Employing DEM to study the impact of different parameters on the screening efficiency and mesh wear

Abstract

Discrete element method (DEM) was employed in modeling vibrating screen, in order to study the effects of different parameters on the process efficiency and the mesh wear. A review was provided about modeling the contact force between colliding bodies. However, Hertz elastic and Kelvin–Voigt viscoelastic models were combined for the purpose of this study. Gear's approach was used in the numerical integration of the governing equations. The required programs were developed to perform the simulations using an open source code. Factors affecting numerical computations were tuned to achieve suitable values and obtain reliable results in the numerical studies. In the section of numerical studies, several simulations were built to reveal the effects of mesh slope, vibration frequency and excitation direction on the screening efficiency and wear of the screen mesh. Results related to the dependence of the efficiency on vibration frequency, excitation angle and mesh inclination were in agreement with those of data reported in open literature. However, no comparable data was seen with regards to the wear of the screen mesh. It was observed that most of the introduced parameters affect the efficiency and wear. The results were appropriately discussed and were presented graphically using diagrams and graphs. The conclusions and methodology of this study can be employed in both practical and theoretical fields.