Julia Hartig, Abhishek Shetty, Davis R. Conklin, Alan W. Weimer, 'Aeration and cohesive effects on flowability in a vibrating powder conveyor', Powder Technology, Volume 408, 117724, 2022 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.powtec.2022.117724. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0032591022006179)

Abstract: A CFD-DEM model for aerated vibratory convection was developed to explore the coupled gas-solid interactions governing bulk powder bed dynamics. Each simulation was prepared by carefully characterizing the rough, porous conveyor baseplate and four candidate particle sizes representative of typical powder beds. Trends in the vibratory convection of particles between 20 and 250 μm in diameter could be explained by considering each powder’s minimum fluidization velocity and the magnitude of van der Waals cohesive forces. Simulations of fine powders under high cohesive forces exhibited competing effects from drag and cohesion; drag promotes powder-frit liftoff while cohesion suppresses contact separation. Experimental convection velocities were observed to be in good agreement with the simulated mean powder velocity for throw numbers between 0.25 and 0.50.
Keywords: CFD-DEM; Aeration; Cohesion; Van der Waals; Fine powder; Vibration