Abstract
Sliding wear of bulk handling equipment (e.g., shovel bucket, mill and transfer chute) can be dramatically reduced by using a convex pattern surface compared to a flat surface, by adjusting the flow behavior of particles moving along the convex pattern surface. To study the effect of particle size relative to the dimensions of the convex pattern surface, a coarse graining technique is applied. Comparisons of bulk flow and wear behavior between the convex pattern and flat surfaces illustrate the two-sided effect of the convex pattern surface on sliding wear. The bulk flow behavior indicates that the particle size has a minor effect on the velocity and angular velocity of particles for the flat surface, while it has a significant effect on those of the convex pattern surface. The wear results show that the particle size has negligible influence on the sliding wear of a flat surface and a linear relationship with the sliding wear of the convex pattern surface. The convex pattern surface can reduce the sliding wear through influencing the flow behavior of the bulk material when the equivalent radius of the convex is larger than r50 of particles. This research reveals the relationship between the dimensions of the convex pattern and the particle size on the sliding wear caused by the interaction between bulk material and bulk handling equipment. The relationship should be carefully considered for the applications of the convex pattern surface to bulk handling equipment.
Highlights
The handling of bulk solids plays an important role in a variety of industries, such as the mining, agricultural, chemical, and pharmacological industries [1]
The process of transferring bulk solids leads to surface wear of shovel buckets [2]
Studies show that approximately 82% of the energy losses are attributed to the bulk material sliding along the bottom of the chute, and 9% of the losses are due to sliding against the side walls [5]
Summary
The handling of bulk solids plays an important role in a variety of industries, such as the mining, agricultural, chemical, and pharmacological industries [1]. The coarse graining technique was used to demonstrate the effect of particle upscaling on material equipment interactions for tool penetration and sliding regimes, and scaling factors 3 and 5 are determined for Hertz-Mindlin with rolling model C and with restricted particle rolling [26]. Another example indicates that an angle of repose test using a lifting cylinder discovers that the repose angle is invariant with respect to the dimensions of the lifting cylinder and the particle size [24]. As the coarse grain has the same rotational energy as the original particles [26], the rolling model remains unchanged
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