Numerical simulation of the flow of agricultural seeds inside a rotary drum dryer by DEM

Abstract

Drying agricultural seeds is a commonly used industrial process. The drying process of the material inside the rotary drum is directly related to the seed movement in the dryer. However, the movement of agricultural seeds inside the rotary drum dryer has never seriously been studied before. This paper adopts a mathematical model for simulating particle flow in rotary drum dryers for agricultural seeds using discrete element methods (DEMs). It is aimed to study the efficiency of the rotary drum dryer and how this is linked to the type and number of vans and positions of vans mounted inside the rotary drum dryer. The study parameters were performed by varying the rotational speed, inclination of the rotary drum installation with minimal impact on the flow of seeds, and segregation of the seeds in a rotary drum dryer. The simulation results show that different operating conditions were the most significant influences on the movement of seeds. Maximum height of the particle falling can be realized when the rotary drums are operating at an optimum condition for particle loading from the bottom drum.