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The analysis of mixing performance of sand and gravel in a rotating drum by DEM

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Abstract

Material mixing in a rotating drum is a complex movement process, and the material mixing uniformity impacts product quality. The mixing of sand and gravel in the rotating drum was simulated by the discrete element method to study the quantitative relationship between the mixing uniformity and its influencing factors and analyze the mixing performance. The quantitative relationships between mixing uniformity and rotation speed of the rotating drum, material filling rate, and distance of rods inside the rotating drum were established based on the response surface method. Results indicate that the rotation speed of the rotating drum has the most significant influence on the mixing uniformity, followed by the distance of rods inside the rotating drum, and the material filling rate has a minor influence on the mixing uniformity. The interaction between the three factors significantly affects the mixing uniformity. The areas where the particles move in the rotating drum are divided into active and inactive areas. Rods inside the rotating drum can accelerate the movement of the particles in the inactive area, relieve particle segregation and promote particle mixing.

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Acknowledgements

This study was co-supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51975504, 52375466), the Provincial Natural Science Foundation of Hunan for Distinguished Young Scholars (No. 2022JJ10045), the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (No. 2022A1515110862), the Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Precision and Micro-Manufacturing Technology (No. JSKL2223K06), the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province (Nos. 2021JJ20009 and 2022JJ40442), and Excellent Youth Project of Education Department of Hunan Province (No. 22B0109).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan, 411105, China

    Xiangwu Xiao, Jia Zhan, Shengqiang Jiang, Ruitao Peng, Rui Chen, Yue Luo & Liang Su

  2. Engineering Research Centre of Ministry of Education for Complex Trajectory Processing Technology and Equipment, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan, 411105, China

    Xiangwu Xiao, Shengqiang Jiang, Ruitao Peng, Guodong Cao, Rui Chen, Yue Luo & Liang Su

  3. Foshan Green Intelligent Manufacturing Research Institute of Xiangtan University, Foshan, 528311, Guangdong Province, China

    Xiangwu Xiao, Shengqiang Jiang, Ruitao Peng, Guodong Cao, Rui Chen, Yue Luo & Liang Su

  4. College of Civil Engineering, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan, 411105, China

    Guodong Cao

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  1. Xiangwu Xiao
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Contributions

XX contributed to methodology, conceptualization, software, investigation, supervision, writing—review and editing, and formal analysis. JZ contributed to investigation, validation, data curation, writing—original draft, and writing—review and editing. SJ contributed to conceptualization, software, methodology, and formal analysis. RP contributed to conceptualization, supervision, and writing—review and editing. GC contributed to supervision, methodology, and formal analysis. RC contributed to conceptualization, methodology, and supervision. YL contributed to methodology, software, and supervision. LS contributed to supervision and methodology.

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Correspondence to Ruitao Peng.

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Xiao, X., Zhan, J., Jiang, S. et al. The analysis of mixing performance of sand and gravel in a rotating drum by DEM. Comp. Part. Mech. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40571-023-00693-9

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