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8 W H I T E P A P E R The user input in this case is the shear stress limit for joint fracture, σ f τ , and a joint will break when shear stress is equal to or higher than the shear fracture stress: The approaches described above can be used with different shapes of elementary particles depending on the material being simulated. Connecting sphero-cylinders allow for breakage simulation of long aspect ratio particles. Breakage and deformation of flat particles can be simulated by using sphero-triangles. Tetrahedral elementary particles allow the simulation of the volumetric particles' breakage. Examples of such simulation's breakage processes are given below. These models are extremely powerful and flexible and can simulate breakage for particles of any shape and aspect ratio. 3.3 Discrete breakage of fibers Fiber particles can be used to model many plant materials, such as those commonly handled in the agricultural industry. In such applications, the harvesting, storage, and preparation of materials like hay, sugarcane, reeds, and bamboo can be a big problem. These materials are often transported by conveyor belts, rotors, and screws, which can compress the material and eventually break these long aspect ratio objects. Such motions can be easily accommodated in Rocky, where the particle flexibility can be configured, and shear and normal stress criteria can be used to set the limits for particle breakage. An example using a wood chipper is shown in Figure 5. (13) Figure 5: Example of the discrete breakage applied in the simulation of a wood chipper.