Screw Conveyor: A DEM Simulation

Screw conveyor uses the power of a rotating helical ribbon to transport solids from one place to another. They usually are horizontal or with a slight angle with respect to horizon. They have applications in many industries including chemical and petrochemical, power plants, cements, paper, flour, iron and steel foundries, dust collection, grain handling and etc. Sometimes conveying processes is integrated into drying process as a screw conveyor dryer. This apparatus may integrate both drying and transport operation for wet grains.

These units are integrated into a plant to transfer powders and grains from one point to another. Here you see a DEM simulation of an inclined screw conveyor with rotation speed of 75 RPM. We used our in-house parallel code, discreteFlow,  to simulate and study the flow of grains in this apparatus. One can use the DEM results to customize design of the screw or troubleshoot or optimize its operation.

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