Oblique impact breakage unification of nonspherical particles using discrete element method

Abstract

Particle breakage commonly occurs during processing of particulate materials, but a mechanistic model of particle impact breakage is not fully established. This article presents oblique impact breakage characteristics of nonspherical particles using discrete element method (DEM) simulations. Three different particle shapes, i.e. spherical, cuboidal and cylindrical, are investigated. Constituent spheres are agglomerated with bridging bonds to model the breakage characteristics under impact conditions. The effect of agglomerate shapes on the breakage pattern, damage ratio, and fragment size distribution is fully investigated. By using a newly proposed oblique impact model, unified breakage master surfaces are theoretically constructed for all the particle shapes under oblique impact conditions. The developed approach can be applied to modelling particulate processes where nonspherical particles and oblique impact breakage are prevailing.