CFD simulation of particulate flow in a spiral concentrator

Abstract A spiral concentrator is a gravity concentration device. It was invented by Humphreys in 1941. Firstly, it was designed and developed based on experience and by extensive testing of prototypes and modifications. The main objective of the present study is the simulation of the particulate flow of more realistic solid concentrations (i. e., 15 wt.-% solids) in a spiral separator. This study is based on the Eulerian approach and renormalization group k-∊ turbulence modeling. The results focus on particulate flow characteristics such as velocity, distribution and concentration of particulates on the spiral trough. The predicted results were compared with the experimental results in case of LD9 coal spiral. Comparisons between numerical and measured data showed good agreement.