DEM modelling of industrial granular flows: 3D case studies and the effect of particle shape on hopper discharge (Q1614163)

Using discrete element method (DEM), the authors show that elongated particles produce flow rates up to 30\% lower than circular particles, and give flow patterns that are quite different. The flow becomes increasingly concentrated in a relative narrow funnel above the hopper opening. Increasing the blockiness or angularity of the particles is also shown to increase the resistance to flow, and reduces the flow rates up to 28\% but without having perceptible effect on the flow nature. The authors study the charge motion in a 5m diameter ball mill and in a Hicom nutating mill, investigate the discharge from single and four-port cylindrical hoppers, and examine the particle size separation by a vibrating screen. Finally, the parallelization of such a DEM code is described, and benchmark results for a large-scale two-dimensional hopper are presented.