Prediction of the disc wear in a model IsaMill and its effect on the flow of grinding media

Computational prediction of performance for a full scale Isamill: Part 1 – Media motion and energy utilisation in a dry mill

“…The rest of the outer section of the disc face (for radii outside the disc holes) shows a moderate level of abrasion (coloured green). This is also consistent with the shear power distributions found for circular holes by Jayasundara et al (2011a) with increased wear between the hole and the disc edge. The general agreement in the wear predictions between the laboratory scale and full size mills suggests that the basic dynamics of the mill are maintained across the large size range.…”

“…The impact distribution shares structural features with the normal stress but the relative intensities of the impact wear are heavily moderated by the variation of the relative contact velocity which also influences the energy absorption and therefore wear of the disc. The impact wear pattern showing wear around the edge of the holes is very similar to the disc wear predicted by Jayasundara et al (2011a) albeit with the disc holes being circular in that study.…”

“…Yang et al (2006) first studied the flow of grinding media in a simplified 1.4 l laboratory scale Isamill with multiple discs using DEM. Jayasundara et al (2006Jayasundara et al ( , 2008Jayasundara et al ( , 2010Jayasundara et al ( , 2011aJayasundara et al ( ,b, 2012 then used this model to study the effect of media properties and geometry on grinding performance and disc wear. examined the flow and segregation of rock particles within the charge in a periodic slice model of a larger 80 l laboratory Isamill.…”

Computational prediction of performance for a full scale Isamill: Part 2 – Wet models of charge and slurry transport

“…The largest body of such work is by the group of Yu and co-workers who have carried out a number of DEM studies on the IsaMill Jayasundara et al, 2006Jayasundara et al, , 2008Jayasundara et al, , 2010Jayasundara et al, , 2011a in which they tracked granular particle trajectories, particle distributions throughout the mill, collision energies and frequencies as a function of velocities as well as compared simulation results to lab-scale experiments. Two different mill designs were used for these experiments.…”

“…Two different mill designs were used for these experiments. Yang et al (2006) and Jayasundara et al (2010Jayasundara et al ( , 2011aJayasundara et al ( , 2011b) used a 1.4 l, three disc perspex mill with 110 mm inner diameter and 90 mm diameter disks. Jayasundara et al (2006Jayasundara et al ( , 2008 used a slightly larger mill with 120 mm inner diameter and 100 mm diameter disks.…”