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SIMULATIONS OF GRANULAR FLOW
CSIRO has developed a suite of novel software technologies to help engineers, scientists, researchers and academics address a range of problems related to product or process behaviour in complex engineering and scientific systems.
A software package for simulating the flow of granular material is available for commercial use.
It is designed to model the flow of granules, with or without a surrounding slurry, in mining and minerals processing equipment. This requires advanced algorithms and substantial computer resources. But the benefits will be extremely large. A typical mineral ore grinding mill costs as much as an airliner, but only between 1% and 2% of the power actually goes into rock breakage. If the process could be properly simulated - and this has never been possible before - then huge improvements in efficiency might be expected, and equally huge savings would follow.
Air movements over a wing, heat transfer, stress and strain, electromagnetic forces - they can all be described by mathematical systems known as partial differential equations (PDEs).
There are hundreds of other applications for PDEs in scientific and engineering disciplines. In chemistry, for example, and in fluid dynamics and metallurgy. They are even useful in the equally complex world of finance.
Solving the relevant PDEs is the key to successfully simulating the systems they describe. Simulation demands the most advanced mathematical modelling techniques allied with heavyweight computing resources. But on the other hand there is a big incentive for researchers to learn more about how such systems work and to suggest ways of improving them.
That's because the equipment in which these highly complex systems operate is often extremely expensive. Some of it is also extremely inefficient.
Modelling of granular flow aids optimisation of dragline bucket design.
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Catalogue Contents
