Improvement in flow rate through an aperture on a conveyor belt: Effects of bottom wall and packing configurations

Hong Wei Zhu; Li Peng Wang; Qing Fan Shi; Liang Sheng Li; Ning Zheng

doi:10.1016/j.powtec.2019.01.053

Improvement in flow rate through an aperture on a conveyor belt: Effects of bottom wall and packing configurations

Hong Wei Zhu, Li Peng Wang, Qing Fan Shi^*, Liang Sheng Li, Ning Zheng

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Physics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

9 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We experimentally present three methods for improving flow rate of disks driven through an aperture on a conveyor belt: modifying a flat bottom wall, tuning an initial packing configuration and the combination of both above, when the aperture and conveyor belt velocity cannot be altered. Improvements of up to 15.6% are reported. By measuring the packing density, vertical and horizontal velocity profiles in the flow of disks just before the aperture for various cases, we conclude that flow rate is mainly determined by the vertical velocity in each of these three methods. In addition, we qualitatively discuss that the horizontal velocity has two adverse effects on the vertical velocity. Potentially, this research can shed light on traffic flow or emergency evacuation of crowds.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	676-681
Number of pages	6
Journal	Powder Technology
Volume	345
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.powtec.2019.01.053
Publication status	Published - 1 Mar 2019

Keywords

Bottom wall
Conveyor belt
Flow rate
Granular flow
Packing configuration

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10.1016/j.powtec.2019.01.053

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title = "Improvement in flow rate through an aperture on a conveyor belt: Effects of bottom wall and packing configurations",

abstract = "We experimentally present three methods for improving flow rate of disks driven through an aperture on a conveyor belt: modifying a flat bottom wall, tuning an initial packing configuration and the combination of both above, when the aperture and conveyor belt velocity cannot be altered. Improvements of up to 15.6% are reported. By measuring the packing density, vertical and horizontal velocity profiles in the flow of disks just before the aperture for various cases, we conclude that flow rate is mainly determined by the vertical velocity in each of these three methods. In addition, we qualitatively discuss that the horizontal velocity has two adverse effects on the vertical velocity. Potentially, this research can shed light on traffic flow or emergency evacuation of crowds.",

keywords = "Bottom wall, Conveyor belt, Flow rate, Granular flow, Packing configuration",

author = "Zhu, {Hong Wei} and Wang, {Li Peng} and Shi, {Qing Fan} and Li, {Liang Sheng} and Ning Zheng",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019",

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doi = "10.1016/j.powtec.2019.01.053",

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T2 - Effects of bottom wall and packing configurations

AU - Zhu, Hong Wei

AU - Wang, Li Peng

AU - Shi, Qing Fan

AU - Li, Liang Sheng

AU - Zheng, Ning

PY - 2019/3/1

Y1 - 2019/3/1

N2 - We experimentally present three methods for improving flow rate of disks driven through an aperture on a conveyor belt: modifying a flat bottom wall, tuning an initial packing configuration and the combination of both above, when the aperture and conveyor belt velocity cannot be altered. Improvements of up to 15.6% are reported. By measuring the packing density, vertical and horizontal velocity profiles in the flow of disks just before the aperture for various cases, we conclude that flow rate is mainly determined by the vertical velocity in each of these three methods. In addition, we qualitatively discuss that the horizontal velocity has two adverse effects on the vertical velocity. Potentially, this research can shed light on traffic flow or emergency evacuation of crowds.

AB - We experimentally present three methods for improving flow rate of disks driven through an aperture on a conveyor belt: modifying a flat bottom wall, tuning an initial packing configuration and the combination of both above, when the aperture and conveyor belt velocity cannot be altered. Improvements of up to 15.6% are reported. By measuring the packing density, vertical and horizontal velocity profiles in the flow of disks just before the aperture for various cases, we conclude that flow rate is mainly determined by the vertical velocity in each of these three methods. In addition, we qualitatively discuss that the horizontal velocity has two adverse effects on the vertical velocity. Potentially, this research can shed light on traffic flow or emergency evacuation of crowds.

KW - Bottom wall

KW - Conveyor belt

KW - Flow rate

KW - Granular flow

KW - Packing configuration

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DO - 10.1016/j.powtec.2019.01.053

M3 - Article

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SN - 0032-5910

VL - 345

SP - 676

EP - 681

JO - Powder Technology

JF - Powder Technology

ER -

Improvement in flow rate through an aperture on a conveyor belt: Effects of bottom wall and packing configurations

Abstract

Keywords

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