An in-depth exploration of the reaction kinetics and thermo-chemical behaviors of the raceway can offer practical insights for optimizing the operations of blast furnace (BF), thus achieving a more effective iron and steel production process. In this study, the dynamic characteristics and the flow, heat and mass transfer behaviors in the BF raceway were simulated by Discrete Element Method-Computational Fluid Dynamics (DEM-CFD) method at a particulate scale. The effects of coke size distribution and blast velocity on coke combustion characteristics, thermochemical behavior (particle volume fraction, raceway size, carbon loss, and coke temperature) and microscopic properties (coordination number (CN), contact normal force, pore structure and stress) were systematically investigated. The results show that as the blast velocity decreases or the size ratio λ (the largest coke particle size divided by the smallest coke particle size) increases, the raceway size becomes smaller, resulting in a smaller area of high oxygen (O₂) concentration and low carbon monoxide (CO) concentration in the raceway, and higher CO concentration in the packed bed. For the thermal-chemical behaviors, a lower blast velocity or a higher λ value decreases the number of particles experiencing mass loss, as well as increases individual particle mass loss, the average coke temperature and its variance. For microscopic properties, the CN distribution becomes wider as λ increases. The contact normal force in the coke bed with λ > 1 is significantly higher than that of λ = 1. As λ increases or blast velocity decreases, the pore distribution curve shifts to the left and the average pore volume decreases. The stress acting on the particles in the raceway increases with the blast velocity or λ. These new understandings of the complex reactive flow behaviors in the raceway will shed light on energy utilization and process optimization.

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Understanding and controlling the composition segregation during powder spreading is of key importance in the additive manufacturing (AM) of composite materials. Under this circumstance, the segregation behavior of WC/316 L composite powders during spreading in laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) AM was numerically investigated by the discrete element method. The effects of process conditions (i.e., spreader velocity and geometry) and powder properties (i.e., size and shape of the WC powder) on the powder bed composition segregation and related characteristics were systematically analyzed. Corresponding mechanisms were identified from microscopic scale in terms of particle velocity, motion trajectory, mechanical behavior, and energy information. Finally, proper solutions in designing and constructing WC/316 L composite materials with desired gradient structures were proposed. The results show that the small blade velocity (V) will enhance the negative segregation, increase the average packing density ρ¯, and decrease uniformity ρ_vc in the WC/316 L composite powder bed. Compared with the blade, the roller can increase the negative segregation (Se_roller = −0.027 < Se_blade = −0.019) and the average packing density (ρ¯_roller = 0.31>ρ¯_blade = 0.20). When the WC/316 L size ratio increases from 25 μm/45 μm to 45 μm/45 μm, the negative segregation becomes weaker, and its value increases from −0.084 to −0.007. When the size ratio increases to 65 μm/45 μm, the powder behaves positive segregation with Se_max = 0.017; in this case, the packing density is the lowest (0.14), and the uniformity is the worst (0.17). In comparison with spherical shape, polyhedral WC powder can reduce the negative segregation of the powder bed (Se_sphere = −0.019 < Se_polyhedron = −0.008), while the WC shape has less effect on the packing density and uniformity. The density difference of the WC and 316 L powders leads to the difference in energy and force, resulting in different motion and segregation behaviors in the composite powder bed. For WC/316 L composite powder with a fixed composition, the condition of V = 0.025 m/s, WC/316 L size ratio = 25 μm/45 μm, roller spreader, and spherical WC can realize the proper composition gradient along the spreading direction in the composite powder bed.

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To identify the dense packing of cylinder–sphere binary mixtures (spheres as filling objects), the densification process of such binary mixtures subjected to three-dimensional (3D) mechanical vibrations was experimentally studied. Various influential factors including vibration parameters (such as vibration time t, vibration amplitude A, frequency ω, vibration acceleration Γ) as well as particle size ratio r (small sphere vs. large cylinder), composition of the binary mixtures X_L (volume fraction of cylinders), and container size D (container diameter) on the packing density ρ were systematically investigated. The results show that the optimal vibration parameters for different binary cylinder–sphere mixtures are different. The smaller the size ratio, the less vibration acceleration is needed to form a stable dense packing. For each binary mixture, high packing density can be obtained when the volume fraction of large cylindrical particles is dominant. Meanwhile, increasing the container size can decrease the container wall effect and get higher packing density. The proposed analytical model has been proved to be valid in predicting the packing densification of current cylinder–sphere binary mixtures.

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In this paper, the transition from random to ordered packings of mono-sized cylindrical particles under 3D mechanical vibration was simulated by discrete element method (DEM). The effects of particle aspect ratio, size of the particulate system and container wall on the granular crystallization were investigated. And the mechanisms were analyzed through the characterization of the order transition process in terms of packing density, coordination number (CN), orientational ordering parameter (O), nucleation and growth of cluster and granular temperature (θ). The results show that nearly perfect crystallization of mono-sized cylindrical particles can be achieved with specific aspect ratio and proper vibration conditions in a cylindrical container. The orientational ordering parameter demonstrates that the crystallization firstly starts from the container wall and then propagates inward gradually. The lower granular temperature in a cuboid container indicates less vibration energy transferred to the granular assembly compared with that in a cylindrical container, illustrating the critical role of container shape in crystallization. The vibrated crystallization of mono-sized cylindrical particles is analogous to entropy-driven process, which can be gradually achieved by the self-assembly of particles with parallel alignments along the already formed ordered clusters (nuclei)or the container wall. These results can help design complex and ordered granular structures.

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Bottom pressure of confined granular assemblies saturates at a certain value even this packing bed is being continuously charged. Corresponding formulation has been established to describe this interesting phenomenon. In this work, the influences of particle size and friction on the bottom stresses of granular matter were numerically investigated by discrete element method (DEM). It is found that the Janssen model can well predict the stress profile only when the size ratio of the container versus the particle is larger than 16. Moreover, a hydrostatic linear relation between apparent mass and filling mass can be obtained when the friction coefficient becomes insignificant (μ ≤ 0.01). To further interpret the Janssen effects, the granular assemblies are characterized and evaluated from the overall interactions with sidewalls, angular distribution function, void size distribution, coordination number, contact networks, contact orientation and distributions of contact forces within the packing structure. It is believed that these results will be helpful to comprehend the granular behaviors and may offer instructive reference to industrial processes in related fields.@en

The packing densification of mono-sized equilateral cylindrical particles under mechanical vibration is numerically reproduced using discrete element method (DEM). The influences of vibration frequency, amplitude and container size on the macro property (e.g. packing density) of each packing are studied. Meanwhile, various micro-properties including coordination number (CN), radial distribution function (RDF), local structures, contact types, particle position/orientation distributions, forces/stresses of the vibrated dense packing are characterized and compared with those of the loose initial poured packing. The results show that properly controlling vibration conditions can realize the transition of equilateral cylindrical particles from random loose packing (RLP) to random close packing (RCP). The maximum packing density without wall effects can reach about 0.7166, which agrees with experimental and numerical results in literature. Micro property analyses demonstrate that the average CN increases slightly after vibration. The RDF curves indicate three obvious peaks for both poured and vibrated packings. The distributions of intersection angles imply that the perpendicular arrangements of the cylindrical particles are common in both packing structures. From RLP to RCP, the probability of side-edge, bottom-edge and edge-edge contacts between two particles decreases, while that of side-side, side-bottom and bottom-bottom contacts increases. Both particle position and orientation distributions illustrate that the structure in the center of the vibrated packing is disordered. The distribution of strong forces follows the exponential law, while that of weak forces follows the power law. The static vertical stresses in both packings can be predicted by Janssen model. After vibration, a much denser and more stable structure with a larger saturation stress is obtained due to the reducing inter-particle friction effects.

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Densification of cubic particles under three-dimensional (3D) mechanical vibration was studied experimentally. Effects of vibration time (t), frequency (f), vibration amplitude (A), vibration acceleration (Г), container size (D) and particle sphericity (φ) on packing density (ρ) were comprehensively analyzed. To identify the effects of particle shape, the packing densification of cuboid 1 (12 mm × 12 mm × 28 mm) and cuboid 2 (4 mm × 8 mm × 16 mm) were systematically studied under the same conditions. The results show that the structure of cubic particles can be first densified from random loose packing (RLP) to random close packing (RCP) and then to ordered packing (OP) gradually. In comparison, cuboid 1 and cuboid 2 particles can only form RCP structure, but cannot achieve OP even under further vibration. Vibration parameters (t, f, A and Г) are shown to be important to the packing densification. Based on the results of varying f and A, A - f phase diagrams are established for choosing the optimal vibration parameters to achieve the desired dense packing structures. Besides, it is shown the size of container (wall effect) has monotonic influence on packing density, i.e., the larger container size corresponds to the less wall effect and higher packing density. Cubic particles can form ordered packing because of the geometrical symmetry with aspect ratio of 1. After eliminating the wall effect by extrapolating the packing densities in different sized containers, typical packing densities of the three types of particles are obtained with ρ_RLP = 0.658, ρ_RCP = 0.830 and ρ_OP = 0.965 for cubic particles; ρ_RLP = 0.625 and ρ_RCP = 0.740 for cuboid 1 particles; ρ_RLP = 0.591 and ρ_RCP = 0.731 for cuboid 2 particles. These findings indicate cubic particles are efficient in densification which can be readily realized through proper 3D mechanical vibration.

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