Minerals Engineering, Vol.138, 238-245, 2019
Dynamic capture behavior of ferromagnetic particles based on fully coupled multiphysics model of particle-fluid interactions
Wet low-intensity magnetic separation (LIMS) is used in the magnetic separation of ferromagnetic minerals. The performance of the separation is controlled primarily by the internal flow in the separator, governed by the process and machine settings. However, these factors change with the properties of the magnetic material and the operating conditions. Therefore, the numerical calculation of the multiphysics coupling separation process of such dynamic captures becomes crucial for wet LIMS. In this study, we present a novel and straightforward fully coupled multiphysics modeling approach for the simulation of LIMS. In this model, particle tracing in the fluid flow module is used to calculate the location and dynamic capture behavior of ferromagnetic particles under the determined magnetic and flow fields. In particular, while calculating the magnetic force, hydrodynamic drag force, gravity, and centrifugal force, the model also inherently retains its ability to simulate the influence of ferromagnetic particle fluid interactions. The model is compared with experiments and the particle capture theory, and is demonstrated to be realistic for studying ferromagnetic suspensions in mineral processing applications. The model provides new possibilities to understand and predict the efficiency of mineral separation processes through detailed computational simulations of the effects of the respective operating conditions on the dynamic capture behavior of the particles.
Keywords:Magnetic separation;Ferromagnetic particle;Dynamic capture;Multi-physics model;Particle-fluid interaction