Analysis of Contact Force Distribution in a Moving Granule Bed Subjected to Shear Deformation by a Set of Rollers

Large contact forces on granules could give rise to undesirable attrition. In a new device, referred to as the Particle Shear and Impact tester, granules are subjected to repeated and sequential impact and shearing, the latter effected by two counter-rotating rollers with differential angular speeds and an adjustable gap between the rollers. This enables the contact force distribution to be varied in order to apply representative contact forces, as experienced in manufacturing plants. Granule flow in the rollers is simulated by Distinct Element Method for several roller gap sizes. The resulting contact force distribution is compared to that from shear cell simulations for representative plant normal stresses (8 to 15 kPa), in order to calibrate the appropriate gap size. The 90th percentile of the contact forces distributions from the two simulations are matched to set the gap size. A roller gap size approximately 3.5 times the 90th percentile of the particle size (based on number distribution) gives a good match of the interparticle contact forces between the rollers and the shear cell. This enables replicating the stresses that granules experience in plants, whether during handling and transport, or during more severe stressing conditions, e.g. compaction or even grinding, thereby assessing attrition or fragmentation propensity of granules.