Advanced Simulation of Bulk Materials Handling

Dr. Rodrigo M. Carvalho, Associate Professor at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) presents at the 2024 ATCx DEM.

Several operations in industry rely on the integrity of the particles during handling and transportation. Processes such as blast furnace loading, pellet production in pelletizing plants suffer negative implications during the degradation of the particles. Predicting the extent of breakage of these granular materials, as well as the retained strength in the surviving particles is worthwhile, as it would allow analysing the effectiveness of changes in the charging operation or handling circuit in reducing mechanical degradation. The present work describes how a mathematical model to describe breakage of single particles can be coupled to DEM simulations performed in Altair EDEM and can be used to predict degradation in granular flows. The model outcomes can be used to mitigate breakage, identify critical transfer points and/or optimize their material handling operations.