DEM study to determine the relationship between particle velocity fluctuations and contact force disappearance.pdfVIP

Powder Technology 313 (2017) 112–121 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Powder Technology journal homepage: /locate/powtec DEM study to determine the relationship between particle velocity ?uctuations and contact force disappearance Yong Zeng, Fuguo Jia ?, Yaxiong Zhang, Xiangyi Meng, Yanlong Han, Hui Wang College of Engineering, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, Heilongjiang 150030, China article info Article history: Received 30 January 2016 Received in revised form 2 March 2017 Accepted 6 March 2017 Available online 07 March 2017 Keywords: Conical silo Discrete element method Velocity ?uctuation Contact force disappearance abstract Particle pulsation, which includes velocity and force ?uctuations, has already widely existed during the discharge from a silo or hopper. To clarify the characteristics of particle pulsation, in this work, discharge from a 3D conical silo was simulated using the platform with the discrete element method (DEM). The velocity and total force ?uctuations were quantitatively analyzed during the initial duration of the discharge and the relationship between velocity ?uctuation and contact force disappearance was investigated. Furthermore, the effects of hopper half angle and static friction coef?cient (between particle and wall) on velocity ?uctuation and contact force disappearance were discussed. The results indicate that both the velocity and total force ?uctuations can be divided into three stages and there is a one-to-one corresponding relationship in the violent ?uctuation stage. The crest time of velocity ?uctuation is the same as the time of contact force disappearance (i.e., particle motion is freely falling body) which only occurs in the violent ?uctuation stage. Compared to the larger hopper half angle, the velocity ?uctuation exhibits a larger amplitude and higher frequency and the contact force disappearance frequently occurs at the smaller hopper half angle. The velocity ?uctuation presents an irregular small am