Failure analysis of belt conveyor damage caused by the falling material. Part II: Application of computer metrotomography

Damage of a conveyor belt by impact of sharp material is referred to as breakdown. By conveyor belt breakdown it occurs to perforation of its individual layers. Identification of this type of damage is relatively simple by the help of visual control. However in practice it often occurs due to the impact of sharp material to local anomalies that are not recognizable as a breakdown because there is not fulfilled the basic condition of perforation for all layers of conveyor belt. Based on the visual control, this conveyor belt cannot be unequivocally determined to be damaged or suitable for operating condition. The paper presents analysis of the sample of the conveyor belt with local anomaly which was formed during the experimental measurements for determination of the dependence among the weight of sharp material falling on the conveyor belt, shatter height and force conditions in the conveyor belt. This is a type of damage, which is very often encountered in real conditions. The method of computer metrotomography is applied for the analysis in combination with the software Volume Graphics VG Studio MAX 2.2. The presented results could be applied in practice as a support tool for identification of conveyor belt damage. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.