Comparison of non-cohesive resolved and coarse grain DEM models for gas flow through particle beds

The Discrete Element Method (DEM) is a widely used approach for modelling granular systems. Currently, the number of particles which can be tractably modelled using DEM is several orders of magnitude lower than the number of particles present in common large-scale industrial systems. Practical approaches to modelling such industrial system therefore usually involve modelling over a limited domain, or with larger particle diameters and a corresponding assumption of scale invariance. These assumption are, however, problematic in systems where granular material interacts with gas flow, as the dynamics of the system depends heavily on the number of particles. This has led to a number of suggested modifications for coupled gas–grain DEM to effectively increase the number of particles being simulated. One such approach is for each simulated particle to represent a cluster of smaller particles and to re-formulate DEM based on these clusters. This, known as a representative or ‘coarse grain’ method, potentially allows the number of virtual DEM particles to be approximately the same as the real number of particles at relatively low computational cost. We summarise the current approaches to coarse grain models in the literature, with emphasis on discussion of limitations and assumptions inherent in such approaches. The effectiveness of the method is investigated for gas flow through particle beds using resolved and coarse grain models with the same effective particle numbers. The pressure drop, as well as the pre and post fluidisation characteristics in the beds are measured and compared, and the relative saving in computational cost is weighed against the effectiveness of the coarse grain approach. In general, the method is found perform reasonably well, with a considerable saving of computational time, but to deviate from empirical predictions at large coarse grain ratios.     

The Stokesian Dynamics Method and the Settling behaviour of Particle-Fibre-Mixtures

Sedimentation of fibres and particles can be observed manifold in industrial application. In waste water treatment, the water is clarified from solid particles and fibres utilizing sedimentation. Some filtration processes use fibres as an aid to improve the filtration quality. Finally, in the paper recycling process, one tries to separate cellulose fibres from inorganic particles used as filling material or in printing colours. For all these applications, it is necessary to understand the hydrodynamic interactions between single particles as well as particle and fibre collectives. In the present paper, the sedimentation behaviour of fibres and particles is considered in detail. Mathematic modelling is used to investigate inter particle influences in detail. In particular, a method called Stokesian Dynamics is used to simulate the settling of fibres and particles. The main challenge of the modelling is the dependence of the direction of each fibre on its sedimentation velocity and the different sizes of the particles in a poly-modal particle size distribution. Additionally fibres, particles and the fluid are influencing each other in a significant manner and in a long range. Therefore, while calculating the force on a particle, one has to take into account the influences of many particles. (© 2010 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Advanced comminution modelling: Part 2 - Mills

This second part paper explores rock breakage mechanisms, the life cycle of rocks in mills and the strong influence of end walls on charge motion within mills. We present recent advances in particle-based modelling of mills for comminution focused around wear and the effect of slurry and slurry phase grinding. Three mill scenarios are considered:

• 1.Media flow and the resulting wear evolution of the belly and end wall liners and the resulting change in mill performance for a full industrial scale dry ball mill (modelled using DEM)
• 2.Axial slurry transport and mixing in a wet overflow industrial scale ball mill (modelled using fully coupled DEM and SPH)
• 3.Effect of mill speed on slurry and solid charge motion and the resulting grinding of fine particles in a 1.8 m diameter wet Hardinge pilot mill (modelled using fully coupled DEM and SPH with advection-diffusion-population balance equations solved for the slurry size distribution for each SPH particle)

These demonstrate the nature and level of fidelity that is now possible to include in particle-scale comminution models. They provide insights into the critical importance of curtain flows generated by the end walls of tumbling mills, on wear behaviour on liners, on the structure of slurry pools and mill discharge and on the adverse effect on grinding of increasing mill speed.     

Steady state numerical simulation of the particle collection efficiency of a new urban sustainable gravity settler using design of experiments by FVM

The aim of this work is to analyze the efficiency of a new sustainable urban gravity settler to avoid the solid particle transport, to improve the water waste quality and to prevent pollution problems due to rain water harvesting in areas with no drainage pavement. In order to get this objective, it is necessary to solve particle transport equations along with the turbulent fluid flow equations since there are two phases: solid phase (sand particles) and fluid phase (water). In the first place, the turbulent flow is modelled by solving the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations for incompressible viscous flows through the finite volume method (FVM) and then, once the flow velocity field has been determined, representative particles are tracked using the Lagrangian approach. Within the particle transport models, a particle transport model termed as Lagrangian particle tracking model is used, where particulates are tracked through the flow in a Lagrangian way. The full particulate phase is modelled by just a sample of about 2,000 individual particles. The tracking is carried out by forming a set of ordinary differential equations in time for each particle, consisting of equations for position and velocity. These equations are then integrated using a simple integration method to calculate the behaviour of the particles as they traverse the flow domain. The entire FVM model is built and the design of experiments (DOE) method was used to limit the number of simulations required, saving on the computational time significantly needed to arrive at the optimum configuration of the settler. Finally, conclusions of this work are exposed.     

Modelling the impact of two different flocculants on the performance of a thickener feedwell

The performance of a thickener feedwell depends not only on its ability to generate large-sized aggregates from feed particles but also on aggregate density. The performance of the flocculant BASF Rheomax® DR 1050 has been previously compared to a conventional anionic flocculant in turbulent pipe flocculation of mineral suspension, suggesting that the flocculant can generate denser aggregates (i.e. larger effective fractal dimension). Such aggregates are generally stronger and reduce the need for solids dilution, with both factors favouring faster settling velocity at the feedwell exit. To investigate the impact of the internal aggregate structure on the flocculation performance of a feedwell, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations of a basic open feedwell with shelf design were carried out for both flocculants. A calcite with a fine particle size (Omyacarb 5) was modelled to emphasise the impact of the flocculation process on flow fields at the feedwell exit. Simulations were conducted using CFX-4.4 two-phase flow formulation incorporating equations for a population balance model of the flocculation process. The impact of the fractal dimension on the effectiveness of the aggregation process is presented for low and high solids concentrations. Comparison of the performance of the flocculants is presented in terms of both predicted mean aggregate size and settling flux.     

Numerical simulation of the performance of a snow fence with airfoil snow plates by FVM

The aim of this work is to analyze the efficiency of a snow fence with airfoil snow plates to avoid the snowdrift formation, to improve visibility and to prevent blowing snow disasters on highways and railways. In order to attain this objective, it is necessary to solve particle transport equations along with the turbulent fluid flow equations since there are two phases: solid phase (snow particles) and fluid phase (air). In the first place, the turbulent flow is modelled by solving the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations for incompressible viscous flows through the finite volume method (FVM) and then, once the flow velocity field has been determined, representative particles are tracked using the Lagrangian approach. Within the particle transport models, we have used a particle transport model termed as Lagrangian particle tracking model, where particulates are tracked through the flow in a Lagrangian way. The full particulate phase is modelled by just a sample of about 15,000 individual particles. The tracking is carried out by forming a set of ordinary differential equations in time for each particle, consisting of equations for position and velocity. These equations are then integrated using a simple integration method to calculate the behaviour of the particles as they traverse the flow domain. Finally, the conclusions of this work are exposed.     

Continuous sedimentation of multi-component particles

Continuous sedimentation of solid particles in a liquid takes place in a clarifier-thickener unit, which has one feed inlet and two outlets. The process is vital in a waste water treatment plant, where the particles consist of several biological components. The concentrations of these are modelled by a one-dimensional system of conservation laws with source term. It is shown how a unique solution can be obtained, and how analytical solutions are used to form a conservative numerical algorithm. © 1997 B. G. Teubner Stuttgart–John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Advanced comminution modelling: Part 1 – Crushers

Particle scale modelling of comminution processes can provide significant insight into the flow of particles, their breakage, the effect of slurry, wear and energy utilisation within these machines. The ability to use such models to assist in faster and lower cost design of new comminution devices and in the improvement of existing ones will be critical to the ability of industry to respond to the substantive challenges facing mineral processing in the next decade. These challenges are reviewed and drivers for change are discussed. Understanding individual unit process performance needs to be in the context of the flowsheets in which they are used so this is also reviewed. Advances in particle based comminution modelling are presented with this work divided into two parts. This first part focuses on recent advances in particle based modelling of crushing. Three crusher types are used to demonstrate these capabilities:1. Twin roll crusher2. Cone crusher3. Vertical Shaft Impactor (VSI)These show the nature and level of fidelity that is now possible to include in particle scale crusher models including breakage of non-spherical particles and prediction of the product size distribution and throughput.     

Axial transport in dry ball mills

Ball mills are used for grinding of rocks, cement clinker and limestone from 10 to 100 mm feed sizes down to sub-millimetre product. They are typically rotating cylinders with diameters from 3 to 6 m and lengths from 6 to 12 m. The flow of particulate solids within these mills can be modelled using the discrete element method (DEM). Typically, such modelling is done for short durations of a few mill revolutions and either in two dimensions or using thin three-dimensional slices through the center of the mill with periodic boundary conditions in the axial direction. This facilitates an understanding of the radial motion of the charge, estimation of power draw and of liner wear, but it cannot provide information about axial transport within the mill. In this paper, we examine the axial transport in dry ball mills. This requires simulation of the entire mill and the full volume of the charge for significant periods of time (thousands of revolutions). We use a simple model for grate discharge that allows prediction of the time varying axial distribution of different particle sizes within a discharging ball mill. The distributions of sub-grate size ‘fines’ is shown to satisfy a one-dimensional diffusion equation with the diffusion coefficient decreasing with grate size. A pulse test, where a single mass of fines in injected at the feed end, is able to quantify the residence time distribution of the fines.     

Incorporating dust lift-off into a CFD model of a blast furnace gravity dust-catcher

A gravity dust-catcher separates a mixture of dusts from the spent top gas flow of a blast furnace. These dusts are predominantly made up of limestone, iron ore and coke/coal. As a result of the turbulent gas flow patterns within a dust-catcher, modelling of the flow pattern can be very complex, attributed to the turbulent vortices that can be formed within the main body of the structure. Using data from an experimental prototype test rig, a simple model to capture the lift-off characteristics of particle lift-off from dust pile surfaces is created and incorporated into a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of the dust-catcher.The variation of particle separation performance over a typical blast furnace (BF) operational cycle is analysed. An attempt is made to explain the observed phenomena in terms of particle–fluid interaction. It is found that particle separation efficiency is largely unaffected by dust lift-off at low dust-catcher hopper fullness levels, but is significant at higher levels. It is found that the topography of the dust surface is important when predicting particle lift-off trends. It is concluded that this is due to the exposure experienced by a given particle when subjected to a surface velocity.     

Computer simulations of sodium formate solution in a mixing tank

Traditionally, solid–liquid mixing has always been regarded as an empirical technology with many aspects of mixing, dispersing and contacting were related to power draw. One important application of solid–liquid mixing is the preparation of brine from sodium formate. This material has been widely used as a drilling and completion fluid in challenging environments such as the Barents Sea. In this paper, large-eddy simulations of a turbulent flow in a solid–liquid baffled cylindrical mixing vessel with large number of solid particles are performed to obtain insight into the fundamental aspects of a mixing tank. The impeller-induced flow at the blade tip radius is modeled by using the dynamic-mesh Lagrangian method. The simulations are four-way coupled, which implies that both solid–liquid and solid–solid interactions are taken into account. By employing a soft particle approach the normal and tangential forces are calculated acting on a particle due to viscoelastic contacts with other neighboring particles. The results show that the granulated form of sodium formate may provide a mixture that allows faster and easier preparation of formate brine in a mixing tank. In addition it is found that exceeding a critical size for grains phenomena, such as caking, can be prevented. The obtained numerical results suggest that by choosing appropriate parameters a mixture can be produced that remains free-flowing no matter how long it is stored before use.     

Inclusion of interactions in mathematical modelling of implant assisted magnetic drug targeting

Drug delivery technologies are an important area within biomedicine. Targeted drug delivery aims to reduce the undesired side effects of drug usage by directing or capturing the active agents near a desired site within the body. This is particularly beneficial in, for instance, cancer chemotherapy, where the side effects of general (systemic) drug administration can be severe.One approach to targeted drug delivery uses magnetic nanoparticles as the constituents of carriers for the desired active agent. Once injected into the body, the behaviour of these magnetic carriers can be influenced and controlled by magnetic fields. In implant assisted magnetic drug targeting systems a magnetic implant, typically a stent, wire or spherical seed can be used to target sites deep within the body as the implant acts as a focus for the resulting magnetic force. This can be easily understood as the force depends on the gradient of the magnetic field and the gradient near the implant is large.In designing such a system many factors need to be considered including physical factors such as the size and nature of the implants and carriers, and the fields required. Moreover, the range of applicability of these systems in terms of the regions of the vasculature system, from low blood velocity environments, such as capillary beds to higher velocity arteries, must be considered. Furthermore, assessment criteria for these systems are needed. Mathematical modelling and simulation has a valuable role to play in informing in vitro and in vivo experiments, leading to practical system design.Specifically, the implant assisted magnetic drug targeting systems of Avilés, Ebner and Ritter are considered within this review, and two dimensional mathematical modelling is performed using the open source C++ finite volume library OpenFOAM. In the first system treated, a large ferromagnetic particle is implanted into a capillary bed as a seed to aid collection of single domain nanoparticles (radius 20-100 nm). The Langevin function is used to calculate the magnetic moment of the particles, and the model is further adapted to treat the agglomeration of particles known to occur in these systems. This agglomeration can be attributed to interparticle interactions and here the magnetic dipole-dipole and hydrodynamic interactions for two mutually interacting nanoparticles are modelled, following Mikkelsen et al. who treated two particle interactions in microfluidic systems, with low magnetic field (0.05 T). The resulting predicted performance is found to both increase and decrease significantly depending on initial positions of the particles. Secondly, a ferromagnetic, coiled wire stent is implanted in a large arterial vessel. The magnetic dipole-dipole and hydrodynamic interactions for multiple particles are included. Different initial positions are considered and the system performance is assessed. Inclusion of these interactions yields predictions that are in closer agreement with the experimental results of Avilés et al. We conclude that the discrepancies between the non interacting theoretical predictions and the corresponding experimental results can (as suggested by Avilés et al.) be largely attributed to interparticle interactions and the consequent agglomeration.     

Aerodynamic focusing of inertial particles in supersonic micronozzles

A particle-laden flow in a supersonic micronozzle is studied using a one-way coupled two-fluid approach. The carrier gas parameters are obtained from the numerical solution of the Navier-Stokes equations, rarefaction effects are taken into account by imposing velocity slip and temperature jump boundary conditions on the nozzle walls. Under conditions considered, the flow around particles is transitional and free-molecular. As a result of numerical solution of the dispersed-phase equations in Lagrangian variables, two types of particle motion in the expanding part of the nozzle are detected: particle spraying and particle accumulation. The particle focusing effect is most pronounced for particles of about 1–2 µm in size. The particle number density fields contain singularities appearing on the envelopes of particle trajectories. However, the model of non-colliding particles remains valid because the mean distance between the particles near the singularities remains much greater than the particle size. The aerodynamic scheme of aerosol particle focusing proposed may be used in various technologies (microthrusters, needle-free drug injection, microfabrication, etc.). (© 2013 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Transient conduction in a plate with counteracting convection and thermal radiation at the boundaries

During the flash dehydroxylation of powdered kaolinite it is desirable that a rapidly propagating thermal wave penetrates the cold powder particles in a way that raises the particle interior to the reaction temperature of 600°C without the particle exterior being heated beyond 1000°C. In a production unit this is achieved by performing the heat treatment in a device where particles are heated by convection from hot gas and are subject to heat loss by thermal radiation to cool walls. This paper concerns the fundamental heat transfer problem of the process, decoupled from the thermal effects of the dehydroxylation reaction. Using a plate as the approximation for the particle shape a semi-analytical solution for the plate temperature distribution is obtained as a function of the five dimensionless process parameters: Biot number, radiation number, wall/gas and particle/gas temperature ratios and mode of convection. Accuracy is demonstrated by comparison with an existing numerical solution for the limiting case of pure radiative heating of a plate initially at absolute zero.     

A Lagrangian simulation of particle deposition in a turbulent boundary layer in the presence of thermophoresis

Knowledge of particle deposition in turbulent flows is often required in engineering situations. Examples include fouling of turbine blades, plate-out in nuclear reactors and soot deposition. Thus it is important for numerical simulations to be able to predict particle deposition. Particle deposition is often principally determined by the forces acting on the particles in the boundary layer. The particle tracking facility in the CFD code uses the eddy lifetime model to simulate turbulent particle dispersion, no specific boundary layer being modelled. The particle tracking code has been modified to include a boundary layer. The non-dimensional yplus, y⁺, distance of the particle from the wall is determined and then values for the fluid velocity, fluctuating fluid velocity and eddy lifetime appropriate for a turbulent boundary layer used. Predictions including the boundary layer have been compared against experimental data for particle deposition in turbulent pipe flow. The results giving much better agreement. Many engineering problems also involve heat transfer and hence temperature gradients. Thermophoresis is a phenomena by which small particles experience a force in the opposite direction to the temperature gradient. Thus particles will tend to deposit on cold walls and be repulsed by hot walls. The effect of thermophoresis on the deposition of particles can be significant. The modifications of the particle tracking facility have been extended to include the effect of thermophoresis. A preliminary test case involving the deposition of particles in a heated pipe has been simulated. Comparison with experimental data from an extensive experimental programme undertaken at ISPRA, known as STORM (Simplified Tests on Resuspension Mechanisms), has been made.     

Computational fluid dynamics modelling of gas jets impinging onto liquid pools

Gas jets impinging onto a gas–liquid interface of a liquid pool are studied using computational fluid dynamics modelling, which aims to obtain a better understanding of the behaviour of the gas jets used metallurgical engineering industry. The gas and liquid flows are modelled using the volume of fluid technique. The governing equations are formulated using the density and viscosity of the “gas–liquid mixture”, which are described in terms of the phase volume fraction. Reynolds averaging is applied to yield a set of Reynolds-averaged conservation equations for the mass and momentum, and the k–ε turbulence model. The deformation of the gas–liquid interface is modelled by the pressure jump across the interface via the Young–Laplace equation. The governing equations in the axisymmetric cylindrical coordinates are solved using the commercial CFD code, FLUENT. The computed results are compared with experimental and theoretical data reported in the literature. The CFD modelling allows the simultaneous evaluation of the gas flow field, the free liquid surface and the bulk liquid flow, and provides useful insight to the highly complex, and industrially significant flows in the jetting system.     

Hybrid systems: Modelling and analysis using emergent dynamics

In this paper, we discuss modelling and analysis of hybrid systems with physical interaction dynamics. Such systems are typically considered complex and they are modelled using abstractions. Abstractions may, however, unintentionally exclude critical details, leading to partial or false results. Therefore, we study here use of a particle system in modelling and analysis. The novelty of the particle system is that it is designed to reveal interaction dynamics as emergent dynamics; thus, supporting analysis of complex and intricate interaction dynamics with acceptable modelling effort. As the main contribution, we formalize the particle system, and use it to model and analyze hybrid systems, both mechanical and biological, with nontrivial interaction dynamics.     

Numerical simulation of continuous separation of microparticles in two-stage acousto-microfluidic systems

Numerical modelling of acousto-microfluidic particle manipulation systems cannot only be used to explain the complex phenomena observed in experiments, but can also be applied to optimise their performances. In this work, we present numerical simulations of continuous-flow-based two-stage acoustic microparticle separations with a reduced-fluid model, which is consisted of three main parts: (1) an acoustic focusing zone; (2) a transition zone; and (3) an acoustic separation zone. The acoustophoresis of microparticles of various sizes in the fluid channel was modelled based on Newton's second law, where the acoustic radiation forces and the flow-induced drag forces, the main driving terms for particle motion, were solved from the Gorkov equation and the Navier-Stokes equations, respectively. It was found that an acoustic focusing process configured with appropriate force amplitudes can focus all particles to the same flow vector before entering the separation zone and thus can improve the separation efficiency, and that a sheath flow injected from the transition zone can push the sample flow onto the side boundaries, which can broaden the effective separation range for more robust separations. Based on the mechanism analyses, we here numerically demonstrated acoustofluidic separation of 5 different particle fractions simultaneously in a continuous microfluidic channel ending with 9 equally spaced outlets. We also predicted here that, with carefully designed acoustic and flow fields, it is capable to acoustically separate two different particle fractions with a diameter difference of 4% (difference in acoustic mobility of only ~1.08).     

Turbulent particle dispersion in an electrostatic precipitator

The behaviour of charged particles in turbulent gas flow in electrostatic precipitators (ESPs) is crucial information to optimise precipitator efficiency. This paper describes a strongly coupled calculation procedure for the rigorous computation of particle dynamics during ESP taking into account the statistical particle size distribution. The turbulent gas flow and the particle motion under electrostatic forces are calculated by using the commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) package FLUENT linked to a finite volume solver for the electric field and ion charge. Particle charge is determined from both local electrical conditions and the cell residence time which the particle has experienced through its path. Particle charge density and the particle velocity are averaged in a control volume to use Lagrangian information of the particle motion in calculating the gas and electric fields. The turbulent particulate transport and the effects of particulate space charge on the electrical current flow are investigated. The calculated results for poly-dispersed particles are compared with those for mono-dispersed particles, and significant differences are demonstrated.