Parameter sensitivity analysis of centrifugal spreaders for dispersing metallic powders and material property evaluation for DEM simulation

Abstract

In this work, parameter sensitivity analysis for Discrete Element Method(DEM) simulation is carried out for bladed centrifugal spreader dispersing metallic powder with fixed rotational speed. A common Hertz-Mindlin(HM) no-slip theory is used for modeling particle contact. Furthermore, spherical particles are used to approximate the particle shape. The Coefficient of Static Friction (COSF) , Coefficient of Rolling Friction (CORF) , and Coefficient of Restitution (COR) are taken as the input parameters, whereas the spatial and temporal distribution of powder particles is taken as the response. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) is implemented to determine the independent factors and factor interactions that significantly influence the selected response. For the case of spatial particle distribution, COSF was found to be dominant over other considered factors. The temporal distribution of powder particles showed strong dependence on COSF and CORF along with their interaction with COR. Given the dominant effect of COSF, this study details a cost-effective, indigenously developed experimental setup that evaluates COSF values for a given material pair. • Significant influence of static friction coefficient on the spatial particle distribution. • Resistance to granular flow improves spatial distribution at the expense of temporal distribution. • The angle of sliding can be used for obtaining static friction coefficient values for powders. • Novel two-stage distributor design featuring two rows of counter-rotating curved blades