- Title
- Investigation of arching behaviour under surcharge pressure in mass-flow bins and stress states at hopper/feeder interface
- Creator
- Guo, Jie
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2014
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- Since the era of industrialization, the handling of materials in bulk form has become a necessary process for a range of industries throughout the world. Bulk handling and storage facilities should be designed and operated to obtain both maximum reliability and efficiency as well as encourage economy. A better understanding of the stress field and arching behavior and an accurate assessment of the bin wall pressure are essential steps to achieving reliable design of the storage bins or the feeder system. To date, the determination of the critical mass-flow hopper opening dimensions to prevent blockages due to the formation of stable, cohesive arches has been based on the radial stress field generated in the lower region of the hopper. The surcharge loads on the hopper have not been taken into account. Non-linear effects caused by the hopper surcharge loads in mass-flow analysis need to be addressed. In this study, a large number of experiments were conducted to investigate the influence of the surcharge pressure and the filling level on the hopper wall pressure during arching. The failure mechanism of the arches is discussed by means of studying the arch profile in the mass-flow hopper. In this study, to ensure efficient feeding, the hopper and feeder geometry are designed as an integral unit. The stress field at the hopper/feeder interface is of particular interest due to the role that it plays in estimating the feeder loads. In reality, the two-dimensional stress field assumed in the mass-flow hopper is influenced by the shear force due to the feeder operation. The combination of the active stress field and the passive stress field in the mass-flow hopper is suggested. This study also attempts to provide an accurate estimation of the feeder loads by investigating the feeder loads given by a combination of two methods. Apart from the comparisons between the experimental and theoretical results, numerical simulations using the discrete element method were carried out additionally to assist in the investigation of the hopper wall pressures and feeder loads. The influences of the various parameters on the hopper wall pressure, such as filling heights and outlet dimensions, are presented in this thesis. For the feeder system, the effects of the clearance between the hopper and feeder, the belt speed and other areas are also studied.
- Subject
- arching behavior; plane-flow hopper; hopper/feeder interface; stress field
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1047959
- Identifier
- uon:14850
- Rights
- Copyright 2014 Jie Guo
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT01 | Abstract | 221 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download | ||
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Thesis | 9 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download | ||
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT03 | Appendices | 26 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |