Modelling rolling contact phenomena in a pouch belt conveyor system

This paper presents a simplified approach to modelling the rolling contact phenomena that occur at the surface of a wheel driven rubber belt. The main aim of this approach is to determine the rolling friction due to hysteresis and the relationship between traction and slip in wheel driven belt conveyors. The resulting model is an expansion of an existing linear viscoelastic model consisting of a three parameter Maxwell model combined with a Winkler foundation that is used to determine the rolling friction due to hysteresis in a conventional conveyor with a flat belt. Adaptations are introduced to incorporate a curved belt surface and to analyse the relationship between traction and slip. Attention is also paid to matching the model parameters to the viscoelastic properties of an actual rubber sample and subsequently the usefulness of more complex Maxwell models regarding rolling friction and traction is investigated.