How to optimise Transfer Chutes design with the Discrete Element Method (DEM).

Stephen Cole
Stephen Cole
Altair Employee
edited September 11 in Altair HyperWorks

Transfer chutes are present in many mining operations, some with hundreds of transfer chutes per plant. There are many configurations and sizes of transfer chute however the main purpose is to transfer material from belt to belt or from belt to bin or processing plant.  With Altair® EDEM™ we can design and optimise the transfer chute design. Altair® HyperStudy® can be used in the Automated Calibration of DEM Material Models and Equipment Optimization with DEM. 

If you are new to the Discrete Element Method, we have e-learning and online training sessions in addition to the Altair How-To YouTube series.

EDEM Simulation Files used in this example can be downloaded here:

For long term operation of a chute it is important to minimise the common problems:

  • Blockages
  • Spillage
  • Dust emission
  • Wear
  • Belt tracking and damage

Altair® EDEMTM helps keep the systems reliable, avoiding unscheduled maintenance.

The key steps to setup a transfer chute simulation are:

Step 1 – Materials

Materials should be calibrated or use existing material models:

Step 2 – CAD

EDEM supports many file types such as STL, STEP, IGES.  Geometries are imported to EDEM via the Creator > Geometries > Import Geometry section.  You can choose either the default mesh which is optimised to capture the geometry shape while minimising the mesh elements, or choose a manual mesh size.  You may want to manually select the mesh if your analysis includes wear as the wear is plotted per triangular mesh element.

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Step 3 – Introduce Material

Align factory with conveyor and assign same velocity vector as conveyor motion.  You can set an appropriate mass flow rate or even use a time based equation to vary the flow.

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Step 4 – Assign Kinematics

You can assign different types of motion to the geometries as shown here.  The feed conveyor has a Conveyor Motion kinematic applied which replicates the motion of a moving conveyor belt while keeping the CAD stationary.  The head pully has a rotation assigned which rotates the pulley geometry around the specified axis.

More complex motions such as sinusoidal or force control is also available.

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These steps are outlined in our EDEM Tutorials:

See here how EPCM service provider Wood boosted mine chute design for IAMGOLD.

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See how EPCM Hatch deployed EDEM to explore what-if scenarios for a coal and filter cake transfer:

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Altair EDEM provides analysis allowing designers to optimise for:

  • Smooth and consistent flow of material
  • Centralised feeding between conveyors
  • Minimising
    • Dust emissions and egress
    • Impact on receiving conveyors
    • Chute and belt wear
    • Material degradation

EDEM enables users to:

  • Predict bulk material behaviour: identify risk of blockages, identify areas of high wear, determine maximum capacity
  • Virtually test designs for a wide range of materials with different properties (seasonal changes)
  • Get key insight into the full design space and operating conditions
  • Reduce the need for physical prototypes
  • Design for increased reliability and equipment uptime
  • Accelerate the design process

To minimise dust generation the following two examples can be followed:

EDEM allows users to design the transfer chute, to optimise the design HyperStudy can be used with EDEM to optimise the designs:

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