- Title
- Experimental and numerical investigation of dust emissions from transfer chutes
- Creator
- Chen, Xiaoling
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2013
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- Transfer chutes are used extensively in belt conveyor systems to ensure the material loaded is discharged in a centralised stream and in the same direction as the receiving conveyor. As concerns arise for the environment and occupational health and safety, the control of dust emissions from the belt conveyor system is a matter of high importance. Therefore, the performance of transfer chutes has a significant impact on not only the efficiency of conveyor belt systems, but on the level of fugitive dust emissions. The work presented investigates the feasibility of using a simulation method to predict the performance of transfer chutes, thereby achieving a better design. Scale model tests are carried out to provide the necessary information for the verification of the simulation results. Totally, there are six different chute configurations involved in the scale model tests. Several available simulation methods are applied to model the granular flow in transfer chutes, where both the advantages and disadvantages for each method are presented and discussed. A two-phase CFD simulation method is considered as a compromise solution, involving a mixture of the accuracy, time consumption and ease of use considerations. The appropriate models and modelling parameters of the two-phase CFD method for this particular system are determined according to the experimental results. Further potential to improve the design obtained from the results of scale model tests is investigated using simulation. The influences of the height of the stilling chamber, the length of the stilling chamber and the pattern of the curtains inside the stilling chamber on reducing dust emissions are briefly discussed and the effects of the control flap and the by-pass pipe are also investigated. The results reveal that the pattern of curtains placed has a great influence on lowering the air velocity at the chute outlet. The feasibility of the two-phase CFD on full scale transfer chute modelling is verified using results from site tests. The results indicate that the transfer chute performance regarding dust emission can be predicted by this method, providing a powerful design tool when used in conjunction with other methods used to analyse the transfer chute from a bulk material flow perspective.
- Subject
- transfer chute; dust emission; CFD
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1036786
- Identifier
- uon:13361
- Rights
- Copyright 2013 Xiaoling Chen
- Language
- eng
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