DEM simulation of particle flow on a multi-deck banana screen

Banana screen is an important innovation in screening process in the past decades to improve screen capacity. Although, it is increasingly employed in the mineral industry, the control and optimisation are still limited due to the lack of fundamental understandings of the process. This paper presents a numerical study of the particle flow on a banana screen at a particle scale by means of Discrete Element Method (DEM). Typical 3-deck and 5-deck banana screens are simulated. The effects of operational conditions and geometry on the screen performance are studied by a series of controlled numerical experiments. The results are analysed in terms of partition curves, distributions of percentage passing and other flow information, such as particle volume and velocities along the screen deck. They are useful to the development of a better understanding and the control of banana screening processes. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.