Per: HENRIQUE PEIXOTO DE SOUZA ALMEIDA (FUNDACAO COPPETEC), Guilherme Pereira de Oliveira (Vale S.A.), Rodrigo Magalhães de Carvalho (Fundacao COPPETEC), Luis Marcelo Marques Tavares (Fundacao COPPETEC)
Abstract:
Transfer chutes are essential components during handling ores through conveyor belts. The flow of material through these devices is influenced by several variables. While traditionally designed using good practices based on experience, the increase in computational capacity has allowed the application of the discrete element method in its simulation, from the modeling of the individual behavior of particles. Typically, the greatest challenge is the selection of contact model and parameters so that the material behavior can be described with high fidelity. The present work describes the approach used in calibration of these contact parameters of a sample of iron ore containing two moisture contents and two different contact surfaces. The approach starts with bench-scale tests, followed by experiments in a pilot-scale handling system, concluding with the verification in an industrial-scale chute. It was concluded that some of the tests respond more sensibly to certain material behaviors, so that their combined use demonstrated to allow realistic description of the material flow, even when simulating particles with simplified shapes and size distributions.