Powder Technology 378 (2021) 430–440

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Powder Technology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/powtec

DEM study of particle segregation in a rotating drum with internal

diameter variations
A.N. Huang a,b, T.H. Cheng a, W.Y. Hsu a, C.C. Huang b, H.P. Kuo c,⁎
a
Green Technology Research Center and Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan
b
Department of Otolaryngology—Head & Neck Surgery, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan
c
Department of Chemical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Discrete Element Method (DEM) simulations are carried out to study size segregation of binary mixture in a ro-
Received 28 July 2020 tating drum with inner diameter variations. The simulation results agree well with the experimental observa-
Received in revised form 23 September 2020 tions, both indicating that larger particle enrichment occurs in the smaller inner diameter regions. The effect of
Accepted 5 October 2020
the inner diameter contracting ratio (CR) on the particle dynamics are further studied by 5 CRs. When CR is
Available online 8 October 2020
0.9, the contracting wall affects the smaller particles through the strengthened percolation mechanism. Smaller
Keywords:
particles move towards the dilated larger inner diameter regions. When CR is 0.5 or 0.3, the contracting wall pro-
Segregation vides additional shearing to the bed and acts as a barrier to the migration of particles of both sizes. The overall
Mixing effects indicate that concentrating the larger particles in the smaller inner diameter region requiring a smooth
DEM inner diameter changing (i.e., CR > 0.7 in this work).
Drum © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction segregation patterns being observed two-dimensionally or three-

Particle mixing, drying and calcination in tumblers are common unit
operations in industry. The rotating drum is one of the most popular
tumblers due to its simple geometries and ease of cleaning. However,
when blending particles with certain different physical properties, for
example mass, size, density, or hardness, segregation may occur during
the operations [1,2]. Particle segregation in a rotating drum was re-
ported as early as 1939 [3] and extensive research work has been car-
ried out to understand this interesting and complicated phenomenon.
Previous work studied the segregation mechanisms [4–6], the forma-
tions of different segregation patterns [7], the effects of the operation
parameters and the drum geometry on the segregation behavior [8,9],
the particle dynamics in the drum [10,11] and etc. Suspended inhomo-
geneous/segregated bimetallic nanoparticles even show different sur-
face plasma resonances at different orientations [12]. The general
conclusions of the formation mechanisms are that axial segregation
is largely induced by the particle angle of repose variations and radial
segregation is largely caused by percolations [13]. Since the particle
angle of repose variations and percolations are affected by the particle
physical properties, fine powder addition, instrumental operation pa-
rameters and drum geometries, different combinations cause different
⁎ Corresponding author at: Department of Chemical Engineering, National Taiwan
University, No.1, Sec. 4 Roosevelt Rd., Taipei 106, Taiwan.
E-mail address: hsiupokuo@ntu.edu.tw (H.P. Kuo).
dimensionally [14–17].
In order to suppress or enhance the particle angle of repose varia-
tions, some special drum designs focused on controlling the end wall
or cylindrical wall shearing. By controlling the direction and the magni-
tude of the end wall shearing, segregation intensity could be diminished
[18]. The roughness of the walls also affects the particle axial motion
through the changing of the particle angle of repose [19]. Drums with
unusual geometries were also proposed and studied. One interesting
case with potential industry applications is the drums having periodic/
helical radial modulations in the axial direction [20]. The larger particles
were concentrated in the necks and the finer particles were locked in
the bellies in the periodically modulated drums. On the contrary, left-
right complete segregation pattern was found in the helically modu-
lated drum. Radioactive PEPT experiments were carried out to study
particle segregation in convex and concave plates decorated drums
[21]. The convex/concave arrangement, the area modulation, and the ki-
netic stress were reported to affect the segregation dynamics and
patterns.
Very recently, a special drum with internal diameter variations was
designed [22]. The inner diameter variation influences the local particle
angle of reposes and hence the local particle motion can be easily con-
trolled by the local drum inner diameter changing. When the drum
inner diameter changing smoothness and arrangement can be random-
ized, particle segregation can be effectively suppressed. If one wishes to
concentrate the larger particles in the smaller inner diameter region (or
called neck by Zik et al. [20]), a smooth inner diameter variation is

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.powtec.2020.10.019
0032-5910/© 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
A.N. Huang, T.H. Cheng, W.Y. Hsu et al. Powder Technology 378 (2021) 430–440

Table 1
The DEM simulation parameters used in the current study. F n ¼ F n;non−linear spring þ F n;dashpot damper
rffiffiffi
4 pffiffiffiffiffi 3 5 pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi !
Parameter Value ¼ E R δ2n −2 β Sn m vnrel ð1Þ
3 6
Young's Modulus (Pa) 2 × 106
Poisson's Ratio (−) 0.45
Particle-Particle Coefficient of Restitution (−) 0.63
where E ∗ is the equivalent Young's modulus, R ∗ is the reduced radius, δn
Particle-Wall Coefficient of Restitution (−) 0.162 is the deformation during contact, β is the
!damping coefficient, Sn is the
Coefficient of Static Friction (−) 0.5 stiffness, m ∗ is the reduced mass, and vnrel is the particle relative veloc-
Coefficient of Rolling Friction (−) 0.01 ity in the normal direction. These parameters can be calculated by,
 
 
1 1−v2i 1−v2j
¼ þ ð2Þ
required. Although the conclusions have relevance in industrial applica- E∗ Ei Ej
tions for better mixing, the particle dynamics in the drum with internal
diameter variations is not well understood. 1 1 1
¼ þ ð3Þ
We adopt Discrete Element Method (DEM) simulations to approach R∗ Ri Rj
particle segregation in the rotating drum with inner diameter variations
in this study. DEM originated by Cundall and Strack (1979) is now ln e
β ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ð4Þ
shown as a powerful tool to understand particle dynamics in different 2
ln e þ π2
granular systems [23]. Recent DEM advances include developing more
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi
reliable models for spherical or non-spherical particle contacting, find- Sn ¼ 2E∗ R∗ δn ð5Þ
ing faster calculation algorithms, and approaching particle dynamics
in the novel or industrial scale systems [24–26]. In this work, DEM is  −1
1 1
used to realize particle segregation in a rotating drum having internal m∗ ¼ þ ð6Þ
mi mj
diameter variations, especially how particle motion being affected by
the inner diameter changing smoothness.
where e is the coefficient of restitution; Ei, vi, Ri and mi are the Young's
modulus, Poisson's ratio, radius and mass of particle i, respectively.
The tangential frictional model follows the Coulomb Law and the
2. Experimental and simulation method rolling friction follows the Contact Independent Directional Constant
Torque Model as [31],
Several particle contact models have been adopted in DEM studies
and it is generally agreed that the Hertz–Mindlin contact model is one τ i ¼ −μ r F n Ri ωi ð7Þ
of the best models [27,28]. Therefore, we adopt EDEM™ (version
2017) commercial DEM software with the non-slip Hertz–Mindlin con- where μr is the rolling friction coefficient and ωi is the unit angular ve-
tact model in this study. Since the Hertz–Mindlin contact model is well locity at the contact point.
addressed in the literatures [29], we just briefly introduced here. The In this DEM simulation study, spherical larger particles with the
normal contact force between particle i and particle j is approached by mono-disperse size of 0.775 mm and spherical smaller particles with
the non-linear spring-damping model as [30]: the mono-disperse size of 0.545 mm are mixed in a 20 rpm rotating

Fig. 1. The DEM simulation segregation patterns observed from the bed top-view after (a) 30 s, (b) 40 s, (c) 50 s and (d) 60 s mixing time.

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A.N. Huang, T.H. Cheng, W.Y. Hsu et al. Powder Technology 378 (2021) 430–440

Fig. 2. The trajectories of 3 representative larger and 3 representative smaller particles after (a) 1(s), (b) 5 s, (c) 10 s, (d) 15 s, (e) 25 s, (f) 40 s, (g) 50 s and (h) 60 s rotating time. The
trajectories of the smaller particles show lighter colors and those of the larger particles show darker colors.

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A.N. Huang, T.H. Cheng, W.Y. Hsu et al. Powder Technology 378 (2021) 430–440

Fig. 3. The radial segregation patterns observed at 19 ring-ring interfaces from (a) experiments, and (b) DEM simulations.

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A.N. Huang, T.H. Cheng, W.Y. Hsu et al.
Fig. 4. The comparison of the black pixel percentage of the image between the experimental and DEM simulation results shown in Fig. 3.
drum. The particle density and the drum geometry are the same as the
experimental ones (see later). The DEM simulation parameters are
summarized in Table 1. While the particle-particle restitution coeffi-
cient and particle-wall restitution coefficient values are determined by
our experiments using a high speed camera, other simulation parame-
ters are referenced to the previous glass beads DEM simulation work
[32]. The calculation time step is 20% of the contact Rayleigh time
step, which is 1.0834 × 10−5 s.
The details of the experimental design can be found in the previous
work [22]. The stainless steel drum consists of 19 different inner diam-
eter rings, and the total length is 190 mm. The sieved black larger glass
ballotini (0.71 mm-0.84 mm, 2492 kg/m3) are blended with the sieved
white smaller glass ballotini (0.50 mm-0.59 mm, 2492 kg/m3) in the 20
rpm rotating drum. The drum is volumetrically filled by 20% larger par-
ticles and 20% smaller particles. The ratio of the volume of the larger
particles and that of the smaller particles is 1.0, which can best show
the black and white pixels' distributions. In the previous tested ring ar-
rangements, particle segregation experienced the greatest suppression
in the drum when the ring's inner diameter following the (random) ar-
rangement in the drum: 83.09 mm, 95.45 mm, 83.61 mm, 57.18 mm,
102.64 mm, 87.68 mm, 103.87 mm, 80.11 mm, 102.42 mm, 70.96 mm,
88.56 mm, 109.40 mm, 89.39 mm, 58.78 mm, 102.84 mm, 90.36 mm,
104.30 mm, 99.18 mm, 108.75 mm, from left to right [22]. We numeri-
cally and experimentally study particle segregation in the drum with
the same ring's inner diameter arrangement in this work. The total
mixing time is 60 s (i.e., 20 revolutions). In the experiment, the bed
structure is fixed by 1.5 wt% agar solution after 60 s mixing. The fixed
bed is then divided into 19 ring slices along its rotating axis. The
width of each ring slice is 10 mm. The mixing status at each ring-ring in-
terface is recorded from the side view by a digital camera (Sony DSLR
A550). These images are compared with the simulation results.
3. Results and discussion
Fig. 1 shows the DEM simulation results of the segregation patterns
observed from the bed top-view after (a) 30 s, (b) 40 s, (c) 50 s and
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Powder Technology 378 (2021) 430–440
(d) 60 s mixing time. When the mixing time increases, the surface segre-
gation bands are more clearly identified. Similar to the previous experi-
mental observations [22], the smaller white particles are concentrated
in the regions with larger inner diameters. Comparing to the typical
two white segregation bands observed in the conventional rotating
drum with no inner diameter variations, the number of bands is more
in the drum with inner diameter variations. The overall surface mixing
is improved in the scale of scrutiny of drum length and segregation is
suppressed in the drum with inner diameter variations. The dynamic
evolution of the segregation is further analyzed by representative parti-
cles. In Fig. 2, the trajectories of 3 larger particles and 3 smaller particles
initially located at three different regions in the drum are monitored for
60 s. The trajectories of the smaller particles show lighter colors and
those of the larger particles show darker colors in Fig. 2(a) after 1 s rotat-
ing time. The background grey color indicates the drum inner volume.
The inset shows the end-view trajectories. After 5 s, the representative
smaller particle initially located at drum center moves towards the larger
inner diameter ring in the right in Fig. 2(b). The representative particles
around the wall regions remain in the end-wall rings after 10 s in Fig. 2
(c). After 15 s, the representative smaller particle initially at drum left
end wall region moves towards the dilated larger inner diameter ring
in the right in Fig. 2(d). At the drum center, the representative larger par-
ticle also enters the larger inner diameter ring, indicating the segregation
is non-equilibrium dynamic. After 25 s, the representative smaller parti-
cles near the wall region moves towards the drum center faster than the
representative larger particles in Fig. 2(e), and such faster movements
are more obviously observed after 40 s rotating time in Fig. 2(f). After
50 s and 60 s, the separation of the representative smaller and larger par-
ticles becomes apparent in Fig. 2(g) and Fig. 2(h), respectively.
The comparison of the status of mixing between the DEM simula-
tions and the experimental observations are further made by the ra-
dial ring-ring interface images. Fig. 3(a) and (b) show the
segregation patterns after 60 s mixing time at 19 ring-ring interfaces
from the experiment and from the DEM simulation, respectively.
(Please note that the side-view observations are from the right-
hand side of Fig. 1. Image#19 shows the segregation pattern at the
A.N. Huang, T.H. Cheng, W.Y. Hsu et al.
right end wall.) In both studies, larger particles are mostly enriched
in the region next to the right end wall and in the regions with rela-
tive smaller inner diameters (Images#3, #4, #10, #13, #14). White
segregation cores are also well observed in these regions (Images#3,
#4, #10, #13, #14). The DEM simulations agree qualitatively well
with the experimental results.
Fig. 5. The corresponding dimensions of the drums with the CR of (a) 1.0, (b) 0.9, (c) 0.7,
(d) 0.5 and (e) 0.3, together with the particle initial filling conditions. The larger black
particles are loaded first and then the smaller white particles are then loaded on top of
the larger one.
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Powder Technology 378 (2021) 430–440
The quantitative comparisons are further made based on the black
pixels of each image and the results are shown in Fig. 4. Bed images
are of different sizes and have pixels ranging from 37,625 to 172,871
in the simulations. In the analyzed 19 rings, the number of black pixels
in a bed ranges from 4094 to 140,081. One larger particle is ca. 5 × 5
pixels and one smaller particle is ca. 3 × 3 pixels. Larger black particles
Fig. 6. The top-view images of the surface segregation patterns after 8 revolutions in the
drum with the CR of (a) 1.0, (b) 0.9, (c) 0.7, (d) 0.5 or (e) 0.3.
A.N. Huang, T.H. Cheng, W.Y. Hsu et al. Powder Technology 378 (2021) 430–440

are collected in the region next to the right end wall and in the regions right-hand side of the drum. Since the core formation is enhanced by
with smaller inner diameters. Although the percentages of the black the end wall shearing caused bed dilation, the white segregation core
pixel of the radial slice image at the same position from the experiments in the right-hand side of the drum is stronger developed when CR reduc-
and from the DEM simulations are not exactly the same, the general ing from 1.0 to 0.5. When CR is as small as 0.3, the contracting wall at y =
trends are very similar. The reproducibility experiments indicated that 0 plays a major role. The system is virtually divided into left and right
the error of the percentage of the black pixel of the radial slice image drums and most particles are in the left drum. The segregation study in
is ca. 5.0% [22]. The difference of the percentage of the black pixel of the right-hand side of the drum is not practically important.
the radial slice image between the experimental results and the DEM It is obvious that particle motion around drum center y = 0 is greatly
simulations are probably due to the fact that the experimental larger/ affected by the contraction wall. In order to realize how particle motion
smaller particles are not mono-disperse. Although the sizes of the around the contraction wall affects the observed segregation patterns,
sieved larger/smaller are similar and within a very narrow range (0.71 the larger/smaller particles initially located in the central area (see
mm-0.84 mm; 0.50 mm-0.59 mm, respectively), the classified particles dark blue squares in Fig. 5) are monitored. We monitor the particle mo-
have a size distribution. With no size distributions, the larger and tion in the central area (from y = −4.2 mm to y = 4.2 mm, around 10
smaller particles are segregated more intensively in the DEM simula- larger particle diameter) for 8 revolutions. The larger/smaller particle
tions. Nevertheless, the DEM simulation observations are generally in moving distance after n revolutions is normalized by the larger/smaller
good agreement with the experimental results. particle diameter and the number distributions are summarized in
It has been reported that a sharp inner diameter changing may refuse Fig. 8. The overall number fraction of particles moving to right or right
the larger particle enrichment in the region with smaller inner diame- in the central region after 2, 4, 6, or 8 revolutions in the drums of differ-
ters [22]. However, the effects of the inner diameter changing “sharp- ent CRs are shown in Table 2. When CR =1.0 in Fig. 8(a), the particles in
ness” on particle dynamics are not yet realized. Since the DEM models the central area moving towards two sides show approximately equal
used in this work have been experimentally validated in Figs. 3 and 4, possibilities. The initial differences are due to the initial particle loading
the influence of the inner diameter changing sharpness (or, the from the drum right. The normalized particle moving distribution ver-
contracting ratio, CR) is studied using the same DEM model. The DEM sus drum revolution approximately follows the “Fickian diffusion”
simulations are carried out to study the particle dynamics during 8 rev-
olutions in the drums with 5 different inner diameter CRs shown in
Fig. 5. The operating conditions and the simulation parameters are the
same as those used in earlier Figs. 1–4 calculations. The larger black par-
ticles are loaded first and then the smaller white particles are then
loaded on top of the larger one. The CRs studied are 1.0, 0.9, 0.7, 0.5
and 0.3. The corresponding dimensions and initial filling conditions
are schematically shown in Fig. 5.
Fig. 6 shows the top-view images of the surface segregation patterns
after 8 revolutions in the drums with different CRs. We assume that the
drum center locates at y = 0, and the two end walls locate at y = −50
(mm) and y = 50 (mm), respectively. Fig. 6(a) shows the segregation
pattern observed in a conventional rotating drum. The black larger-
particle-rich bands locate just next to the two end walls due to the
smaller particle percolation [5]. Two white smaller-particle-rich bands
are symmetric and developing next to the black larger-particle-rich
bands. When CR changing from 1.0 in Fig. 6(a) to 0.3 in Fig. 6(e), segre-
gation is enhanced in the right-hand side of the drum. When CR de-
creases, there are lesser particles in the right-hand side of the drum.
The fraction of the end wall shearing influenced particles is therefore
higher in the right-hand side of the drum. Because the end wall shearing
induces the axial segregation [5] and the number fraction of the parti-
cles in the shearing zone is higher in the right-hand side of the drum
[33], particle segregation is enhanced in the drum right. On the contrary,
the white smaller-particle-rich band in the drum left gradually disap-
pears when CR decreasing from 1.0 to 0.3.
The influence of CR on particle segregation is further studied by the
radial side-views. 10 images of the radial segregation patterns developed
after 8 revolutions at different ring positions in the drum are shown in
Fig. 7. The observation views are also from the drum right. Image#1 lo-
cates at the drum left end wall y = −50 (mm) and Image#6 locates at
the drum center y = 0. After 8 revolutions, the end wall shearing and
the percolation mechanism induce the formation of the white smaller-
particle-rich segregation in Image#1 in all CR cases. When CR is 1.0,
the corresponding symmetric image pairs (2&10, 3&9, 4&8, 5&7) show
similar corresponding segregation patterns. In the radial direction, the
segregation cores are gradually developed after 8 revolutions by the per-
colation mechanism in all CR = 1.0 images. When CR decreases, the frac-
tion of the right end wall shearing influenced particles increases in the Fig. 6 (continued).

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Fig. 7. The side-view images of the segregation patterns developed after 8 revolutions in the drum with the CR of (a) 1.0, (b) 0.9, (c) 0.7, (d) 0.5 or (e) 0.3. The observation views are from
the drum right and Image#6 locates at the drum center.

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A.N. Huang, T.H. Cheng, W.Y. Hsu et al.
Fig. 7 (continued).
model [34]. During the 8 revolutions, the normalized particle moving
distributions are approximately Gaussian distributions.
When CR is less than 1.0, the drum volume in the left is larger than
the drum volume in the right. The initial number fraction of larger par-
ticles in the drum left is larger than that in the drum right (see dark blue
squares in Fig. 5). The contracting wall acts as a local shearing provider,
as well as a barrier for particle moving from drum left to drum right.
When CR is 0.9 in Fig. 8(b), the contracting wall has a minor barrier ef-
fect to the larger particles. The larger particles are more evenly distrib-
uted in the system with the increasing of the number of revolutions.
The tendency of larger particles moving towards right or left is approx-
imately the same. However, the contracting wall affects the smaller par-
ticles through local shearing. The contracting wall provides local
shearing to the intimate particles in the left and the local dilation in-
creases the bed voidage in the left-hand side of the drum. The larger
bed voidage in the left-hand side of the drum promotes the percolating
smaller particles moving to the left, causing the enrichment of smaller
particles in the rings with larger inner diameters [22].
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Powder Technology 378 (2021) 430–440
When CR is 0.5 in Fig. 8(d) or 0.3 in Fig. 8(e), the contracting wall af-
fects particles of both sizes through its barrier role. The barrier-like
contracting wall effectively blocks the particles moving to the right.
Therefore, the particles originally locate at the central area move to
the left in Fig. 8(d) and (e). When the particles originally in the central
region moving towards the drum left, some particle originally in the
drum left have to move to the drum right due to mass balances. The
competition for the larger and smaller particles moving to the
contracting wall left causing the overall effect, which allows the larger
particles may or may not concentrate in the smaller inner diameter re-
gions reported earlier [22]. In the transition CR of 0.7 in Fig. 8(c), the
larger particles are partially affected by the contracting wall for moving
right and the smaller particles are majorly affected by the contracting
wall for moving right. Such different migration abilities cause the segre-
gation patterns observed in Figs. 6 and 7. The smaller particles are
locked in the larger inner diameter region. The results in Fig. 8 show
that the contracting wall has two effects. While the local shearing effect
influences mostly the smaller particles, the barrier effect affects the
A.N. Huang, T.H. Cheng, W.Y. Hsu et al. Powder Technology 378 (2021) 430–440

Fig. 8. The distribution of the normalized moving distance for the larger/smaller particles in the central area of the drum with the CR of (a) 1.0, (b) 0.9, (c) 0.7, (d) 0.5 or (e) 0.3.

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Acknowledgments
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