Influence of particle shape on liner wear in tumbling mills: A DEM study

Abstract

Abstract Tumbling mills are widely used in industry. Liner wear of the mills, which is due to the impacts of the non-spherical ore particles, can significantly affect the availability. In this research, the discrete element method (DEM) was used to predict the particle motions within the tumbling mills. Combined with the Shear Impact Energy Model (SIEM), which is a particle-scale erosion model, effect of the particle shape on the liner wear was investigated. The simulation results show that wear due to the cuboid-like non-spherical particles is larger than that due to the spherical particles, even though the primary reason for wear on the liners is not altered by the particle shape (the intense collisions in the bulk toe). Based on the results of the particle motions, it is revealed that the sliding of the particles on the lifters has large effect on wear. The reasons for the effect of the particle shape on the wear rate and distribution of the lifters are given by analyzing the sliding intensity, such as the sliding frequency, tangential stress, sliding distance and duration of the intense sliding in the toe region.