DEM simulation of particle flow on a single deck banana screen

A mathematical study of particle flow on a banana screen deck using the discrete element method (DEM) was presented in this paper. The motion characteristics and penetrating mechanisms of particles on the screen deck were studied. Effects of geometric parameters of screen deck on banana screening process were also investigated. The results show that when the values of inclination of discharge and increment of screen deck inclination are 10° and 5° respectively, the banana screening process get a good screening performance in the simulation. The relationship between screen deck length and screening efficiency was further confirmed. The conclusion that the screening efficiency will not significantly increase when the deck length L≥430 mm (L/B ≥ 3.5) was obtained, which can provide theoretical basis for the optimization of banana screen.

Numerical Analysis of Emergency River Restoration Scheme for Qingping Mega Debris Flow

The mega debris flow occurred on August 13 th 2010 in Qingping town,China(hereafter called '8.13' Debris Flow) have done great damage to the local habitants as well as to the re-construction projects in the quake-hit areas,and the channel-fill deposit problem caused by the debris flow was the most destructive.Moreover,it is of high possibility that an even severe deposit problem would reappear and result in worse consequences.In order to maximize risk reduction of this problem,relevant departments of the government established a series of emergency river restoration schemes,for which the numerical analysis is an important procedure to evaluate and determine the optimized one.This study presents a numerical analysis by applying a twodimensional debris flow model combined with a relevant water-sediment model to simulate the deposit during the progress of the debris flow,and to calculate and analyze the river flow field under both the present condition and different restoration conditions.The results show that the debris flow model,which takes the confluence of the Wenjia Gully to the main river into account,could simulate the deposit process quite well.In the reproduced debris flow from the simulation of the '8.13' Debris Flow,the original river flow path has switched to a relatively lower place just along the right bank with a high speed of near 7m.s-1 after being blocked by the deposit,which is highly hazardous.To prevent this hazard,a recommended scheme is derived through inter-comparison of different restoration conditions.It shows that the recommended scheme is able to reduce the water level and as well to regulate the flow path.Based on the given conditions of the mainstream and the tributary confluence for the simulated '8.13' Debris Flow,when encountering a debris flow with deposit volume less than 0.5 million m3,the river channel can endure a 20-year return flood;however,when the deposit volume increases to 2 million m3,the flood capacity of the river will be greatly impacted and the scheme becomes invalid.The recommended scheme supported by the present study has been applied to the emergency river restoration after this mega-debris flow.

A simplified two-dimensional boundary element method with arbitrary uniform mean flow

To reduce computational costs, an improved form of the frequency domain boundary element method（BEM） is proposed for two-dimensional radiation and propagation acoustic problems in a subsonic uniform flow with arbitrary orientation. The boundary integral equation（BIE） representation solves the two-dimensional convected Helmholtz equation（CHE） and its fundamental solution, which must satisfy a new Sommerfeld radiation condition（SRC） in the physical space. In order to facilitate conventional formulations, the variables of the advanced form are expressed only in terms of the acoustic pressure as well as its normal and tangential derivatives, and their multiplication operators are based on the convected Green＇s kernel and its modified derivative. The proposed approach significantly reduces the CPU times of classical computational codes for modeling acoustic domains with arbitrary mean flow. It is validated by a comparison with the analytical solutions for the sound radiation problems of monopole,dipole and quadrupole sources in the presence of a subsonic uniform flow with arbitrary orientation.

GPU-based discrete element simulation on flow stability of flat-bottomed hopper

In this study, the flow stability of the flat-bottomed hopper was investigated via GPU-based discrete element method(DEM) simulation. With the material height inside the hopper reducing, the fluctuation of the flow rate indicates an unstable discharge. The flow regions of the unstable discharge were compared with that of the stable discharge, a key transformation zone, where the voidage showed the largest difference between unstable and stable discharge, was revealed. To identify the relevance of the key transformation zone and the hopper flow stability, the voidage variation of the key transformation zone with material height reducing was studied.A sharp increase in the voidage in the key transformation zone was considered to be the standard for judging the unstable hopper flow, and the ‘Top–Bottom effect' of the hopper was defined, which indicated the hopper flow was unstable when the hopper only had the top area and the bottom area, because the voidage of particles in the top area and the bottom area were both variables.

A PENALTY-HYBRID FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF STOKES FLOW

A type of penalty-hybrid variational principle is suggested for the analysis of Stokesian flow. On such a basis, a finite element model is formulated featuring, among others, a priori satisfaction of the deviatoric stress and hydrostatic pressure on linear momentum balance equations. Also in the present scheme the hydrostatic pressure is successfully eliminated at the element level, leaving only nodal velocities as solution unknowns. A series of 4-node and 8-node quadrilateral elements are derived and examined. Numerical examples demonstrating their characteristic behaviors are also included.

Simulation of Temperature and Flow Field by Three Dimension Finite ElementMethod for Castex Process of AS Wire

Castex of AS wire is a new technology of near net shape. To study the variation of temperature and velocity of liquid (or semisolid) aluminum during dynamic solidification the numerical simulation was carried out with the theory of heat-transfer and hydrodynamics by means of 3-dimensional finite element method. From simulation results, it is found that the variation of temperature and velocityis mainly influenced by the casting temperature of aluminum, rotating speed of Castex wheel and flow of cooling water. Among theseinfluencing factors, the casting temperature distributes most to the length of liquid phase metal. Moreover, the faster the metal solidifies,the higher the metal there moves with the overall trend of descending from the bottom of the wheel to the shoe wall as well as from sidewalls to the center of wheel groove. In comparison with the practical value, the simulation is reliable.

A WEIGHTED PENALTY FINITE ELEMENT METHOD FOR THE ANALYSIS OF POWER-LAW FLUID FLOW PROBLEMS

In this paper, a new finite element method for the flow analysis of the viscous incompressible power-law fluid is proposed by the use of penalty-hybrid/mixed finite element formulation and by the introduction of an alternative perturbation, which is weighted by viscosity, of the continuity equation. A numerical example is presented to exhibit the efficiency of the method.

Finite element modeling of consolidation of composite laminates

Advanced fiber reinforced polymer composites have been increasingly applied to various structural components. One of the important processes to fabricate high performance laminated composites is an autoclave assisted prepreg lay-up. Since the quality of laminated composites is largely affected by the cure cycle, selection of an appropriate cure cycle for each application is important and must be optimized. Thus, some fundamental model of the consolidation and cure processes is necessary for selecting suitable parameters for a specific application. This article is concerned with the ＂flow-compaction＂ model during the autoclave processing of composite materials. By using a weighted residual method, two-dimensional finite element formulation for the consolidation process of thick thermosetting composites is presented and the corresponding finite element code is developed. Numerical examples, including comparison of the present numerical results with one-dimensional and twodimensional analytical solutions, are given to illustrate the accuracy and effectiveness of the proposed finite element formulation. In addition, a consolidation simulation of AS4/3501-6 graphite/epoxy laminate is carded out and compared with the experimental results available in the literature.

Characteristics of metal flow in cold extrusion under electric-hydraulic chattering

An experimental setup for cold extrusion process with electric-hydraulic chattering was developed and its working principle was introduced. The finite element （FE） model for a kind of cup part （material： 20Cr） was built by using the software Deform-3D. FE simulation experiments with and without electric-hydraulic chattering were carried out to analyze the velocity fields and the metal grid flow lines. The extrusion ex- periments of the cup part were also performed under different conditions. The difference of metal flow lines with and without electric-hydraulic chattering was discussed via a scanning electron microscope （SEM） and the Keyence super-depth three-dimensional microscopic system. The results showed that with the electric-hydraulic chattering, the velocity of material flow increases, whereas deformation resistance decreases. Electric hydraulic chattering results in easy metal flow, small bending degree of metal flow lines, slender and dense metal grains, and thereby an improved quality of the deformed parts.

Simulation of particle flow in a bell-less type charging system of a blast furnace using the discrete element method

A three-dimensional model was established by the discrete element method （DEM） to analyze the flow and segregation of particles in a charging process in detail. The simulation results of the burden falling trajectory obtained by the model were compared with the industrial charging measurements to validate the applicability of the model. The flow behavior of particles from the weighing hopper to the top layer of a blast furnace and the heaping behavior were analyzed using this model. A radial segregation index （RSI） was used to evaluate the extent of the size segregation in the charging process. In addition, the influence of the chute inclination angle on the size segregation and burden profile during the charging process was investigated.

Numerical investigation of Reynolds number and scaling effects in microchannels flows

Compared with conventional channels, experiments of microchannel often exhibit some controversial findings and sometimes even opposite trends, most notably the effects of the Reynolds number and the scaled channel height on the Poiseuille number. The experimental method has still been constrained by two key facts, firstly the current ability to machine microstructures and secondly the limitation of measurement of parameters related to the Poiseuille number. As a consequence, numerical method was adopted in this study in order to analyze a flow in two-dimensional rectangular microchannels using water as working fluid. Results are obtained by the solution of the steady laminar incompressible Navier-Stokes equations using control volume finite element method（CVFEM） without pressure correction. The computation was made for channel height ranging from 50 ？m to 4.58 ？m and Reynolds number varying from 0.4 to 1 600. The effect of Reynolds number and channel heights on flow characteristics was investigated. The results showed that the Poiseuille numbers agree fairly well with the experimental measurements proving that there is no scale effect at small channel height. This scaling effect has been confirmed by two additional simulations being carried out at channel heights of 2.5 ？m and 0.5 ？m, respectively and the range of Reynolds number was extended from 0.01 up to 1 600. This study confirm that the conventional analysis approach can be employed with confidence for predicting flow behavior in microchannels when coupled with carefully matched entrance and boundary conditions in the dimensional range considered here.

Analysis of gas-solid flow and shaft-injected gas distribution in an oxygen blast furnace using a discrete element method and computational fluid dynamics coupled model

lronmaking using an oxygen blast furnace is an attractive approach for reducing energy consumption in the iron and steel industry. This paper presents a numerical study of gas-solid flow in an oxygen blast fur- nace by coupling the discrete element method with computational fluid dynamics. The model reliability was verified by previous experimental results. The influences of particle diameter, shaft tuyere size, and specific ratio （X） of shaft-injected gas （51G） flowrate to total gas flowrate on the SIC penetration behavior and pressure field in the furnace were investigated. The results showed that gas penetration capacity in the furnace gradually decreased as the particle diameter decreased from 100 to 40 mm. Decreasing particle diameter and increasing shaft tuyere size both slightly increased the SIG concentration near the furnace wall but decreased it at the furnace center. The value of X has a significant impact on the SIG distribution. According to the pressure fields obtained under different conditions, the key factor affecting SIG penetration depth is the pressure difference between the upper and lower levels of the shaft tuyere. If the pressure difference is small, the SIG can easily penetrate to the furnace center.

AN IMPROVED EFFICIENT SEMI-IMPLICIT FINITE ELEMENT SCHEME FOR TWO-DIMENSIONAL TIDAL FLOW COMPUTATIONS

In a recent paper, an efficient semi-implicit finite element scheme for 2-dimensional tidal flow computations is proposed. In that scheme, each term of the governing equations, rather than each dependent variable, is ex- panded in terms of the unknown nodal values. Simpson's rule ix used for numerical integration to make the mass matrix diagonal. The friction terms are represented semi-implicitly to improve stability, but no additional compu- tational effort is required. The shortcomings of this scheme are that the time-stepping scheme is only first-order ae- curate and artificial smoothing is required to control the numerical noise. In this paper, the previous scheme is im- proved by including the eddy viscosity terms in the governing equations to replace artificial smoothing in noise con- trol and the time-stepping scheme is modified to make it second-order accurate. These improvements can be achieved with only a slight increase in computational effort. The test cases used previously to validate the former scheme are again employed to test the present scheme.

Numerical simulation of tetrahedral particle mixing and motion in rotating drums

A regular tetrahedron is the simplest three-dimensional structure and has the largest non-sphericity. Mixing of tetrahedral particles in a thin drum mixer was studied by the soft-sphere-imbedded pseudo- hard particle model and compared with that of spherical particles. The two particle types were simulated with different rotation speeds and drum filling levels. The Lacey mixing index and Shannon information entropy were used to explore the effects of sphericity on the mixing and motion of particles. Moreover, the probability density functions and mean values and variances of motion velocities, including translational and rotational, were computed to quantify the differences between the motion features of tetrahedra and spheres. We found that the flow regime depended on the particle shape in addition to the rotation speed and filling level of the drum. The mixing of tetrahedral particles was better than that of spherical particles in the rolling and cascading regimes at a high filling level, whereas it may be poorer when the filling level was low. The Shannon information entropy is better than the Lacey mixing index to evaluate mixing because it can reflect the real change of flow regime from the cataracting to the centrifugal regime, whereas the mixing index cannot.

Lagrangian-Eulerian simulation of slugging fluidized bed

This work studies gas-solid slugging fiuidized beds with Type-D particles, using two-dimensional sim- ulations based on discrete element model （DEM）. DEM performance is quantitatively validated by two commonly accepted correlations for determining slugging behavior. The voidage profiles simulated with bed height corresponding to Baeyens and Geldart （1974） correlation for onset of slugging demonstrate a transitional flow pattern from free bubbling to slugging. The present calculated values for the maximum slugging bed height are in good agreement with the correlation from Matsen et al. （1969）. Simulations show that fluidized beds with Type-D particles can operate in the round-nosed slugging regime and also shows that wall slugs and square-nosed slugs tend to be formed with increase in superficial gas velocity and in bed height, respectively.

Discrete element method study of shear-driven granular segregation in a slowly rotating horizontal drum

Segregation and mixing of granular materials are complex processes and are not fully understood. Motivated by industrial need, we performed a simulation using the discrete element method to study size segregation of a binary mixture of granular particles in a horizontal rotating drum. Particles of two dif- ferent sizes were poured into the drum until it was 50% full. Shear-driven segregation was induced by rotating the side-plates of the drum in the opposite direction to that of the cylindrical wall. We found that radial segregation diminished in these systems but did not completely vanish. In an ordinary rotating drum, a radial core of smaller particles is formed in the center of the drum, surrounded by larger revolving particles. In our system, however, the smaller particles were found to migrate toward the side-plates. The shear from anti-spinning side-plates reduces the voidage and increases the bulk density. As such, smaller particles in the mixer tend to move to denser regions. We varied the shear by changing the coefficient of friction on the side-plates to study the influence of shear rate on this migration. We also compared the extent of radial segregation with stationary side-plates and with side-plates moving in different angular directions.

Investigation of particle-wall interaction in a pseudo-2D fluidized bed using CFD-DEM simulations

We report on discrete element method simulations of a pseudo-two-dimensional （pseudo-2D） fluidized bed to investigate particle-wall interactions. Detailed information on macroscopic flow field variables, including solids pressure, granular temperature, and normal and tangential wall stresses are analyzed. The normal wall stress differs from the solids pressure because of the strong anisotropic flow behavior in the pseudo-2D system. A simple linear relationship exists between normal wall stress and solids pressure. In addition, an effective friction coefficient can be derived to characterize particle-wall flow interaction after evaluating the normal and tangential wall stresses. The effects of inter-particle and particle-wall friction coefficients are evaluated. Strong anisotropic flow behavior in the pseudo-2D system needs to be considered to validate the two-fluid model where the boundary condition is usually developed based on an isotropic assumption. The conclusion has been confirmed by simulation with different particle stiffnesses. Assumptions in the newly developed model for 2D simulation are further examined against the discrete element method simulation.

Numerical simulation of submarine landslide tsunamis using particle based methods

This paper presents the simulation of tsunamis due to rigid and deformable landslides with consideration of submerged conditions by using particle methods. The smoothed particle hydrodynamics（SPH）, as a particle based method, is for solving problems of fast moving boundaries in the field of continuum mechanics. Other particle based methods, like the discrete element method（DEM）, are suitable for modeling the displacement and the collision related to the rigid landslides. In the present work, we use the SPH and the DEM to simulate tsunamis generated by rigid and deformable landslides with consideration of submerged conditions. The viscous free-surface flows are solved by a weakly compressible SPH and the displacement and the rotation of the rigid body slides are calculated using a multi-sphere DEM allowing for modeling solids of arbitrarily complex shapes. The fluid-solid interactions are simulated by coupling the SPH and the DEM. A rheology model combining the Papanastasiou and the Herschel-Bulkley models is applied to represent the viscoplastic behavior of the non-Newtonian flow in the submarine deformable landslide cases. Submarine landslide tsunamis due to rigid and deformable landslides are both simulated as typical landslide cases in this investigation. Our simulated results and the previous experimental results in the literatures are in good agreement, which shows that the proposed particle based methods are capable of modeling the submarine landslide tsunamis.

Implementation and validation of a volume-of-fluid and discrete-element-method combined solver in OpenFOAM

Numerous gas-liquid-solid flows exist in chemical engineering and metallurgical processes. Numerical modeling is an important topic that can be used to improve the design and investigate the operating conditions of these processes. The complicated interphase interaction within such three-phase systems, which include free surfaces and discrete phases, poses challenges in the existing methods. We imple- mented a volume-of-fluid （VOF） and discrete-element-method （DEM） combined solver, which should be useful for modeling the gas-liquid-solid systems, within the OpenFOAM framework. The Du Plessis and Masliyah drag force, added mass force, and capillary force were considered for fluid-particle coupling. The VOF-DEM solver was tested in three different cases, namely, particles in pure gas, particle collision in water, and gas-liquid-solid three-phase dam break. The results were validated against previous experi- ments and good agreement was obtained between the simulations and the experiments, which indicates the accuracy and suitability of this VOF-DEM solver for gas-liquid-solid systems.

Mechanics of granular column collapse in fluid at varying slope angles

This paper investigates the effect of initial volume fraction on the runout characteristics of collapse of granular columns on slopes in fluid. 2-D sub-grain scale numerical simulations are performed to understand the flow dynamics of granular collapse in fluid. The discrete element method（DEM） technique is coupled with the lattice Boltzmann method（LBM）, for fluid-grain interactions, to understand the evolution of submerged granular flows. The fluid phase is simulated using multiple-relaxation-time LBM（LBM-MRT） for numerical stability. In order to simulate interconnected pore space in 2-D, a reduction in the radius of the grains（hydrodynamic radius） is assumed during LBM computations. The collapse of granular column in fluid is compared with the dry cases to understand the effect of fluid on the runout behaviour. A parametric analysis is performed to assess the influence of the granular characteristics（initial packing） on the evolution of flow and run-out distances for slope angles of 0 °, 2.5°, 5 ° and 7.5 °. The granular flow dynamics is investigated by analysing the effect of hydroplaning, water entrainment and viscous drag on the granular mass. The mechanism of energy dissipation, shape of the flow front, water entrainment and evolution of packing density is used to explain the difference in the flow characteristics of loose and dense granular column collapse in fluid.