Operator health risk evaluation of off-highway dump truck under shovel loading condition

To evaluate the operator health risk exposed to whole-body vibration(WBV) while the electric-shovel loads the ore on the truck body, the semi-truck mathematical model and 3-D virtual prototype were built to simulate the high shockwave of truck cab under the shovel loading. Discrete element method was utilized to accurately estimate the impacting force on the truck body. Based on the ISO 2631-5 criteria, the Sed is about 0.56 MPa in both models, which means that the dump operators have a high probability of adverse health effects over long-term exposure to these vibrations. The 4-DOF operator model was built to investigate the biodynamic response of seated-human body exposed to WBV in terms of the transmission of vibrations through the body. The results show that the response peak is in the frequency range of 4-6 Hz corresponding to the primary body resonant frequency.

Investigation of Micro-mechanical Response of Asphalt Mixtures by a Three-dimensional Discrete Element Model

The micro-mechanical response of asphalt mixtures was studied using the discrete element method. The discrete element sample of stone mastic asphalt was generated first and the vehicle load was applied to the sample. A user-written program was coded with the FISH language in PFC3 D to extract the contact forces within the sample and the displacements of the particles. Then, the contact forces within the whole sample, in asphalt mastic, in coarse aggregates and between asphalt mastic and coarse aggregates were investigated. Finally, the movement of the particles in the sample was analyzed. The sample was divided into 15 areas and a figure was drawn to show how the balls move in each area according to the displacements of the balls in each area. The displacements of asphalt mastic balls and coarse aggregates were also analyzed. The experimental results explain how the asphalt mixture bears vehicle load and the potential reasons why the rutting forms from a micro-mechanical view.

Using the discrete element method to assess the mixing of polydisperse solid particles in a rotary drum

Despite the wide applications of powder and solid mixing in industry, knowledge on the mixing of polydisperse solid particles in rotary drum blenders is lacking. This study investigates the mixing of monodisperse, bidisperse, tridisperse, and polydisperse solid particles in a rotary drum using the dis- crete element method. To validate the model developed in this study, experimental and simulation results were compared. The validated model was then employed to investigate the effects of the drum rotational speed, particle size, and initial loading method on the mixing quality. The degree of mixing of polydis- perse particles was smaller than that for monodisperse particles owing to the segregation phenomenon. The mixing index increased from an initial value to a maximum and decreased slightly before reaching a plateau for bidisperse, tridisperse, and polydisperse particles as a direct result of the segregation of par- ticles of different sizes. Final mixing indices were higher for polydisperse particles than for tridisperse and bidisperse particles. Additionally, segregation was weakened by introducing additional particles of intermediate size. The best mixing of bidisperse and tridisperse particles was achieved for top-bottom smaller-to-larger initial loading, while that of polydisperse systems was achieved using top-bottom smaller-to-larger and top-bottom larger-to-smaller initial loading methods.

Macro- and micromechanical evaluation of cyclic simple shear test by discrete element method

Direct simple shear tests are considered to be simple laboratory tests that are capable of imposing a cyclic loading that is analogous to that induced by earthquakes. A realistic evaluation of the test results demands a profound micromechanical investigation of specimens. Three-dimensional discrete element method models of a stacked-ring simple shear test were constructed, in which monotonic and cyclic loadings were applied under constant-volume conditions, and good agreement between the monotonic and cyclic macromechanical behaviors was noted. Micromechanical properties of specimens that were subjected to a cyclic loading are discussed in terms of lateral and intermediate principal stress development, fabric anisotropy, and principal stress rotation. The stress and strain states inside the specimen were investigated and it was shown that despite the uniform stress distribution inside the specimen, the volumetric strain distributes non-uniformly during loading and the non-uniformity grows with cycling, which leads to localized zones of dilative and contractive behavior.