Effect of various inserts on flow behavior of Fe2O3 beads in a three-dimensional silo subjected to cyclic discharge- Part II: Exploration of internal dynamic properties

Abstract

This paper investigates internal dynamical properties of Fe2O3 beads in 3D silos subjected to cyclic discharge by using discrete element modeling. The effect of inserts on the internal dynamic properties was explored. Six types of inserts, including the absence of inserts for comparison, were adopted in this study: conical insert, disk insert, BINSERT, hollow cylinder insert and hollow silo insert. Results reveal that the installation of inserts affects wall tractions, solid volume fraction and coordination number, depending on insert geometry and placement position. The gradients in the wall tractions are larger in the hopper region than in the cylindrical region. The hollow cylinder and hollow silo inserts separate the granular flows, leading to smaller solid fractions and exhibiting more uneven distributions in coordination number. The silos with conical and disk inserts generally show larger coordination numbers than the other silos. The effect of inserts on friction mobilization is markedly limited.