The discrete element method is widely applied for the consideration of mechanical interactions in many-body problems, particularly granular materials. Among the various extensions to DEM, the consideration of heat flow is particularly useful. Generally speaking in Thermal DEM methods, the thermo-mechanical coupling is considered, whereby the thermal properties of an individual element are considered in order to model heat flow through a macroscopic granular or multi-element medium subject to a mechanical loading.<ref>[https://{{cite journal | arxiv.org/abs/=1406.4199 | doi=10.13182/FST13-727 | title=Thermal DEMDiscrete Element Analysis of pebbleEU bed]Solid Breeder Blanket Subjected to Neutron Irradiation | year=2014 | last1=Gan | first1=Yixiang | last2=Hernandez | first2=Francisco | last3=Hanaor | first3=Dorian | last4=Annabattula | first4=Ratna | last5=Kamlah | first5=Marc | last6=Pereslavtsev | first6=Pavel | journal=Fusion Science and Technology | volume=66 | issue=1 | pages=83–90 | bibcode=2014FuST...66...83G | s2cid=51903434 }}</ref> Interparticle forces, computed as a part of classical DEM, are used to determined areas of true interparticle contact and thus model the conductive transfer of heat from one solid element to another. A further aspect that is considered in DEM is the gas phase conduction, radiation and convection of heat in the interparticle spaces. To facilitate this, properties of the inter-element gaseous phase need to be considered in terms of pressure, gas conductivity and the mean-free path of gas molecules.<ref>[{{cite journal | url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0032591013002702 | doi=10.1016/j.powtec.2013.04.013 | title=Thermal DEM]DEM–CFD Journalmodeling and simulation of heat transfer through packed bed | year=2013 | last1=Tsory | first1=Tal | last2=Ben-Jacob | first2=Nir | last3=Brosh | first3=Tamir | last4=Levy | first4=Avi | journal=Powder Technology | volume=244 | pages=52–60 }}</ref>
