Numerical simulation study on particle breakage behavior of granular materials in confined compression tests

In order to study the fragmentation law, the confined compression experiment of granular assemblies has been conducted to explore the particle breakage characteristic by DEM approach in this work. It is shown that contact and contact force during the loading process gradually transform from anisotropy to isotropy. Meanwhile, two particle failure modes caused by different contact force states are analyzed, which are single-through-crack failure and multi-short-crack failure. Considering the vertical distribution of the number of cracks and the four characteristic stress distributions (the stress related to the maximum contact force, the major principal stress, the deviatoric stress and the mean stress), it is pointed out that the stress based on the maximum contact force and the major principal stress can reflect the distribution of cracks accurately. In addition, the size effect of particle crushing indicates that small size particles are prone to break. The lateral pressure coefficient of four size particles during the loading process is analyzed to explain the reason for the size effect of particle breakage.     

TENSILE STRENGTH FOR SPLITTING FAILURE OF BRITTLE PARTICLES WITH CONSIDERATION OF POISSON''''S RATIO

1. Introduction The core mechanism of comminution could be reduced to the breakage of individual particles that occurs through contact with other particles or with the grinding media, or with the solid walls of the mill (Potapov & Campbell, 1994). When a particle is subjected to a load, the nature of the stress field around and within the brittle particle, its material properties, and the size and distribution of micro-flaws within the particle govern the size and shape distribution of the fra…     

Crushing of particles in idealised granular assemblies

Four idealised assemblies of equally sized spherical particles are subjected to a range of macroscopic compressive principal stresses and the contact forces on individual particles are determined. For each set of contact forces the stress fields within individual particles are studied. A failure criterion for brittle materials is imposed and indicates that crushing (or rupture) occurs when the maximum contact force reaches a threshold particle strength value, irrespective of the presence and magnitude of other lesser contact forces acting on the particle and the material properties of the particle. Combining the crushing mechanism with an assembly instability mechanism enables failure surfaces to be drawn in the three-dimensional stress space. A simple spatial averaging technique has been applied to the failure surfaces to remove the effects of assembly anisotropies. Sections of the failure surfaces on π planes have similarities to those commonly used in sand modelling.     

Void coalescence within periodic clusters of particles

The effect of particle clustering on void damage rates in a ductile material under triaxial loading conditions is examined using three-dimensional finite element analysis. An infinite material containing a regular distribution of clustered particles is modelled using a unit cell approach. Three discrete particles are introduced into each unit cell while a secondary population of small particles within the surrounding matrix is represented using the Gurson-Tvergaard-Needleman (GTN) constitutive equations. Deformation strain states characteristic of sheet metal forming are considered; that is, deep drawing, plane strain and biaxial stretching. Uniaxial tensile stress states with varying levels of superimposed hydrostatic tension are also examined.The orientation of a particle cluster with respect to the direction of major principal loading is shown to significantly influence failure strains. Coalescence of voids within a first-order particle cluster (consisting of three particles) is a stable event while collapse of inter-cluster ligaments leads to imminent material collapse through void-sheeting.     

Surface Residual Stress Measurement Using Curvature Interferometry

Surface roughness plays an important role in the delamination wear caused by rough surface contact. A recent dislocation model analysis predicts that nano-scale contacts of surface steps induce nucleation of dislocations leading to pro-load and anti-load dislocation segregation near the contact surface. Such dislocation segregation generates a sub-layer of tensile residual stress in a much thicker layer of compressive residual stress near the surface. The tensile sub-layer thickness is expected to be about 50 to 100 times the step height. In order to verify the predictions of the model analysis, contact experiments are carried out on polycrystalline aluminum surface to determine the existence of the tensile sub-layer. The variation of the residual stress along the thickness direction is measured using a newly developed high sensitivity curvature-measurement interferometer. The residual stress distribution measured with sub-nanometer spatial resolution indicates that contact loading leads to formation of a highly stressed sub-layer of tensile residual stress within a much thicker layer of compressive residual stress. Implications of tensile residual stress for delamination wear are discussed.     

混凝土多尺度应力响应方程及其数值模拟

针对混凝土的多相多尺度材料组成特征及其复杂力学响应问题, 首先, 根据混凝土中各组成材料的几何特征, 将C-S-H凝胶、硬化水泥浆体、砂浆及混凝土细观组成分别视为纳观、微观、亚细观和细观尺度上的复合材料, 并利用颗粒空间堆积方法, 重构了混凝土各尺度复合材料的简化几何模型; 其次, 基于重构的几何模型和等效夹杂理论, 通过等效刚度的升阶计算和应力响应的降阶计算, 建立各尺度复合材料应力响应之间的过渡关系, 推导混凝土多尺度应力响应方程, 并编制相应的计算程序; 最后, 以单轴压缩载荷作用为例, 数值计算载荷作用下混凝土各尺度复合材料中的应力响应, 分析骨料空间位置和相互作用以及水化产物刚度、几何形状和空间取向对其应力响应的影响规律. 结果表明, 单轴压缩载荷作用下, 混凝土细观组成中的应力分布并不均匀; 骨料颗粒之间的距离影响到混凝土中的应力分布, 其有效影响范围约为骨料粒径的6倍; 水泥水化产物的刚度、几何形状和空间取向是影响其应力分布的重要因素, 刚度越大, 所受应力越大, 与载荷作用方向的夹角越小, 长椭球形水化产物沿载荷作用方向的应力越大, 扁椭球形水化产物与之相反.      

Dual characters of interaction between particles and fluid

The unique characteristics of gas-solids two-phase flow and fluidization in terms of the flow structures and the apparent behavior of particles and fluid-particle interactions are closely linked to physical properties of the particles, operating conditions and bed configurations. Fluidized beds behave quite differently when solid properties, gas velocities or vessel geometries are varied. An understanding of hydrodynamic changes and how they, in turn, influence the transfer and reaction characteristics of chemical and thermal operations by variations in gas-solid contact, residence time, solid circulation and mixing and gas distribution is very important for the proper design and scale-up of fluidized bed reactors. In this paper, rather than attempting a comprehensive survey, we concentrate on examining some important positive and negative impacts of particle sizes, bubbles, clusters and column walls on the physical and chemical aspects of chemical reactor performance from the engineering application point of view with the aim of forming an adequate concept for guiding the design of multiphase fluidized bed chemical reactors.One unique phenomenon associated with particle size is that fluidized bed behavior does not always vary monotonically with changing the average particle size. Different behaviors of particles with difference sizes can be well understood by analyzing the relationship between particle size and various forces. For both fine and coarse particles, too narrow a distribution is generally not favorable for smooth fluidization. A too wide size distribution, on the other hand, may lead to particle segregation and high particle elutriation. Good fluidization performance can be established with a proper size distribution in which inter-particle cohesive forces are reduced by the lubricating effect of fine particles on coarse particles for Type A, B and D particles or by the spacing effect of coarse particles or aggregates for Type C powders.Much emphasis has been paid to the negative impacts of bubbles, such as gas bypassing through bubbles, poor bubble-to-dense phase heat & mass transfer, bubble-induced large pressure fluctuations, process instabilities, catalyst attrition and equipment erosion, and high entrainment of particles induced by erupting bubbles at the bed surface. However, it should be noted that bubble motion and gas circulation through bubbles, together with the motion of particles in bubble wakes and clouds, contribute to good gas and solids mixing. The formation of clusters can be attributed to the movement of trailing particles into the low-pressure wake region of leading particles or clusters. On one hand, the existence of down-flowing clusters induces strong solid back-mixing and non-uniform radial distributions of particle velocities and holdups, which is undesirable for chemical reactions. On the other hand, the formation of clusters creates high solids holdups in the riser by inducing internal solids circulations, which are usually beneficial for increasing concentrations of solid catalysts or solid reactants.Wall effects have widely been blamed for complicating the scale-up and design of fluidized-bed reactors. The decrease in wall friction with increasing the column diameter can significantly change the flow patterns and other important characteristics even under identical operating conditions with the same gas and particles. However, internals, which can be considered as a special wall, have been used to improve the fluidized bed reactor performance.Generally, desirable and undesirable dual characteristics of interaction between particles and fluid are one of the important natures of multiphase flow. It is shown that there exists a critical balance between those positive and negative impacts. Good fluidization quality can always be achieved with a proper choice of right combinations of particle size and size distribution, bubble size and wall design to alleviate the negative impacts.     

聚苯乙烯泡沫颗粒散体和整体集合的准静态压缩力学特性

对颗粒聚苯乙烯(EPS)泡沫单粒及封闭容器中的大量颗粒整体分别进行了不同加载速率下的准静态压缩实验,获得相应的压缩应力应变曲线.分析了单颗泡沫颗粒内部气体对材料压缩性能的影响,以及大量颗粒用作包装材料时由于内、外部气体被挤出所引起的密度变化对整体应力应变关系的影响.研究表明:EPS泡沫是典型的闭胞材料,单颗颗粒内部气体压力对材料力学行为的影响可以用Ashby等提出的闭胞材料内部气体压力贡献来描述,经过对实验数据拟合,给出了描述单颗材料的考虑颗粒内部封闭气体压力贡献及加载速率影响的本构方程.另一方面,封闭容器里的大量泡沫颗粒的整体力学性能既受颗粒内部气体压力影响,又受颗粒间缝隙气体流动的影响;表观上这种内、外部气体的贡献可以通过材料的表观密度来描述.通过引入整体密度影响因子,定量分析了加载速率对大量颗粒整体的应力应变关系的影响.研究结果对理解大量泡沫颗粒整体的力学性能提供一定的线索.     

Numerical analysis of the compressive and shear failure behavior of rock containing multi-intermittent joints

The failure behavior of intermittent jointed rocks is dependent on joint configurations. Joint inclination angle and continuity factor determined the joint arrangement in a rectangular numerical sample that was established by using the particle flow code approach. To identify the differences in the failure processes of identical intermittent jointed samples, uniaxial compressive and shear loads were applied on each sample. The crack growth path presented the four typical crack coalescence patterns identified via compressive and shear numerical tests. The crack coalescence pattern was associated with joint slant angle and continuity factor. The observed crack coalescence patterns of every sample with the same inclination angle and continuity factor were partially identical under compressive and shear loading. The differences in the crack patterns of the compressive and shear failure processes were described and compared. Typical compressive and shear failure processes were illustrated. Four compressive and three shear failure modes were identified. The cracking location and number of cracks in each failure mode were different. Additionally, the contact force evolution among particles during shear and compressive loading was different and likely accounted for the differences in cracking patterns. Under compressive or shear loading, the contact force concentration in each sample underwent the following stages: uniform distribution before loading, concentrated distribution, and scattered distribution after failure.     

A moving particle semi‐implicit method for free surface flow: Improvement in inter‐particle force stabilization and consistency restoring

The moving particle semi‐implicit (MPS) method has been widely applied in free surface flows. However, the implementation of MPS remains limited because of compressive instability occurred when the particles are under compressive stress states. This study proposed an inter‐particle force stabilization and consistency restoring MPS (IFS‐CR‐MPS) method to overcome this numerical instability. For inter‐particle force stabilization, a hyperbolic‐shaped quintic kernel function is developed with a non‐negative and smooth second order derivative to satisfy the stability criterion under compressive stress state. Then, a contrastive study is conducted on the contradiction between the common understanding of the conventional MPS hyperbolic‐shaped kernel function and its performance. The result shows that the conventional MPS hyperbolic‐shaped kernel function can easily cause violent repulsive inter‐particle force and then lead to the compressive instability. Therefore, the first order derivative of the modified hyperbolic‐shaped quintic kernel function is recommended as the form of the contribution of the neighbor particles to achieve a more stable inter‐particle repulsive force. For consistency restoring, the Taylor series expansion and the hyperbolic‐shaped quintic kernel are combined to improve the accuracy of the viscosity and pressure calculation. The IFS‐CR‐MPS algorithm is subsequently verified by the inviscid hydrostatic pressure, jet impacting, and viscous droplet impacting problems. These results can be used for choosing kernel function and the contribution of neighbor particles in particle methods. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Analysis of Broken Coal Permeability Evolution Under Cyclic Loading and Unloading Conditions by the Model Based on the Hertz Contact Deformation Principle

The permeability of the caved zone in a longwall operation impact many issues related to ventilation and methane control, as well as to interaction of gob gas ventholes with the mining environment. Insofar as the gob is typically inaccessible for performing direct measurements of the stresses and permeability, the latter values of the caved zone have to be assessed indirectly, which requires the application of the most reliable prediction techniques. To study the permeability evolution of the broken coal and its influencing factors during the coal seam group repeating mining, the particle deformation of the broken coal sample (BCS) is assessed in this study based on the Hertz contact deformation principle. Using the experimental results of the BCS cyclic loading and unloading seepage tests, the effect of BCS parameters on the stress sensitivity for permeability is analyzed. The laboratory test results imply that the re-crushing, re-arrangement, and compressional deformation of particles in the loading process lead to a drastic drop in the caved zone porosity causing the permeability reduction. During the unloading process, only the permeability loss caused by the particle deformation can be recovered. The secant modulus of BCS during unloading is stable and can be assessed by fitting the permeability stress curves. The stress sensitivity of the BCS permeability during unloading process drops with an increase in the secant modulus, while the re-crushing capacity and re-arrangement ability of BCS particles gradually deteriorate due to an increase in the secant modulus with the number of loading cycles. The effect of Poisson’s ratio on the permeability stress sensitivity at the later loading/unloading stages is found to be quite feeble, while the stress sensitivity is indirectly related to the particle size via the secant modulus: the greater the particle size, the higher the unloading stress sensitivity.     

An analysis of the chaotic motion of particles of different sizes in a gas fluidized bed

The dynamic behavior of individual particles during the mixing/segregation process of particle mixtures in a gas fluidized bed is analyzed. The analysis is based on the results generated from discrete particle simulation, with the focus on the trajectory of and forces acting on individual particles.Typical particles are selected representing three kinds of particle motion:a flotsam particle which is initially at the bottom part of the bed and finally fluidized at the top part of the bed; a jetsam particle which is initially at the top part of the bed and finally stays in the bottom de-fluidized layer of the bed; and a jetsam particle which is intermittently joining the top fluidized and bottom de-fluidized layers. The results show that the motion of a particle is chaotic at macroscopic or global scale, but can be well explained at a microscopic scale in terms of its interaction forces and contact conditions with other particles, particle-fluid interaction force, and local flow structure. They also highlight the need for establishing a suitable method to link the information generated and modeled at different time and length scales.     

Effect of stress-state and spacing on voids in a shear-field

Unit cell model analyses are carried out for a material with a periodic array of voids, subject to shear loading. Thus the focus is on ductile fracture in conditions of low stress triaxiality. It has been shown recently that voids in shear are flattened out to micro-cracks, which rotate and elongate until interaction with neighboring micro-cracks gives coalescence, so that the failure mechanism is very different from that under tensile loading. In the present studies the plane strain unit cell has fully periodic boundary conditions, so that any combination of the stress components in the overall average stress state can be prescribed. This also allows for studies of the effect of different initial void spacing in the two in-plane coordinate directions. The stress states considered are essentially simple shear, with various levels of tensile stresses or compressive stresses superposed, i.e. low positive stress triaxiality or even negative stress triaxiality. For high aspect ratio unit cells a clear localization band is found inside the cell, which actually represents several parallel bands, due to periodicity. In the materials represented by a low aspect ratio unit cell localization would also occur after that the maximum shear stress has been passed, but this is not shown when periodicity is enforced. The effect of superposed tensile or compressive stresses is found to be bigger for high aspect ratio unit cells than for low aspect ratios.     

循环加载条件下混凝土Ⅰ型裂缝扩展模拟的接触算法

沿裂缝可能开展路径设置接触点对,把求解接触问题的有限元混合法进行扩展,以实现循环加载条件下混凝土Ⅰ型裂缝扩展的数值模拟.根据荷载过程状态和缝面接触状态的不同,将循环荷载作用下的混凝土本构关系抽象为力学模型中的六种不同接触状态,不同的接触状态对应着不同的位移-应力曲线关系.以缝面张开位移和接触应力作为接触状态转变的判断参量,并给出了各状态的转变关系和数值判断条件,以接触算法实现了循环加载条件下混凝土Ⅰ型断裂扩展的数值模拟.首先给出了有限元混合法求解接触问题的基本思路,然后引入循环荷载下的混凝土本构关系,再对Ⅰ型裂缝扩展的数值实现方法进行了阐述,最后通过数值算例说明了数值实现方法的正确性和有效性.     

An analysis of the chaotic motion of particles of different sizes in a gas fluidized bed

The dynamic behavior of individual particles during the mixing/segregation process of particle mixtures in a gas fluidized bed is analyzed. The analysis is based on the results generated from discrete particle simulation, with the focus on the trajectory of and forces acting on individual particles. Typical particles are selected representing three kinds of particle motion： a flotsam particle which is initially at the bottom part of the bed and finally fluidized at the top part of the bed; a jetsam particle which is initially at the top part of the bed and finally stays in the bottom de-fluidized layer of the bed; and a jetsam particle which is intermittently joining the top fluidized and bottom de-fluidized layers. The results show that the motion of a particle is chaotic at macroscopic or global scale, but can be well explained at a microscopic scale in terms of its interaction forces and contact conditions with other particles, particle-fluid interaction force, and local flow structure. They also highlight the need for establishing a suitable method to link the information generated and modeled at different time and length scales.     

Evaluation of coarse-grained CFD-DEM models with the validation of PEPT measurements

Computational Fluid Dynamics coupled with Discrete Element Method (CFD-DEM) is a commonly used numerical method to model gas-solid flow in fluidised beds and other multiphase systems. A significant limitation of CFD-DEM is the feasibility of the realistic simulation of large numbers of particles. Coarse-graining (CG) approaches, through which groups of multiple individual particles are represented by single, larger particles, can substantially reduce the total number of particles while maintaining similar system dynamics. As these three CG models have not previously been compared, there remains some debate, however, about the best practice in the application of CG in CFD-DEM simulations. In this paper, we evaluate the performance of three typical CG methods based on simulations of a bubbling fluidised bed. This is achieved through the use of a numerical validation framework, which makes full use of the high-resolution 3D positron emission particle tracking (PEPT) measurements to rigorously validate the outputs of CFD-DEM simulations conducted using various different coarse-graining models, and various different degrees of coarse-graining. The particle flow behaviours in terms of the particle occupancy field, velocity field, circulation time, and bubble size and velocity, are comprehensively analysed. It is shown that the CG simulation starts to fail when the size ratio between the bed chamber and the particles decreases to approximately 20. It is also observed, somewhat surprisingly, that the specific CG approach applied to interparticle contact parameters does not have a substantial effect on the simulation results for the bubbling bed simulations across a wide range of CG factors.     

A laser-fluorescence technique for turbulent two-phase flow measurements

A non-intrusive measurement technique has been developed for accurate determination of gas and particle velocities in a turbulent two-phase flow field. The principle of the technique is based on the discrimination between the scattered light from particles and the fluorescence emission from particles coated with a fluorescent dye. A high-powered, argon-ion based, single-channel, on-axis backscatter laser-Doppler velocimetry system was used. The fluorescent dye was Rhodamine 6G. A study of the gas-solid two-phase flow behaviour in the freeboard of a cold gas-fluidized bed was undertaken. The solid phase contained two particle groups: bed material (sand) and fuel particles (wood). Measurements of the axial velocity and turbulence intensity distributions of the gas phase and both particle groups within the solid phase were made along the column centre and across the freeboard. Excellent discrimination of velocities from the two phases and from the two particle groups within the solid phase was achieved.     

Blockage of constrictions by particles in fluid–solid transport

Blockage is an important phenomenon in particulate flow. Work was undertaken to provide a better understanding of key hydrodynamic multiphase flow factors which cause, or contribute to, stalling and blockage in particulate feeding systems such as those used for feeding biomass into reactors. Rubber and plastic particles were hydraulically conveyed along a horizontal rectangular duct leading to constrictions of different geometries. Experimental results showed that large size, irregular shape, high volumetric concentrations of particles, small constriction dimensions and particle compressibility all increased the likelihood of blockage. Reynolds number also had a significant effect on particle behaviour and blockage propensity. The pressure drop needed to break a blockage is also considered, based on a simple horizontal packed bed model.     

Effect of particle size on nonlinear wave propagation in a fluidized bed

The effect of particle size (Archimedes number) on the propagation of a kinematic particle concentration wave in a fluidized bed is investigated. The dependence of the characteristic wave velocity on the porosity of the bed (particle concentration) and the Archimedes number (or the Reynolds number for flow past individual particles of the dispersed phase) is determined. The evolution of a nonlinear perturbation of the bed porosity is investigated and the formation of discontinuities in the concentration of the dispersed phase is studied in relation to the particle size (Archimedes number). It is shown, in particular, that, as distinct from a bed of small particles, in a bed of large particles with quadratic interphase interaction only compression discontinuities can be formed. The results obtained can be used to analyze the formation of inhomogeneities (slugs and bubbles) in a fluidized bed in relation to the particle size.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 3, pp. 96–100, May–June, 1987.