3D simulation of charge motion in tumbling mills by the discrete element method

The dynamics of charge motion in tumbling mills has been a challenging prob lem both experimentally and theoretically. The harsh environment within the mill precluded sophisticated sensors. On the other hand, first principle m odeling of charge motion was only marginally successful since the motion in volves hundreds of bodies colliding with each other. The numerical scheme k nown as discrete element method (DEM) is the fitting solution to this model ing problem. The three-dimensional (3D) discrete element modeling of tumbli ng mills is described first. The simulation results are verified against bo th still images of ball charge motion and power draft in experimental mills . The excellent agreement implies that the simple spring-dashpot collision model is adequate for this problem. The simulation scheme can be extended f or studying the life cycle of the mill itself. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B. V. All rights reserved.