Modelling of particle flow behaviour in spirals

螺旋中颗粒流动行为的建模

• 批准号: 437324-2012
• 负责人: Waters, Kristian
• 金额: $ 2.6万
• 依托单位: McGill University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Collaborative Research and Development Grants
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2014-01-01 至 2015-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=553107
• 关键词: Modelling; particle; flow; behaviour; spirals

The mineral sector is a significant contributor to wealth generation in Canada, accounting for up to 4 % of GDP. The iron ore section of the industry processes a large quantity of material, running at thousands of tonnes per hour at many plants. There is, however, a large loss of iron-bearing minerals to the tailings, up to 30 % of the iron in the feed. The main method of separating the iron-bearing minerals from the gangue (waste) minerals in northern Quebec is to use spiral concentrators, which are a helical form of gravity separator. Heavy material remains towards the centre, whilst lighter (less dense) material moves outwards in the spiral trough. However, despite their simplistic design (appearing similar to a water slide or a helter-skelter at a fun park), the flow patterns and separation mechanisms are not well understood. This leads to a significant loss of valuable mineral, especially in the small size range (less than 100 micrometres in diameter). This project will investigate methods of improving both our understanding of the spiral concentrators, and development of new designs. This will be through computational modelling and particle tracking. The positron emission particle tracking (PEPT) will be utilised to observe the motion of individual particles in the spiral, thereby giving validation to the computational models developed.

矿业部门是加拿大财富创造的重要贡献者，占GDP的4%。该行业的铁矿石部分处理大量材料，在许多工厂以每小时数千吨的速度运行。然而，含铁矿物大量损失到尾矿中，高达进料中铁的30%。在北方魁北克地区，从脉石（废）矿物中分离含铁矿物的主要方法是使用螺旋选矿机，螺旋选矿机是重力分选机的螺旋形式。较重的物质留在中心，而较轻（密度较小）的物质在螺旋槽中向外移动。 然而，尽管它们的设计过于简单（看起来类似于水上滑梯或游乐园的直升机），但其流动模式和分离机制并不清楚。这导致有价值矿物的大量损失，特别是在小尺寸范围内（直径小于100微米）。本项目将研究提高我们对螺旋浓缩器的理解和开发新设计的方法。这将通过计算建模和粒子跟踪来实现。正电子发射粒子跟踪（PEPT）将用于观察螺旋中单个粒子的运动，从而验证所开发的计算模型。