Calibration procedure of Discrete Element Method (DEM) parameters for wet and sticky bulk materials

The downtimes associated with blockage events in the materials handling sector have prompted the mining industry to optimise its operations to maximise the profitability of fines and lump products. These blockage events are caused by materials with a high clay or moisture content typically referred to as Wet and Sticky Material (WSM). Numerous methods are commonly used to prevent such blockage events, however, in the majority of cases, they are often too late to prevent the downtime of the system. The Discrete Element Method (DEM) is commonly used to predict and visualise the bulk material flow. DEM is capable of replicating the flow of non-cohesive granular materials with reasonable accuracy, however, when cohesive materials are considered the mechanism becomes much more complex. With the advancement of computational power over the last few decades, it is now more practical to simulate WSMs into DEM.