherix® that turns laboratory measurements into calibrated DEM parameters.
Aspherix® Packages
Start with the base package and add computing power, GUI seats or material calibration when you need them.
BASE PACKAGE
Aspherix ® Solver + GUI
Everything to get productive with DEM.
✓ 4 parallel licenses for Aspherix® Solver, e.g., 1 simulation on 4 cores or 4 simulations on 1 core each
✓ 1 Aspherix ® GUI license with pre- and postprocessing
✓ 5 h installation & set-up support per year
+ Extend with
HPC PACKAGES16licenses64licenses1024licensescustom on request
More cores, more simulations
Upgrade your parallel licenses for Aspherix® Solver
From HPC 16 upwards, Aspherix® also runs on GPU.
GUI
Additional GUI licenses
More colleagues working with the Aspherix® GUI at the same time
CALIBRATION
+ add CFD-DEM to Aspherix®
CFDEM®coupling Packages
CFDEM®coupling extends Aspherix® for coupled CFD-DEM simulations. Start with Premium and add multiphase or reacting flow when your process needs it.
ASPHERIX® SOLVER + GUI
CFDEM®COUPLING PREMIUM
MULTIPHASE
CHEMICAL
BASE PACKAGE
CFDEM ®coupling Premium
Particles & fluid flow in one simulation, coupled to Aspherix®
✓ Aspherix® CFD coupling module
✓ 2-phase CFD-DEM solverswith support for Aspherix® particle shapes
✓ Moving geometriesvia AMI / moving meshes and the Immersed Boundary Method
✓ 20 h support per year
+ Extend with
MULTIPHASE
CFDEM®coupling Multiphase
✓ 3-phase CFD-DEM with Volume of Fluid (VOF)
✓ 3-phase CFD-DEM with Euler-Euler
CHEMICAL
CFDEM®coupling Chemical
✓ CFD-DEM with compressible, reacting flow
Please contact us for information about academic pricing and packages.
Flexible Licensing, Tailored to You
One Aspherix® Solver license is one core in use. Install Aspherix® on as many machines in your organization as you like: only active processes count.
GPU included, no extra package
Aspherix® GPU comes with every license. Each GPU run uses 16 parallel licenses, so GPU is available from HPC 16 upwards.
Aspherix® GPU covers a reduced feature set. See Spec Sheets for which commands are GPU ready.
Your license pool, your split
With up to 64 licenses, run as many simulations as you like. Example with HPC 64:
With
more than 64 licenses, up to 64 simulations run at the same time, e.g. 1 × 1024 cores or 64 × 16 cores.
All licenses are floating
Shared across users and machines in your organization, on Windows and Linux.
Lease or purchase
Annual lease, or purchase plus annual maintenance.
Online or in-house license server
Our online license server, serviced by DCS, or your own server in-house.
Which Aspherix® setup fits your application?
Book a call with our engineers. We look at your process together and recommend the right package.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is DEM software?
DEM (Discrete Element Method) software models the behavior of granular materials by solving the equations of motion for each individual particle. Aspherix® is a commercial DEM package built for this.
What platforms does Aspherix® run on?
Windows or Linux, from desktops and workstations to HPC clusters and the cloud, on CPU and GPU.
Does Aspherix® couple with CFD?
Yes, through CFDEM®coupling, the framework DCS develops and owns. It can be used with OpenFOAM, and it includes an immersed boundary method (IBM) solver for complex moving geometries.
How many simulations can I run at the same time?
With up to 64 Aspherix® Solver licenses, you can run as many simulations at the same time as you have licenses. With more than 64 licenses, up to 64 simulations run at the same time, e.g. 1 × 1024 cores or 64 × 16 cores.
Lease or purchase, and where does the license server run?
Your choice: lease, purchase, or a combination of both, for maximum flexibility. The license server can be hosted online by DCS or run in-house on your own infrastructure.
Is there a free trial?
Yes. A free 4-week trial including the GUI, 16 parallel licenses, and a step-by-step video tutorial.