Modelling of the flow of ellipsoidal particles in a horizontal rotating drum based on DEM simulation

- The flow of ellipsoidal particles in a rotating drum is investigated by DEM.
- The ellipsoidal particles are modeled by super-ellipsoids.
- The effects of the aspect ratio and the rotation speed on the mixing are concerned.
- Ellipsoids with lower sphericity have higher consistency of the particle orientation.
- Better coating could be achieved at lower rotation speed in rolling/cascading regime.

The granular flow involving ellipsoidal particles in a horizontal rotating drum is investigated by DEM, in which ellipsoidal particle is modeled by super-ellipsoids and periodic boundary condition is adopted. Recurring to the abundant information obtained from the DEM simulation, a comparably synthetical investigation is performed for the better understanding of the fundamental of the granular flow involving ellipsoidal particles in a horizontal rotating drum. All cases utilized in this work are characterized by the continuous flow, namely in rolling/cascading regime. How the aspect ratio and the rotation speed of the drum influence the transverse mixing is surveyed. And some attempt has been made to elucidate the above influence on the particle mixing from the perspective of particle diffusion and particle convection. A brief description about the influence of the aspect ratio and rotation speed of the drum on the axis dispersion is also provided. The Euler angles, including the precession angle, nutation angle and spin angle, are utilized to study the distribution profiles of the orientation for ellipsoidal particles. Simultaneously, some simple methods have been devised for different investigation purposes involving particle orientation.

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