Title: SOP Manual for DEM

of mill liner
 Title: Description

Table of Contents:

1. Introduction to the Discrete Element Method(DEM)

1.1. The particle-particle contact model

2. EDEM
2.1. EDEM Creator
2.2. EDEM Simulator
2.3. EDEM Analyst

3. EDEM set-up for the liner section

3.1. EDEM Creator
3.1.1. Defining project’s title and description
3.1.2. Defining the bulk and the equipment material
3.1.3. Defining interactions
3.1.4. Defining the geometry of the equipment
3.1.5. Factory creation
3.1.6. Defining the environment
3.2. EDEM Simulator
3.3. EDEM Analyst

4. EDEM set-up for the discharger system

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1. Introduction to the Discrete Element Method (DEM)

The Discrete Element Method (DEM) is a numerical method for modelling the dynamics of solid
particles which interact with each other at discrete contact points. In DEM simulations, the
properties of a stressed assembly of rigid spherical particles (e.g. position, velocity and contact
forces) are updated at every numerical iteration time step. The translational and rotational
displacements of each particle are obtained by explicitly integrating the governing differential
equations based on the Newton’s second law of motion, while the contact forces between particles
are calculated using well-defined force–displacement contact models.
In this process, the interactions between particles are monitored at all contacts and the
movement of each individual particle is traced. It is assumed that the velocity of each particle is
constant within each iteration step.
The simulation starts by detecting the contact points between particles. The contact point
and the particle overlapping distance are then used to calculate the interaction forces via the
force–displacement relationships. The resulting contact forces are applied at the centre of each
particle, causing particles to move. According to the Newton’s second law of motion, the particle
acceleration, velocity and displacement are updated at the end of each numerical iteration step.
This mechanical loop continues until the prescribed total iteration steps are reached.

1.1 The Particle—Particle Contact Model

The accuracy of DEM modelling depends highly on the contact models used to calculate
the particle–particle interactions. The fundamental problem is how to reproduce the correct
interactions between two solid grains in the DEM. The classical DEM model treats all solid grains
as either disks (i.e. two-dimensional (2D) model) or spheres (i.e. three-dimensional (3D) model),
as this would greatly simplify the calculation of the overlap distance between particles. Though this
model has shed some lights on the mechanical behaviour of granular materials, it is inaccurate
due to the oversimplified assumptions that all solid particles are spherical and free to rotate.
To account for the particle shape effects, three ways of DEM modelling can be used. The
first of the three is to use a clump of spherical particles based on the bonded-particle method. In
this method, the real shape of soil/rock mass is approximated by a clump of bonded spherical
grains, which behaves as a rigid body. The second approach is to model the soil/rock blocks as
polygons.
Three distinct particle contact models can be identified, namely, (a) the normal contact
model; (b) the tangential contact model; and (c) the rolling contact model. The mechanical
responses of these three different contact models are closely related to the relative displacement
between the two particles, as shown in Fig.1. The interaction forces between two spheres include
the normal (Fn) and tangential (Ft) forces, and rolling moment (Mr), respectively.

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Fig. 1

In Fig.1, the normal contact force (Fn) acting on a single particle is linearly proportional to
the overlap distance between two particles, which is expressed as
Fn = Kn* Un
in which Kn is the normal contact stiffness, Un is the normal overlap distance.
Figure.1b shows that a maximum tangential force exists, before which, the tangential force (F t) can
be calculated incrementally, as
Fn=Fn-1 +Ks*dUs
where Fn and Fn-1 are tangential forces calculated at current and previous iteration steps. K s is the
shear stiffness, and dUs is the incremental tangential sliding displacement.

Fig. 2

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2. EDEM
We use EDEM (which is the market-leading software for bulk material simulation) as a tool ,
powered by state-of-the-art Discrete Element Modelling (DEM) technology, EDEM quickly
and accurately simulates and analyzes the behaviour of bulk materials such as coal, mined
ores, soil, tablet, and powders.
EDEM software is made of 3 core components: EDEM Creator, Simulator and Analyst

2.1 EDEM CREATOR

 EDEM Creator is the pre-processor for setting up an EDEM simulation model.
 Setup simulations in a fast, logical manner with EDEM’s intuitive and user friendly interface
 Import equipment geometry from a wide range of CAD files (IGES, STL, STEP and more)
 Assign equipment motion (linear, rotational, sinusoidal and more)
 Model real world particle shapes using the validated and highly versatile multi-sphere
method
 Select contact physics models, define material properties or add a material model straight
from the GEMM database

2.2 EDEM SIMULATOR

 EDEM Simulator is a powerful solver for fast and efficient simulations.
 Cutting edge DEM solver, highly parallelized for use in multi-core shared memory
workstations
 Simulate large and complex particle systems
 Start and stop simulations at any time to easily review progress and assess design
performance

2.3 EDEM ANALYST

 EDEM Analyst is the post-processing environment where simulations are reviewed and
analyzed.
 Advanced and powerful post-processing capability
 Extensive set of tools for visualization and analysis (colouring, graphing, bin groups)
 Create high resolution images and videos

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3. EDEM SET-UP FOR THE LINER SECTION

When you launch the EDEM software (ver. 2018), the window shown in the fig.1 will pop up
• Studied the basics of mineral processing technology ,mostly comminution.
• Learned about the different mill liner products namely shell plate, lifter bar, fixing
arrangement.

Fig. 01

3.1 EDEM CREATOR

The EDEM creator has six sub-sections which are to be approached in the sequence in
which they appear in the creator tree area.

3.1.1 DEFINING PROJECT’S TITLE AND DESCRIPTION

 Select <Project> as shown in the fig. 2

Fig. 02
 Enter the title and write the description of the simulation for reference as shown in fig. 2

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3.1.2 DEFINING THE BULK AND THE EQUIPMENT MATERIAL

1. Select <Bulk Material> and right click, you

will get the following display on your screen.

2. Select <Add Bulk Material>. With this

EDEM creates a material with the default
name “BulkMaterial 1”.

3. Rename the material for proper identification. Select the material and right click; you will
get the following display on your screen as shown in fig. 3. Select <Rename Material>
and name the material as per your convenience and click <OK>.

Fig. 03

4. Once you have renamed the material (e.g. Ore), select the same material and you will
see the following display on your screen.

5. Enter the values of the Poisson’s ratio, density and any one out of shear and Young’s
modulus according to the material’s properties as per the table given below

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(NOTE: In all the cases we enter the value of shear modulus instead of Young’s modulus)
6. If you want to define more than one type of bulk material then simply follow the same
procedure (from step 1 to 5) as given above for adding the new material and renaming
it.

(NOTE: In the case of mill shell region simulation we create ball and ore as two different
materials)
7. Adding particle geometry (shape and size).
Select the bulk material that you have defined and right click, you will get the following
display on your screen.

8. Select <Add Particle> and EDEM will

create a particle with the default name
“New Particle 1 “.
9. Rename the particle by selecting it and
right click, you will get the display (shown
right). Name the particle in the same
manner as done for renaming the
material.

10. Select the prototype of the particle from

the given options in the bottom left
corner of the screen (in the given
example, prototype “Single Sphere “is
selected).

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(These are the different prototypes

available)

11. For the single sphere prototype, enter its radius in mm by selecting the corresponding
cell as shown in the fig. 4

Fig. 04

12. Select <Size Distribution>, you will get the following display on your screen

Fig.05
13. The default size distribution scheme is of type “fixed “where all the particles are of same
size. To change the size distribution scheme , click on the dropdown as shown in fig. 6

Fig. 6
14. You will see various distribution schemes available but most often we select the <user
defined>.

(NOTE: In “USER DEFINED”, we can define the variation in size of the particles of the bulk
material with their relative composition.)

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15. You will get the following display on the screen with the given default values.

Fig. 7
16. To add particles of different size, select the scale cell of default particle and right click to
<Add>the number of size distributions as per your requirement. In this case we have
considered 3 size distributions as shown in the fig. 8

Fig. 08
Here Scale 1 means the original particle size as defined in step 11. The other scales will be
defined by a reducing factor of √2 of the base scale. The %age of mass against each size
distribution should be defined accordingly so that the total sum always adds to 100.
(NOTE : Here we have shown scaling by radius but scaling by volume can be used as well.)
17. Follow the same procedure for introducing further different sized particles and defining
their percentage mass composition in the bulk material.
18. Select <Properties> as shown in the fig. 9. Then check the box against “Auto
Calculation”. This process will position the particle about its centre of mass, and it will
also populate the Mass, Volume, and Moment of Inertia boxes of the particle details.

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Fig. 09

19. Select <Equipment Material> and right click, you will get the following display.

20. Select <Add Equipment Material>to define the material of the equipment and follow
the same procedure for renaming and assigning its physical properties as done in the
case of bulk material.

3.1.3 DEFINING INTERACTIONS

You need to create all particle-particle and particle-equipment material interactions. Since
they cannot come into contact, equipment- equipment material interactions do not have to
be defined.
In our case, there were five interactions namely ore-ore, ore-ball, ball-ball, ore-liner
and ball-liner.
1. To create a set of interactions between a pair of
materials, begin by choosing the first material as
shown below. (In our case, it is ore.)

2. Press the green plus button (highlighted in the

adjacent figure).This will bring a new window that
will ask you to choose the second material you
would like to be the part of the interaction as
shown in fig. 10.

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(NOTE: This list also includes the first material that you selected because you need to
define how particles will behave when they encounter other particles or equipment that is
made out of the same material.)

Fig. 10

3. Click <OK> and the interaction pairing will be

created as shown in the fig.11

4. Define the interaction values namely the

coefficient of restitution, coefficient of static
friction and the coefficient of rolling friction as per the table given below Fig. 11

5. You can continue to add interactions to your simulation by pressing the green plus
button.

(NOTE: Once you have created an interaction pair for a combination of materials, EDEM
will remove the option to choose those materials from the Create Interactions list).
(NOTE: EDEM will recognize that the interaction between material 1 and material 2 is the
same as the interaction between material 2 and material 1 and so you need to create this
interaction once)
6. If you click the green plus
button even after all
interactions have been
defined , the following
window will get appear on
your screen saying no
further interactions can be
defined.

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7. Similarly, define the interactions of the other remaining materials that you have defined
under the “Bulk Material” and “Equipment Material” section.

3.1.4 DEFINING THE GEOMETRY OF THE EQUIPMENT

1. Create the 3D model of the liner in AUTODESK INVENTOR and save it in either IGES
or STEP format so that it can be imported into EDEM.

In our case, the liner has the effective diameter of 5000mm and length 300mm, shell plate
has a thickness of 60mm and lifter bar has 210-180 SDS profile as shown below. The axis
of the liner is along the Z axis.

2. To import the liner geometry in

EDEM, right click on <Geometries>
and select <Import Geometry> as
shown in the fig .12

Fig. 12

3. Browse to your required CAD file. Once selected ,

press <Open> and you will be presented with the
CAD import options as shown in the fig. 13
4. First option <Choose Units> allows you to
choose the units that the CAD file was created in
from the list available as shown in the fig. 14

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Fig. 13
 Title: Description

In our case, it is millimetre.

Fig. 14
This ensures that the part is created at the right scale in EDEM.
5. The next option <Merge Sections> is checked to combine together all the geometry in
a CAD file as a single EDEM geometry object, rather than individual parts. This is done
to ensure that each part of the assembly has the same kinematics.
In our case, we have merged the
geometry.

6. Click <OK> and the next window (as shown

in the fig.15) that appears provides you with
a range of geometry import parameters, but
in most of the cases the default values are
not changed. So, click <OK>.

Fig. 15

7. The EDEM will create the geometry with a default name as shown in the fig. 16

To rename the geometry, select that geometry and right click and select <Rename
Geometry>

Fig. 16

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8. A new window will get appear (as shown in the fig.17) where you can enter the name of
the geometry as per your convenience and click <OK>.( In our case, it is “liner” )

Fig. 17
9. Select your geometry and you will see a dropdown with two options namely

< Virtual > and < Physical > as shown below.

(NOTE: When a geometry part is set to Physical it means that it has a material assigned to
it and when particles come into contact with it, they will react according to the contact model
you have assigned.
When geometry is defined as Virtual, particles will be free to pass
through the surfaces as though they were not present. Note since the particles will not
interact with a virtual geometry, there is no option to assign material to a part when Virtual
has been selected. )
10. For liner, select <Physical> as it will interact with the bulk material and then select its
material accordingly.
11. To add kinematics to the liner, select <liner> from the Geometries section, right click
and then select <Add Kinematic> as shown in the fig. 18

Fig. 18

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12. Select <Add Linear Rotation> and a new

kinematic will be displayed under the selected
geometry (as shown in the fig.19) which in our
case is liner.

Fig. 19

13. Select <New Kinematic 1> and define the specifics of the motion on the details view.

 First, enter the Start and End time of the motion.

 Next, enter the Initial Velocity and the Acceleration of
the part.
 Finally, define the axis of rotation of the part. This is
defined as line connecting two points. Enter the
required numbers manually.
 You can choose to display the axis of rotation in the
viewer window by clicking on the <Display
Vector>check box.

3.1.5 FACTORY CREATION

Factory is a piece of geometry that defines a region within your EDEM simulation space
where particles are created.
There are two types of factories that can be created in EDEM namely,
(i) Static Factory
(ii) Dynamic Factory

Static factory: It will create all the requested particles in a single time-step of EDEM
simulation. Once the requested volume of material has been produced, the Factory will be
classed as complete and EDEM will move on to processing the next time-step. Static
Factories are useful for quickly filling volumes.
Dynamic factory: It acts over multiple time-steps and allows you to create material
continuously. Dynamic factories are useful for representing a feed of material into a system.

1. Select <Geometries> and right click and then select <Add Geometry>. You will see a
list of options as shown below

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(You can select any of the three given geometry for the factory. In our case, we have
selected ‘Box‘.)
2. Select <Box>, you will have the following display on your screen

3. The factory will have the default name ‘ New Section 1’. You can rename it by right
click on that factory and then select <Rename Geometry>.
4. A new window will appear, then enter the name of the factory and click <OK>.
5. Select your specified factory and click on the ‘Type’ dropdown box and then select
<Virtual>.

(NOTE: Virtual because we don’t want it to interact with the particle or equipment)
6. Select <Box> and you will see the size panel of the box where you can define its centre
coordinates, its length along the three principle axes and its rotation about those axes.

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In our case, the effective diameter of the liner is 5000mm. So, we have
increased the length along x axis from default 1000mm to 4000mm as shown in the fig.20

Fig. 20

We then changed the viewing direction of the geometry from positive X axis to positive Y
axis by clicking on the ‘View ‘dropdown present on the toolbar and selecting <+ Y> as
shown below

As the dimension of the factory along Z axis was exceeding the dimension of our geometry,
as shown below,

So, we decreased its length along Z axis from default 1000mm to 250mm and we got the
following display on the screen

7. Select your specified factory and right click and then select <Add Factory>, you will
have the following display on your screen

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Fig. 21
( NOTE: Please ensure in the’ Material’ dropdown box, the desired bulk material is
selected. In the above figure, it is ore.)
‘Unlimited Number’s used when unlimited amount of bulk material is required to be created
by the factory.
For limited case, there are two options,
Total Number: It is used when you want to create a certain fixed number of particles of a
specified material.
Total Mass: It is used when you want to create a certain fixed mass of a specified material.
In our case, we have checked ‘Total Mass’ checkbox (Highlighted in the fig. 21) and
entered the mass and the discharging rate of the ore based on the following calculations:

Mass of charge = f * Vshell * (density of the bulk material);

Rate of charging = (Mass of charge) / (charging time);
Where f is fraction mill volume of charge and Vshell is the volume of the shell region.
8. Now follow the same procedure for the remaining types of the bulk material by selecting
each material which is done by clicking on the ‘Material’ dropdown box (Highlighted in
the fig. 21) and then selecting the new material.
9. You can define the initial velocity with which the bulk material will fall from the factory by
clicking on the velocity configuration button highlighted in the fig. 21.
10. Then enter the value of the initial velocity in the window that follows as shown below and
then click <OK>.

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3.1.6 DEFINING THE ENVIRONMENT

There are three main features of the Environment section,
(i) Simulation Domain
(ii) Periodic Boundaries
(iii) Gravity Force

Simulation domain: It is the region in which particles can exist within an EDEM simulation.
It is represented in the EDEM viewer window as the red box outline
All calculations are performed on objects within the Domain and should a particle pass out
of the Domain wall it will be removed unless periodic boundaries are turned on.

Gravity Force: By default gravity is set to a value of 9.81 meters per second squared
acting in the negative Z direction. You can change the direction gravity is acting by
adjusting the values in the boxes.
Periodic Boundaries: For some applications, it is desirable to have particles that exit one
side of the domain to reappear on the opposite side in the same position and with the same
velocity. This behaviour can be achieved using the Linear Periodic Boundary settings.

1. Select<Environment>, you will have the following

display on your screen.

By default, EDEM will automatically adjust the size of

the Domain so that it includes all your geometry parts.

2. If you want to change the size of the Domain, deselect <Auto Update from
Geometry>and manually enter the domain size.

In our case, we had the following default domain size as seen from the positive Y direction.
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After deselecting <Auto Update from Geometry>and entering the desired values in the
Domain panel (ensuring that the Domain completely encloses the factory, though it may or
may not enclose the geometry), we got the following display on our viewer window.

(NOTE: The Domain should always enclose the factory completely otherwise some of the
particles generated by the factory would get outside the Domain and would not be
considered in the simulation.)
3. In the Gravity panel, you
can activate (or deactivate)
gravity by selecting (or
deselecting) ‘Gravity’ and
then select the direction in
which it will act and enter its
magnitude.

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4. Select <Environment> and click on <Boundary Conditions> as shown in the following

fig.22

Fig. 22

5. Click the check box that corresponds to the sides of the domain where periodic
boundaries are required(Highlighted in the fig. 22)

In our case, it is Z. Now when particles leave the domain from the selected sides, they will
be recreated on the opposite side rather than being deleted.

3.2 EDEM SIMULATOR

Once you have completed the set-up of your simulation in the EDEM Creator, you can save
your file and switch to the EDEM Simulator to begin processing.

Time Integration: At the top of the Simulator panel are the time-step options. By default,
EDEM uses Euler time integration scheme.DEM uses a Rayleigh Time-step approach to
ensure stability is achieved during processing. The Rayleigh time-step is the maximum
theoretical time-step that can be used for a simulation. It is based on the material properties
used and the minimum size that is present in your simulation set-up.

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To ensure stability we recommend that you set the time-step to be between 18 to 22% of
the Rayleigh time-step. But it should never be more than 40% as mathematical instability
would incur.
Simulation Time: In this section, the
total run time of the simulation is
defined.
Data Save: It is where you can define
the rate at which results will be saved.
For ex., if you are running for 10
seconds and are saving at a rate for
0.1 seconds then when you analyze
your results you will have 100 write-out
points available.
Cell size: In this section, define the
cell size in terms of the radius of the
minimum sized particle. In most cases,
3R gives the optimum result.
Number of CPU Cores: You can
decide how many CPU cores to be
engaged in the simulation. Greater the
number of CPU cores, faster will be the
calculation.
In our case (Highlighted in the figure
above),
 Deselect <Auto Time Step> and
enter against ‘Fixed Time Step’: 22%.
 Enter against ‘Total Time’: 10s
 Enter against ‘Target Save Interval’: 0.01.
 Enter against ‘Cell Size’: 3R.
 Click on the Play button on the bar below the viewer window. During processing you will
see the progress bar increasing which gives you the indication of how far the simulation
has been done.

3.3 EDEM ANALYST

Display Section: The display settings of your equipment and material can be controlled
from the ‘Display’ section of the Analyst Tree.
In the Geometry section you will have the list of names of all the equipment parts that you
have created in the Creator section. As you can see in the following figure, the 3
geometries namely, liner, lifter1 and the factory are shown under the “Geometries” section.

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The Display option (Highlighted in fig. 23) allows

you to toggle whether the selected geometry is
displayed or not. If you uncheck the box and press
<Apply>, the currently selected geometry will
disappear from the viewer window.
For virtual geometry, we keep the display
checkbox unchecked and for the physical
geometry, checked.

Fig.23

You can also vary the opacity (Highlighted in fig.23) of a piece of equipment, and if you
want to make geometry object more transparent then you can reduce the opacity value.
Colouring: You can adjust the colouring of any item in your EDEM simulation using the
options that are available in the display section of the Analyst tree. You can colour your
material and equipment according to specific properties that relate to their current
behaviour. For ex., you can colour geometry on the basis of force that is acting on them, or
particles according to their velocity.
To view a particle (in our case, it is “ore”) according to their velocity, follow the
following steps:
1. Select the particle whose display you want to modify.
In the present case, we have shown for “ore’.
2. Click on the <Color by> dropdown (Highlighted in fig.
24) and you will see a list of properties based on
which you can modify the display.
3. Select <Velocity> and click on the <Component >
dropdown, you will see a list of velocity features
based on which the colour of your display will be
modified but in the present case, we have selected
<Magnitude>.
4. Check the <Auto Update> checkbox for <Min
Value> and <Max Value>. (Highlighted in the fig.24).
5. If you want to see the legend of the specified
property, then check the <Show legend> checkbox
and then click <Apply >. (Highlighted in the fig.24).

Creating videos: EDEM allows you to create a video file

of the simulation as it plays back.
To record an animation, steps are as follows;
1. Step to the required start point for the video.

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Fig. 24
 Title: Description

2. Click on the ‘Record Animation’ button present at the bottom right corner of the Analyst
window. (Highlighted in the figure below)

3. This will open an ‘Export Video and Images’ window where you can configure the
animation options. Select the export format < Windows Media Video> format as shown
highlighted in the fig.25.

4. Choose the file name and save the

location by clicking on the button with
three dots (Highlighted in fig. 25)
5. Press the green arrows to automatically
set the video to be the same size as the
viewer window.
(Highlighted in the fig. 25)
6. Press the ‘Restore Defaults’ button.
7. Click <OK>.You will return to the EDEM
Analyst window where you will see that
the ‘Record Animation’ button has
changed the colour to show EDEM is
ready to record the viewer window.
8. Click on the ‘Record Animation’ button.
9. Press the ‘Stop’ button once you
have reached the desired point.
10. Press ‘Record Animation’ button. Your
video file will now be available for you to review and distribute. Fig. 25

Force Analysis: One can find the forces acting on a particular lifter bar at different time-
steps on EDEM Analyst.
1. For that, one should not merge the complete geometry
while importing it (as done in the 5th step of section 3.1.4)
but should leave the <Merge Sections> checkbox
unchecked and click <OK>.You will then see a list of entries
under the <Geometries> section where each part of the geometry is given a default
name.
2. Select the part from the list which corresponds to your desired lifter bar and name it as
per your convenience.

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In our case, our desired lifter bar (Highlighted as red in the figure below) has the default
name “Solid2 (6) “. So, we renamed it to “lifter1”.

3. Select any geometrical part apart from <lifter1> and right click and select <Merge
Sections >. A new window will appear showing the list of different geometrical parts
including “lifter1”

4. Select all the parts except <lifter1> and click <OK>. This will merge all the parts except
“lifter1“together.
5. The merged geometry will get a default name. You can name it as per your
convenience. (We have named it to “total liner “.)

You can export the data containing the value of force acting on your specified lifter bar at
different time-steps by following the below given steps:
1. Select <File>, then <Export> and then <Results Data …> (as shown in fig.26). A new
window will get appear as shown in fig. 27.

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Fig. 26

2. Click on the ‘green plus’ button

(Highlighted in the fig. 27). This will assign
a default configuration ID to your data file.
You can rename it by clicking on the pencil
icon .
3. Let the export format at its default setting
i.e. “Text “.
4. Choose the file name and save the location
by clicking on the button with three dots

5. Enter the title in the <Title >cell.

6. Click on the green plus button (Highlighted
as green in fig. 27).
7. Select <Geometry> dropdown (Highlighted
in the fig. 27) and then <Total Force>in
the list that appears.
8. Click on the <Component >dropdown
(Highlighted in the fig. 27) and select
<Magnitude>. Fig. 27

9. Click on the <Section>dropdown (Highlighted in fig.27) and select <lifter1 > as in the
present case we want forces acting on “lifter1”.
10. Click on the <Query type> dropdown (Highlighted in the fig.27) and select <Maximum>
because we want data of maximum force acting on “lifter1”
11. Click <Export> as highlighted in the fig.2.

You can also obtain the graph showing the variation of force acting on “lifter1” against time
on EDEM Analyst by following the below given steps :

1. Click on <Create Graph> icon present on the toolbar.

2. Select the <Line> section (Highlighted in fig. 28).

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3. Click on the <Group> dropdown (Highlighted in the

fig. 28) and select <Geometry>. This is because
we want to see force variation on a particular lifter
bar which is a part of geometry.
4. Click on the <Section>dropdown (Highlighted in
the fig. 28) and select <lifter1>.
5. Click on <Y-axis> ( Highlighted in the fig. 28).
6. Click on the <Primary Attribute>dropdown
(Highlighted in the fig. 28) and select <Total
Force>.
7. There are 2 <Component >dropdown (Highlighted
in the fig.28) .So, click on them one by one and
select <Magnitude> and <Maximum> respectively
as shown.
8. Finally, select <Create Graph> (Highlighted in the
fig.28). You will have the following display.

Fig.28

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 Title: Description

4. EDEM SET-UP FOR THE DISCHARGER SYSTEM

Fig. 29

1. In the “Bulk Material “section, define the material “Ore “(as highlighted in the fig. 29).
Since steel balls do not enter the discharger system, so no need to define it under this
section.
2. In the “Equipment Material” section, define the material “Discharger system” having the
same physical properties as that of steel.
3. Define the interaction of “Ore” as done before in the section 3.1.3. There will be only two
interactions namely Ore-Ore and Ore-(Discharger System).
4. Right click on <Geometries> and select <Import Geometry> and open the desired file
of the discharger system geometry. A new window will get displayed as shown in the fig.
30

Fig.30

5. Press the <Choose Units> dropdown and select <Millimeters >. Leave the <Merge
Sections> checkbox unchecked and click <OK>.

In the case of discharger system, the factory is not created separately like we did in the
case of shell region. But it is made as a part of the geometry of the discharger system.
6. Select the part which corresponds to your factory and rename it to “factory” as shown in
the fig. 31.

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 Title: Description

Fig. 31

7. Merge the rest of the parts and rename it to “Discharger system”.

8. Add kinematics to the discharger
system by selecting <Discharger
system> and right clicking on it. Then
select <Add Kinematics> and then
<Add Linear Rotation>.(Shown in
right)

9. Select the type and the material of the discharger system as highlighted in the fig. 31.
10. Select <factory> and press on <Type> dropdown and select <Virtual>.
11. Right click on <factory> and select <Add Factory>.A new factory will get created with
the default name “New Factory 1” but the default type of any factory on EDEM is
dynamic.
12. To change the factory type, right click on <New Factory 1>and select <Change
Factory Type> as shown in the fig. 32.With this, the factory type will change from
dynamic to static.

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 Title: Description

Fig. 32
In the case of discharger system, the static factory is required to create a specific amount of
bulk material in a single time-step. The amount and the time instances depend on the
angular speed of the discharger system, number of dischargers and the capacity of the
discharger system and can be determined by the below given relationships :

Mass of bulk material per discharger per revolution of mill in kg =

[(Capacity of the mill in TPH)*(1000)] / [60 * (number of dischargers) * (angular velocity in
rpm)]
Time interval between material creation in seconds =
60 / [(number of dischargers) * (angular velocity in rpm)]

In our case, the angular velocity is 11.58 rpm, capacity is 34TPH and the number of
dischargers is 24. Mass to be discharged per minute = (34 * 1000) / 60 = 566.6667 kg;
Mass to be discharged per revolution of the mill = 566.6667 / 11.58 = 48.93 kg;
Mass to be discharged per discharger per revolution of mill = 48.93 / 24 = 2.038 kg
Time interval between material creation = 60 / (11.58 * 24) = 0.2158 sec.
So, the number of factories you will need for 1 revolution will be 24.In our case, we did
simulation for 2 revolutions, hence 48 factories as shown in the fig.33.

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Fig. 33
 Title: Description

13. Add the required number of factories. In our case, it is 48.

14. Select <New Factory 1> and you will have the following display as shown in fig. 34.

Fig. 34

15. Select <Total Mass> (Highlighted in the fig.34) and enter its value against it as shown in
the fig. 34.
16. In the <Start Time> cell, enter the time instant at which you want to generate the above
specified mass.

Similarly, for each factory enter the corresponding mass and the time instances.
17. Select the <Environment> section, you will have the following display

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Fig. 35
 Title: Description

18. Deselect <Auto Update from Geometry> (highlighted in the figure 35)
and enter the domain coordinates manually such that the domain
extends to a significant distance from the exit point of the discharger
system as shown in right.
19. Check the <Gravity> checkbox highlighted in the fig. 35 and enter its
value.
20. Save the changes and click on the EDEM Simulator icon and follow
the under given steps:
 Deselect <Auto Time Step> and enter against ‘Fixed Time Step’
22%.
 Enter against ‘Total Time’ 10s
 Enter against ‘Target Save Interval’ 0.01.
 Enter against ‘Cell Size’ 7R.
 Click on the Play button on the bar below the viewer window.

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Title: Description

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