Contact force modeling in coarse-grained discrete element method and vibration analysis of ball mill wall

Abstract

In the discrete element method analysis, the number of particle elements affects the calculation time. Because of this disadvantage, a method called coarse-grained method is sometimes used to improve the calculation speed by replacing multiple particle elements as a single particle element. In this study, a contact force model based on Hertzian contact theory is implemented in a contact force calculation between coarse-grained elements, and the contact force is used as input force for vibration analysis of a ball mill. Compared to the analysis results obtained by the conventional coarse-graining method using a contact force model based on linear springs, the proposed contact force calculated by the proposed mode closes the one of the original model.