Research On Performance Of Large Tumbling Mill Liners Based On DEM-FEM Coupling Approach

This article was based on the National High-Tech Research and Development Programof China (863Plan)(No.2012AA062002): The mining technology and equipment inlarge-scale open pit mines focusing on the research of wear mechanism and performance forlarge tumbling ball mill liners. The operating principle was analyzed, the design theory andwear mechanism of liners were studied, the trapezoidal liner was optimized and theperformance of liners was simulated and verified by DEM-FEM coupling analysis.By extensively reviewed the relevant literature, the present situation of research andapplication of the DEM on tumbling ball mill and the structure of liners was summarized.On the base of the working principle of ball mill, the motion law of medium and thedetermination method of operating parameter, active power and starting torque wereoverviewed. Besides, the fracture mechanism of ore particles was conducted.The design philosophy of non-smooth liner structure was proposed on the base of theintroduction of structure and material of liners, the main failure forms and influencing factorof mill ball liners. As the lifting capacity and grinding performance of trapezoidal linerswere better, the design method was conducted based on the principles of huge impact, lowinvalid energy consumption. Moreover, the wear mechanism was analyzed and themathematical calculation models of wear were discussed. What’s more, the structure oftrapezoidal liners was optimized according to the effects of production efficiency from linerwear and wear cycle which not only lengthened the liner life but also improve theproduction efficiency of mill balls and material utilization of liners.The discrete element method was applied to simulate the interaction process amongliners and particles to obtain the variation of starting torque and active power to prove theaccuracy and the correctness of the simulation model. Meanwhile, the distribution regularityof impact force and collision dissipation energy of liners was analyzed, and then the wearlaw of mill ball liner was researched in the light of wear nephogram. Furthermore, on thebase of DEM-FEM coupling analysis, the stress distribution of liners was got. The couplingresult was in accord with the discrete element simulation result, which verified the wearregularity of liners.This paper showed the stress distribution and wear regularity of liners by DEM-FEMcoupling analysis, which provided references for the structure design and performance research of liners, meanwhile played a major role in production efficiency and economicbenefit for tumbling mills.