Altair EDEM 2026 for Windows is a professional Discrete Element Method (DEM) simulation platform designed to model and analyze the behavior of bulk and granular materials. It is used by engineers, scientists, researchers, and process designers to simulate materials such as rocks, soil, gravel, grains, powders, tablets, and other particulate materials interacting with equipment and machinery. EDEM can be used for virtual equipment testing, process optimization, and investigation of particle-flow behavior.

The software provides an integrated workflow through EDEM Creator, EDEM Simulator, and EDEM Analyst. Creator is used to build simulation models, define equipment and generate bulk materials; Simulator performs the particle-based calculations; and Analyst provides tools for visualization, post-processing, and interpretation of simulation results. EDEM supports a range of contact and physics models for studying particle interactions, material flow, forces, stresses, heat transfer, breakage, and other granular-material behaviors.

EDEM 2026 introduces advanced particle-shape distribution capabilities, allowing polyhedral and Sphero-Cylinder particles to be scaled along selected directions to represent variations in aspect ratio and shape. A Preserve Volume option can maintain particle volume while changing shape. Particle shapes can also be modified during simulation through custom models and APIs, enabling more advanced representations of changing or deforming particles.

The 2026 release also expands interoperability and automation. A new Python-based Coupling Interface allows EDEM to communicate with generic CFD and multi-body dynamics software, while EDEM-OptiStruct coupling gains additional capabilities. Field Data Manager improvements support transient field data and load-on-demand workflows, reducing memory requirements when working with large or changing datasets. EDEM 2026 also updates its Python environment to Python 3.10.

Key Features

• Discrete Element Method (DEM) simulation

• Bulk and granular material simulation

• Particle-particle and particle-geometry interaction modeling

• EDEM Creator pre-processing environment

• EDEM Simulator solver

• EDEM Analyst post-processing environment

• Polyhedral and Sphero-Cylinder particle support

• Multi-Sphere particle simulation

• Particle size and shape distributions

• Particle aspect-ratio distribution

• Particle Shape Scale functionality

• Preserve Volume option for shape scaling

• Custom particle behavior through APIs

• Advanced contact and physics models

• Breakage and fragmentation modeling

• Fibers Bonding Model

• Heat conduction and thermal particle simulation

• Particle acceleration analysis

• Particle mass and scale attributes

• Transient field-data support

• Field Data Manager with active and available field ranges

• Python-based coupling interface

• C++ coupling interface

• CFD and MBD coupling

• EDEM-OptiStruct coupling

• Simcenter STAR-CCM+ one-way CFD-DEM coupling

• Python automation through EDEM py

• STL export of selected geometries

• Advanced particle visualization and analysis

• Simulation data visualization and post-processing

• API-based customization

• GPU-accelerated CUDA solver

• CPU-based simulation capabilities

• Support for large-scale granular-material simulations

What’s New

Altair EDEM 2026

• New Particle Shape Scaling for polyhedral and Sphero-Cylinder particles

• Shape Scale Distribution allows particle aspect-ratio distributions to be defined during particle creation and volume packing

• Preserve Volume option helps separate particle shape effects from volume effects

• Particle shapes can be modified during simulation through custom factories and API models

• New Python Coupling Interface for CFD, MBD, and custom external applications

• Field Data Manager now supports Active and Available field lists

• Load-on-demand field-data workflow reduces memory requirements

• Support for transient and changing field conditions

• Updated Fibers Bonding Model with additional buckling, breakage, and plasticity failure modes

• Improved EDEM-OptiStruct Coupling with Custom Property handling and thermal capability

• New default gravity setting

• New Particle Aspect Ratio, Acceleration, Particle Scale, and Particle Mass Scale attributes in Analyst

• Selected geometries can now be exported to STL

• EDEM py updated to Python 3.10

• API versions earlier than 3.0 are deprecated

• Heat Conduction Model improved for geometry-level temperature tracking and OptiStruct coupling

• Wet Mixing Model is now deprecated (Altair EDEM 2026 Release Notes)

Professional Applications

• Mining and mineral processing

• Heavy equipment engineering

• Agriculture and agricultural machinery

• Battery manufacturing

• Pharmaceutical and tablet processing

• Chemical and process manufacturing

• Food and grain handling

• Automotive engineering

• Aerospace and defense

• Bulk-material transportation

• Conveyors and material-handling equipment

• Crushers and mills

• Hoppers, chutes, and feeders

• Mixing and blending equipment

• Powder processing

• Granular-material flow analysis

• Equipment wear and particle impact studies

• CFD-DEM multiphysics simulations

• Thermal and thermo-mechanical particle analysis

• Research and development

System Requirements

Minimum Requirements

• OS: Windows 11 64-bit; Altair 2026 applications no longer support Windows 10.
• CPU: Intel Core i7, Intel Xeon 8+ core, or AMD Ryzen 7
• RAM: 8 GB minimum
• Storage: 100 GB recommended minimum available capacity; approximately 4 GB is required for the EDEM software itself
• GPU: Modern NVIDIA or AMD graphics card with OpenGL 2.0 or later for graphics
• GPU Computing: NVIDIA CUDA-enabled GPU with compute capability 3.5 or higher for CUDA GPU Solver workflows
• Architecture: x86-64
• Display: OpenGL-compatible graphics display
• Additional: NVIDIA GPU is required for EDEM’s CUDA GPU Solver; multi-sphere simulations can use CPU or CUDA GPU solvers.