Dem Bechernicken auf der Spur

Abstract

In bulk material handling systems the bucket elevator represents an important element for the vertical transport of bulk materials. Due to increasing mass flow rates, the application of high speed bucket elevators is becoming more and more common. The dynamic behaviour of the entire system is an essential factor in the design and construction of such conveyors. This article presents a new simulation method for coupling machine models (multi-body simulation, MBD) with material models (discrete element method, DEM). Based on a simplified multi-body model of a bucket, the tilting of individual buckets is simulated at different belt stiffnesses and belt speeds. The simulation results are compared with experimentally measured values of a real bucket elevator.