The research focuses on understanding cohesive powder flow in flexible bulk solid containers (buggies and bulk bags) with a view to develop a design methodology for ensuring reliable discharge from these containers. The project involves experimental powder flowability characterisation, finite element analysis of the stresses in flexible containers and pilot scale experiments to study the powder flow field and validate the new design methodology for reliable discharge.
The principal aim is to characterise the flow properties of dense granular systems. In particular, the influence of different particle-shape representation techniques in the Discrete Element Method (DEM) is assessed. Additionally, experiments in a silo centrifuge device to determine the bulk response of granular assemblies under realistic stress states are being carried out. This work is part of T-MAPPP (Training in Multiscale Analysis of multi-Phase Particulate Processes), an FP7 Marie Curie Initial Training Network (https://www.t-mappp.eu).
The research focuses on understanding cohesive powder flow in flexible bulk solid containers (buggies and bulk bags) with a view to develop a design methodology for ensuring reliable discharge from these containers. The project involves experimental powder flowability characterisation, finite element analysis of the stresses in flexible containers and pilot scale experiments to study the powder flow field and validate the new design methodology for reliable discharge.
