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DEM Simulation of Bed Particle Compression Using The Particle Replacement

Model

Conference Paper · September 2015

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Gabriel Barrios Juan Perez

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DEM Simulation of Bed Particle Compression Using The
Particle Replacement Model
Gabriel K. P. Barrios1, Juan Pérez-Prim2 and Luís Marcelo Tavares1
1
Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Laboratory of Mineral Technology, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro,
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2 DEM solution Ltd., Edinburgh, UK

Abstract. The present work describes how the particle replacement model implemented in the commercial commercia
software EDEM can describe the compression bed particle breakage behavior, in terms of compressive force
versus packing density and particle breakage probability of the particles versus compressive force applied to the
bed. The model is calibrated using the results of the laboratory piston and die press test applied to particles of
iron ore pellets,, demonstrating good predictive capability.
capability

Keywords: Particle bed, discrete element method, simulation.

simulation

INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, the modeling of particle reduction
processes using mechanistic approaches is becoming
very common in n mineral processing and is being
accepted as a powerful tool for the design and design
of comminution machines. These models describe the
performance
nce of the comminution machines coupling
information of individual and bed particle breakage
mechanisms, from detailed experiments, to data of the
mechanical environment inside the machine, obtained
using the discrete element method (DEM)
(Weerasekara et al., 2013).

DEM has been demonstrated to be a useful tool for

modelling comminution processes, providing useful
information on the energy utilisation,
utilisation wear on liners,
particle degradation and predictionstions of the product
size distribution.. The description of material handling
(Tavares & de Carvalho, 2011),, comminution in ball
mills (Tavares & de Carvalho, 2009) , VSI crushers
(Da Cunha, De Carvalho, & Tavares, 2013) and SAG
mills (De Carvalho, 2014),, has been possible using the
one way coupling between the energy ene spectrum of
collisions obtained from the DEM simulations and the
mechanistic comminution model developed at
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ).

However, the description of comminution machines

as cone crushers and high pressure grinding rolls
roll pose
some additional challenges because breakage of the
particles needs to be explicitly included inside the
DEM simulation environment. The understanding and
FIGURE 1. Scheme of the different DEM particle breakage
description of the energy absorption, stress approaches
distribution, bed packing density,, as well the size
siz
distribution of the compressed particle bed are very • Considering the particles as unbreakable
u discs or
important for the appropriate description of the spheres and use the collision information to
comminution machines. calculate the progeny distribution as functions of
the energy absorbed by the bed of particles
DEM codes describe breakage inside the simulation (Djordjevic & Morrison, 2006);
2006)
environment using some of the approaches (FIGURE • Modelling the fracture process by including
1) (Delaney, Morrison, Sinnott, Cummins, & Cleary, internal structure in the form of tetrahedral
2015):
 meshes and allowing the elements
ements to un-bond and explosive decompression of the packed particles, a
separate (Potapov & Campbell, 1994);
1994) dissipation coefficient bL is used to remove the excess
• Using bonded spheres, which is a popular force created byy the overlap of the fragments, making
approach particularly using available commercial the simulations more stable.
DEM codes (Potyondy & Cundall,
Cunda 2004);
• Treating a fracture event as being instantaneous The progeny of the mother particle (size of daughter
and replacing a particle by its progeny packed into particles φF,i and number of particles on each size Np,i)
the original parent space (Cleary, 2001),
2001) also created by the DEM particles replacement model is
called particle replacement. calculate based on the t10 model (Tavares and
Carvalho, 2009). The t10 model is used to calculate the
Many authors conducted studies of bed particle primary breakage distribution of fragments for a
breakage by compression using numerical approaches specific material as we can see on the FIGURE 3.
and applying the different particle breakage models
100
(Djordjevic & Morrison, 2006; Khanal, Schubert, &
Tomas, 2007; Kou, Liu, Lindqvist, Tang, & Xu, 2001).
2001) 80
The simulations results describe the stress field inside

Passing (%)
the bed, the effect of the wall friction of the particle 60
bed, the compressive force profile as functions of the
packing density, and the breakage distribution. 40

However, numerical bed particle breakage models

20
need to be improvedproved in terms of accuracy,
representativeness and computational efficiency to be
0
applied in the simulations of industrial scale 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
comminution equipments. Normalized particle size (X/Y)
Model t10 DEM progeny

MODELING APPROACH FIGURE 3. Primary breakage distribution of the Iron ore

The particle bed compression model in the present
work describes the energy absorption ion and the packing
of the particle bed when loaded by compressive force.
forc
The particle bed breakage is described using the
particle replacement model (FIGURE 2). 2) It is a
custom model for the EDEM® software implemented
in C++. The model is based on a modification
modifi of the
Hertz-Mindlin
Mindlin contact model, that replaces initial
particles by a distribution of smaller particles every
time the initial particle is subjected to a load contact
force fc that surpasses a maximum value fL,i, which is
dependent on the mother particle size. size After the
replacement the daughter particles are allowed to
break subsequently.
pellets based on the t10 model and the equivalent daughter
daug
particles
rticles of the DEM particle replacement model
Additionally a particle limit size φL is defined because
is not possible to simulate breakage of very fine
particles. The amount of particles under the limit size
is counted in a sub-DEM
DEM routine in order to allow
reconstructing the size distribution at fine sizes.
sizes
METHODOLOGY
The material studied was iron ore pellets, which
approach an ideal material given its nearly spherical
shape. Piston and die tests were carried out using the
experimental setup shown in FIGURE 4. 4

FIGURE 2. Scheme showing the main variables of the

particle replacement model
After substitution the daughter particles that are
created are allowed to overlap initially.
initially In order to FIGURE 4. Piston and die press experimental setup for
allow such large artificial overlaps
laps without generating particle bed breakage tests
TABLE 1 summarizes the main experimental settings
of the bed breakage tests with iron ore pellets using 600

the piston and die press system. After loading particles 500
were inspected individually to discriminate between

Compressive force (kN)

broken and unbroken particles. This was rather 400

straightforward in the case of iron ore pellets,

pelle given 300
their regular shapes.. Fragments from breakage were
then separated and their size distribution measured by 200

screening. 100

TABLE 1. Piston and die press tests experimental settings 0

0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65 0.7 0.75 0.8
Parameter Value Packing density

Particle size (mm) 12.5 x 9.0 Experimental Hertz-Mindlin bL = 0,02 bL = 0,2 bL = 2,0

Maximum compressive 50, 100, 200, 400, 600

force (kN)
Bed diameter (mm) 170
Bed high (mm) 60
RESULTS
FIGURES 5 illustrates the DEM simulations of bed
compression of the iron ore pellets using the piston
and die press system for the unbreakable sphere model
and the particle replacement model. The figure shows
the qualitative result of the particle size distribution
and bed compressiveive force inside the press system.
FIGURE 6. Simulations of the compressive
c force versus
packing density of the bed using different bL parameters of
the particle replacement model compared to the
experimental data and prediction using the Hertz-Mindlin
model (unbreakable spheres).
Further, FIGURE 7 shows that the calibration of the
maximum load responsible for fracture allowed
describing the proportion of iron ore pellets particles
broken over a range of loading conditions, even
describing
ing saturation at high loads, that is, the fact that
even at the highest loads some pellets remained remain
unbroken, being stabilized by neighboring particles.
100
80
Broken particles (%)

60

40

20

0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
Compressive force (kN)

Experimental bL = 0,02 bL = 0,2 bL = 2,0

FIGURE 5. Comparison of simulations of the piston and

die press tests using the unbreakable spheres and the particle
replacement model.
FIGURE 6 compare experiments to results of
compressive force profile versus the packing density
of the iron ore pellets particle bed compression using
the unbreakable sphere model and the particle
replacement model. The figure shows that the
unbreakable spheres model using the Hertz-Mindlin
Hertz
contact using a constant Young´s modulus can only
describe properly the compressive response of the bed
in the case of very small deformations. In the case of
the particle replacement model, on the other hand, the
response of the bed throughout the different
deformations was described accurately using a
dissipation coefficient bL of 0.2.
FIGURE 7. Proportion of broken
roken particles as a function of
compressive force applied to the bed predicted using
different bL parameters of the particle replacement model
and comparing to experimental data for iron ore pellets
FIGURE 8 presents the experimental and DEM
simulated size distribution of the particle bed as a
function of the maximum compressive force applied
to the bed. The figure shows that the size distribution
of the bed becomes finer with the increase
increas in the
compressive load in the bed which is consistent
co with
the experimental results. Although the complete
description
n of the bed breakage distribution is still a
challenge, the particle replacement model can be fitted
and calibrated to better represent the real behavior of
the bed particle compression.
 100
80
Passing (%)
60
40
20
0 density and the broken particle versus compressive
0 2 4 6 8 10
Particle size (mm)
Feed 50 200 400
FIGURE 8. Size distributions experimental (symbols) and
simulated (lines) of the bed of particles after different
maximum compressive forces applied
Finally, FIGURE 9 shows snapshots of the DEM
simulations of a laboratory scale HPGR equipped with
cheek plates using the two different particle models.
Both show the expected increase in loads that particles
are subjected to as they approach the gap between the
rolls. However the particle replacement model
describes more accurately the flow of the mass of
particles through of the compressive zone of the
HPGR and the axial ial pressure profile of particle bed.
More detailed results on prediction of the
performance of the HPGR on the basis of the particle
replacement model may be found elsewhere (Barrios
and Tavares, 2015).
FIGURE 9. Comparison of the material passing through
thro the
compressive zone of the HPGR using the unbreakable
spheres and the particle replacement model
CONCLUSIONS
The description of the compressive behavior and the
deformations of a particle bed under compressive
loads was simulated using DEM and the particle
p
breakage models of unbreakable spheres and particle
replacement.
The particle replacement model is a modification of
the Hertz-Mindlin contact model and allows to
substitute the initial particles for a pre defined progeny
of smaller particles when the contact force reaches a
limit.
The daughter particles distribution of the particle
replacement model is defined by a t10 model describing
the primary breakage of a real particle and the
daughter particles can break subsequently until a limit
size is reached,, after this the mass of particles is
counted in a sub-DEM
DEM routine.
The DEM simulations of particle bed compression of
iron ore pellets using the piston and die press system
using the particle replacement model represents
represent in a
realistically way the compressive force versus packing
force experimental results
600
The calibrated bed particle compression model can be
used for the simulations of laboratory and industrial
scale comminution
inution machines as HPGR and cone
crushers that use the bed particle compression as the
main breakage mechanism.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to the Brazilian Council of
Research (CNPq) for financial support for this
investigation. The authors also thank DEM Solutions
for providing the software EDEM® through the
Academic Programme.
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