Investigation of maize grains penetrating holes on a novel screen based on CFD-DEM simulation

Maize cleaning is one of the important processes in maize cleaning operations. To enhance the screening per-formance of the bionic screen further, the screening process of maize mixture was simulated by CFD-DEM, and the simulation results were validated experimentally. The behaviour of grains penetrating the bionic screen under different gestures was investigated. The grains that penetrate the screen holes by falling, rolling, and sliding account for 22.2%, 35.8%, and 42.0% of the total grains penetrating the screen holes. The results show that the grains exhibiting sliding and rolling behaviour are more easily able to penetrate the screen holes. The quantity of grains penetrating the screen holes in the plates 1-8 is gradually increased from 0 to 79, and the grains penetrate the screen holes better during the screen plates flattening upward. This study can provide a basis for designing a new screen and improving cleaning performance.

Automated summary

Maize cleaning is an important process in maize cleaning operations. In order to improve the screening performance of the bionic screen, the screening process of maize mixture was simulated using CFD-DEM and validated experimentally. The study investigated the behavior of grains penetrating the bionic screen under different gestures. The results showed that grains exhibiting sliding and rolling behavior were more likely to penetrate the screen holes.