Study of grain-scale effects in bulk handling using discrete element simulations

Industrial granular flow issues are affected by the particle properties and environmental conditions of the materials. To understand the impact of grain-scale effects on flowability, experimental testing should be complemented with particle-based modelling. In this study, we simulate the effects of particle size, shape, and hygroscopicity by the discrete element method (DEM) for different bulk handling problems. We examine a granular column collapse set-up, comparing flow propagation of dry, mono-sized sphere packings to granular systems with particle size dispersity, prolate spheroidal particles, and liquid contents in pendular capillary states. Our results corroborate the experimental observations of evolving height profiles, velocity fields, energy balance, and particle orientation. We also analyse different hopper design alternatives dealing with particle size segregation in an industrial case study of the filling operation. This study illustrates the usability of the DEM as an effective support tool to characterise complex granular flows and improve bulk handling technology. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Industrial granular flow issues are affected by particle properties and environmental conditions. Experimental testing should be complemented with particle-based modelling to understand the impact of grain-scale effects on flowability. The study illustrates the usability of DEM as an effective support tool to characterize complex granular flows and improve bulk handling technology.