DEM

The use of DEM in the design and

analysis of WEARBACK transfer chutes
T.J. Donohue*, D. Ilic*, R. Bell**, L. Newman**
*T. Donohue (corresponding author), D. Ilic, TUNRA Bulk Solids, University of Newcastle, Australia
** R. Bell, L. Newman, Wear Applications and Management Services, Newcastle, Australia

Recently a project was undertaken in which TUNRA Bulk Solids (TBS) provided an independent design review for
a transfer chute designed by Wear Applications and Management Services (WAMS). The analysis of the design was
done through the use of Discrete Element Modelling (DEM) software as well as the more traditional Continuum
method. Following the initial design review, possible design revisions were made using the analysis provided by DEM.

1. Introduction
The design of transfer chutes is an important area in the mineral
processing industry, with the main purpose of a transfer chute
being to direct material from one conveyor to another. More specifically, when designing a transfer chute other objectives to consider are ensuring there are no blockages, minimising dust creation, minimising spillage and to minimise wear on the receiving
conveyor belt and/or transfer chute liner. A designer has a number of tools available to them, with the two most common methods of analysis being the predominantly 2D Continuum method
[1] and more recently the use of DEM, which allows 3D flow to
be analysed. Previous work has been undertaken comparing the
Continuum method with DEM in the area of transfer chutes and,
as such, the reader is referred to [2] for detailed information on
this topic.
The Continuum method is generally applied in the design
and analysis of straight on and 90 type transfer configurations,
which are characterised by thin stream, rapid flow conditions
where the material stream depth is typically smaller than the
chute width. The theory is based on calculating the cross sectional material stream parameters at specific locations or areas
of interest within the chute configuration. In contrast, DEM considers each individual particle, with the basic premise being to
monitor each particles motion and the forces experienced by
each particle to calculate its displacement per time step according to Newtons laws of motion.
While the Continuum method has been in use for a number
of years, the use of DEM in solving industrial problems has become more prevalent in recent times due to the rapid increase in
computing power, as well as the increase in availability of commercial DEM codes. In this particular study, TBS provided an independent analysis of a rock-box type transfer chute by making
use of both the Continuum method and DEM.
A DEM simulation was undertaken on a proposed transfer
chute design to study the structure and mode of flow as the bulk
solid material flow interacts with transfer chute geometry. The
transfer chute studied was a WAMS WEARBACK liner-less design
and was to be installed in an underground mine inclined conveyor system. The throughput of the proposed transfer is 4400tph
with incoming and outgoing conveyors travelling at 5.5m/s. The
vertical loading height between the head pulley of the incoming
belt and the impact point of the outgoing belt was approximately
6 metres. The material that was being handled was gold ore and,
due to the typically hard rock nature of the gold ore, the selection of a rock-box type transfer over a hood and spoon design
has the advantage of reducing maintenance costs, particularly
related to chute lining.
62

Australian Bulk Handling Review: November/December 2010

Figure 1: Material PSD, simulated and actual.

2. DEM Model Calibration

When simulating the material in the DEM model, certain assumptions had to be made regarding particle size. The full material
particle size distribution (PSD) could not be simulated, as this
would require the number of particles to be in the millions, so a
minimum size of 25mm particles were simulated. The full PSD,
actual and simulated, can be seen in Figure 1.
Material calibration is an important factor whenever DEM is
used to simulate a real life process. In this instance, particular attention has to be paid to the material properties, specifically to
ensure the PSD simulated behaves in the same manner as it would
if the fines were included. Typically, by taking the fines out of a
sample of material it becomes easier to handle, meaning it is
less cohesive. In general, it is believed that the fines govern the

Figure 2: Typical angle of repose test for simulated PSD.

OVERHEAD
DEM

strength of bulk solid materials. In this modelling, the friction parameters within the DEM software were set to a higher value (than
they would be typically if the fines were modelled) to force the
simulated PSD of material to behave as it would do with the inclusion of fines. To calibrate these friction parameters, an angle of
repose test was used. The angle of repose of the full size material
was 38 degrees and from Figure 2 it can be seen that reasonable
agreement was found.

3. Transfer Chute Modelling

An illustration of the geometry of the transfer chute used in this
DEM study can be seen in Figure 3. As the image shows, the
WEARBACK transfer chute involves the use of a series of ledges
with the transfer chute, which build up with material and then
serve as the liner for the chute, hence reducing wear of the liner
due to product flowing over product. The analysis of the transfer
chute was carried out using both DEM and also the Continuum
method, with the results of each, as well as a comparison, discussed in the following sections.

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Figure 3: Transfer Chute Configuration.

3.1 DEM Results

Results for the DEM simulation are presented in this section,
with the colour scale in Figure 6 used to colour the particles by
the magnitude of their absolute velocity. Three different regions
in the transfer chute, namely the impact zone, the receiving belt
loading zone and the flow in between, are focused on and discussed in the following section.
The material trajectory as the stream discharges from the delivery conveyor belt can be seen in Figure 4 (a), with stream increasing in velocity until impact with the chute occurs (this snap
shot from DEM is approximately 40 seconds after initial loading
and steady state flow through the transfer has been reached).
After the initial impact upon conveyor start-up, the incoming
material stream fills the ledges of the transfer chute so that a
dead zone of material forms (this can be seen as the dark blue
particles in Figure 4 (a) and (b)). Once the dead zone of material
has formed it can be seen that the particles impacting with the
stationary particles retain some of their velocity so that they have
a velocity in the range of 2-3 m/s down the slope. Also noticeable
in the image is that a velocity profile is formed across the stream
of material, with the velocity of the particles that are sliding/
rolling over the particles in the dead zone having zero to low
velocities; the outer particles are travelling at higher velocities.

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DEM

Figure 4: (a) Side view of material trajectory impact point, and (b) Top view of material trajectory impact point.

Figure 5: (a) Flow through middle section of transfer chute (b) Front view of lower section of transfer showing small degree of
unsymmetrical loading.

Figure 4 (b) shows the impact point

from a top view. This view shows the
formation of the dead zone on the upper
ledges of the chute as they fill with material. Also noticeable in these two images
(Figure 4) is that as the stream of material impacts with the chute the larger
particles are forced out of the stream
towards the top of the transfer chute.
As these larger particles are forced out
of the stream they are then pushed laterally away from the impact zone and roll
around the impact point and down the
side of the chute. This tendency of the
large particles to be squeezed out of the
stream has been confirmed in practice
from visual observations made on site in
similar transfers.
As the material travels down the
chute into the lower section it undergoes
a change in direction (approximately
24.8 degrees in the plan view), shown at
location A in Figure 5 (b). This change
in direction results in a small degree of
unsymmetrical flow on the lower section
of the chute (see Figure 5 (b)). The figure shows (looking along the direction of
the receiving belt) that there is a greater
volume of dead material on the left hand
side of the chute and potential loading
bias (albeit slight) to the one side of the
receiving belt.

3.2 Continuum Method

Figure 6: Colour scale used to colour particles in the following images.

Figure 7: Continuum/DEM Overlay Top Chute Side View.

64

Australian Bulk Handling Review: November/December 2010

In addition to the DEM simulation, the

established continuum method was also
used to investigate the nature of the flow
through the transfer chute. The purpose
of using the continuum method is that it
provides another independent means of
analysis (from DEM), the results of which
are directly dependent on the material
properties obtained from flow property
testing. The advantage of this is that
through the combination of DEM and
the continuum method, we can increase
our understanding of the flow through
the transfer chute compared to any one
analysis on its own. In addition to this,
the continuum method allows for a quick
calculation of the material stream cross
sectional parameters, including velocity
profile, which give some indication of the
approximate expected flow.
As the material stream is expected to
shear internally, a 2D continuum analysis
of the transfer was performed, in which
the assumption was made that the friction encountered by the flowing material
stream was dependent on the internal angle of friction of the material, rather than
wall friction. The expected 2D material
flow profile was then overlayed on top of
the material stream from the DEM simulation, which is shown in Figure 7.
Generally, there was good overall
correlation between the results obtained

DEM

using the 2D continuum method and the DEM simulation results considering two almost completely different approaches.
In particular, comparisons between the continuum method and
DEM for the stream depth and velocity reveal a good comparison
based on the assumptions taken.
Some assumptions in the continuum method, namely the
velocity of the material stream as it commences to flow down
the top section of the chute (immediately following discharge)
were underestimated (assumed 0.5m/s); hence the stream depth
in this section is overestimated. Due to the continuum method
treating the material flow as a continuous stream of material and
its independence from particle size, there is a tendency of the
actual stream depth to be up to the maximum particle size bigger
than the continuum method indicates. From Figure 7, it can be
seen that in the analysed transfer configuration bigger particles
are likely to be forced out of the core stream flow, consequently
rolling on top of it (and increasing apparent stream depth).
In comparisons of the two methods, two main regions were
highlighted as providing the greatest possibility of difference
in results/analysis and discrepancy due to assumptions made.
These two areas are the impact area in the upper section of the
transfer chute and loading onto the outgoing conveyor belt. Both
of these regions have in common that they are very dynamic in
nature. The advantage of using DEM then is that it can capture
the inter-particle mechanics occurring in these regions, while
the advantage of the continuum method is that it is based directly
on material properties (DEM parameters are based on material
properties, but it cant be guaranteed that they exactly mirror the
flow properties). This leads the authors to the conclusion that
there is still a place for both methods in solving industry prob-

lems, with each method revealing some analysis that the other
cant. Combined they help to form a more complete analysis of
material flow.

3.3 Loading onto Outgoing Conveyor

For this particular design, an alternative means of loading the
material onto the receiving conveyor belt was also investigated.
Generally speaking, the objective of loading the material onto
the receiving belt is to reduce both abrasive and impact wear by
having a low component of velocity perpendicular to the belt
and a component of velocity parallel to the belt as close as possible to that of the outgoing belt speed.
As a comparison with the original design, a curved spoon
was designed to replace the bottom section of ledges, as seen
in Figure 8. The spoon was used as a comparison as it enables
a lower loading angle, which will have the combined effect of
reducing the component of velocity normal to the belt while increasing the component of velocity parallel to the belt.
A DEM simulation was run using the spoon design in the original transfer chute, with a comparison of the two designs shown in
Figure 8. From the images, a number of differences are apparent
through visual inspection. Firstly, the width of the stream loading
the receiving belt is much wider for the original design, which is
due mainly to the velocity profile across the stream. As a result of
this wider stream, the loading point on the receiving belt is also
wider, which has both a positive and negative effect. The positive
effect is that the wide stream loading the belt decentralises the
impact force, the negative effect is that this wide stream increases
the area over which abrasive wear occurs. It can also be seen that
the range of velocities loading the receiving belt in the original

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DEM

design is much broader than for the spoon

design, and this is an inherent result of the
two types of designs.
To further quantify the comparative
differences between the DEM simulations, the abrasive wear on the receiving
belt was monitored. The equation to calculate wear that was used was

Figure 8: Design of curved spoon to load receiving belt.

Figure 9: Loading onto receiving belt (a) Original design (b) Spoon design.

Figure 10: Cumulative abrasive wear along the outgoing conveyor belt.

66

Australian Bulk Handling Review: November/December 2010

Where b is the coefficient of friction between the belt and the material,
is the bulk density of the material, Vn is
the component of velocity of the material
normal to the belt, V b is the velocity of
the belt and Vp is the component of velocity of the material parallel to the belt.
The above equation was applied to the
two sets of DEM results at the individual
particle level and summed over the entire
length of the receiving conveyor belt. The
results are shown below in Figure 10.
This figure shows the point at which
there is a sharp increase in the abrasive
wear is the point at which the belt is loaded and there is a slight difference in the
loading point of the two designs as can
be seen. This is because the design of the
spoon loads the particles onto the belt
further along the outgoing conveyor belt.
The abrasive wear is a result of the impact
force and velocity and the velocity differential between the belt and the particles. As the figure shows, the cumulative
abrasive wear for both designs increases
over a period known as the acceleration
zone, in which the material is accelerated to the belt velocity, then steadies to
a constant value as no more sliding between the belt and particles occurs. The
figure also shows that the abrasive wear
experienced on the receiving belt for
the spoon design is approximately 50%
lower than for the original design. One
downside to this reduced abrasive wear
on the belt is that obviously there will
be increased abrasive wear on the spoon
due to the material stream; it is expected
maintenance costs for the transfer chute
containing the spoon will be higher than
the costs for the original transfer chute
design.
As described previously, the reason
for the large differences in the abrasive
wear between the two designs can be explained by considering the slip velocities
between the belt and the particles in the
acceleration zone. Figure 11 shows a histogram of the slip velocities in the acceleration zone (defined as length along the
conveyor belt up to a distance of 2.0 m as
shown in Figure 10) for the two designs.
The figure below shows that the range of
slip velocities for the original design is up
to 5.5 m/s, while for the spoon design the
maximum slip velocity noted is approximately 4 m/s. For all slip velocities other

DEM

assumptions to the characteristics of flow, producing relatively

quick approximations of expected material cross sectional profile parameters at particular areas of interest. The DEM allows
the ability to look inside the areas of interest and view actual behaviour of particles which effectively make up the cross section.
The ability of DEM to be applied to current industry problems
is gaining awareness and the example shown here illustrates just
one example of the wide ranging applicability of DEM. By choosing the appropriate scale of the problem and careful selection of
parameters, it is possible to simulate real world processes with
a degree of confidence. In the example presented here, it was
also illustrated how DEM software can be used as a design tool
to comparatively investigate possible design solutions. As a final
closing note, the current view of TBS is that the key to producing
the most comprehensive description of flow when analysing and
designing transfer chute configurations is to apply both the Continuum method and DEM simulation analysis together.

Figure 11: Histogram of slip velocity in the acceleration zone.

5. References
than 0.5 m/s, the original design has a greater amount of particles
at each slip velocity increment, causing more frictional energy
loss. Taking an average of the slip velocities in the acceleration
zone reveals the average slip velocity for the original design is approximately twice the average slip velocity for the spoon design,
which is in agreement with the findings presented in Figure 10.

4. Conclusions
The continuum method can readily be applied to non-conventional transfer configurations by applying specific modifications/

!
NOW

[1] A.W. Roberts, Chute Performance and Design for Rapid Flow
Conditions, Chemical Engineering Technology, Vol 26, No.2,
2003, pp163-170.
[2] D. Ilic, W. McBride, A. Katterfeld, Validation of Continuum
Methods Utilising Discrete Element Simulations as Applied to a
Slewing Stacker Transfer Chute, Conference Proceedings, The
9th International Conference on Bulk Materials Storage, Handling and Transportation, University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia, 9-11th October 2007.
Contact: Timothy Donohue email Timothy.Donohue@Newcastle.edu.au

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