CFD Modelling of Spiral Concentrator- Prediction of Comprehensive Fluid Flow Field and Particle Segregation

[Display omitted] •Comprehensive numerical analysis of fluid and dilute particulate flow in a spiral is made.•RSM model coupled with VOF approach predicts accurate free surface and flow field.•Turbulence dispersion dominates on fines in the outer trough zone & upper fluid layers.•The magnitude o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Minerals engineering 2022-06, Vol.183, p.107570, Article 107570
Main Authors: Sudikondala, Purushotham, Mangadoddy, Narasimha, Kumar, Mayank, Kumar Tripathy, Sunil, Yanamandra, Rama Murthy
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bagnold Forces
DPM model
Residence time distribution
Segregation
Spiral concentrator
Turbulence
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Summary:[Display omitted] •Comprehensive numerical analysis of fluid and dilute particulate flow in a spiral is made.•RSM model coupled with VOF approach predicts accurate free surface and flow field.•Turbulence dispersion dominates on fines in the outer trough zone & upper fluid layers.•The magnitude of FbFg increases from inner to outer trough zone due to inherent fluid shear.•Coarse particles experience high Bagnold force hence migrate to top flowing layers. A comprehensive numerical analysis of the fluid flow and dilute particulate flow in the LD9 spiral separator is presented in this work. The air–water flow field on a coal spiral is simulated using the volume of fluid (VOF) coupled with RANS turbulence models. Water depth and flow field predictions by RSM show close agreement with experiments. Stability depth, turbulence intensity was analyzed for entire liquid depths. The discrete phase model is used to model the dilute particulates at different flow rates. Turbulent dispersion of particles using dispersion index and Bagnold force analysis indicate that centrifugal force dominates the separation at increased particle size and water depth level, whereas the fines are significantly affected by turbulence dispersion at the outer trough region. The magnitude of the Bagnold to gravitational force increases from the inner to outer trough region and a dip at the outer edge region due to inherent change of shear rate. Coarse particles experience higher lift than the fines and migrate to the top flowing layers.
ISSN:0892-6875
1872-9444
DOI:10.1016/j.mineng.2022.107570