3732 XXXI International Mineral Processing Congress 2024 Proceedings/Washington, DC/Sep 29–Oct 3
Implicit Incompressible SPH Approach (IISPH)
The second and more recent one is the implicit incompress-
ible SPH approach (IISPH) (Ihmsen et al 2013). In this
approach, the SPH fluid is incompressible, and pressure is
calculated via solution of the Poisson’s equation. The IISPH
method allows significantly larger time steps and is several
times faster than WCSPH because of that therefore, IISPH
approach was used for the mill simulation described here.
The details of this IISPH approach is described in Rocky
(2023).
For the cases where two-phase flows were simulated
with slurry and solid particles, the coupling with the DEM
solid particles was done by placing SPH particles volumet-
rically inside the DEM particles and applying the forces on
these coupled SPH particles to the DEM particles. These
coupled SPH particles move with the parent DEM parti-
cles. This approach for the two-dimensional simulation is
described in Potapov et al.(2001), and the extension of it to
three dimensions is elementary.
The flow of slurry and solid in the simulated system was
calculated by placing control surfaces into the simulation
domain and calculating SPH (fluid) and DEM (solid) par-
ticles masses for the particles crossing these surfaces. Rocky
SPH-DEM coupling is a multi-GPU implementation.
SAG MILL MODEL AND MESHING
The SAG mill model is depicted in Figure 1. The internal
dimensions are 6.7 m × 2.13 m with vertical feed and dis-
charge heads and fitted with shell lifters/liners with the pro-
file shown in Figure 1a. The grate apertures are portrayed
in Figure 1c and Figure 1d, with 14×11mm grate apertures.
The grate and pulp lifter design that was in operation dur-
ing the start of this study are referred to as current design
in this paper. As shown in Figure 1d, every couple pulp
Figure 1. SAG Mill model
Implicit Incompressible SPH Approach (IISPH)
The second and more recent one is the implicit incompress-
ible SPH approach (IISPH) (Ihmsen et al 2013). In this
approach, the SPH fluid is incompressible, and pressure is
calculated via solution of the Poisson’s equation. The IISPH
method allows significantly larger time steps and is several
times faster than WCSPH because of that therefore, IISPH
approach was used for the mill simulation described here.
The details of this IISPH approach is described in Rocky
(2023).
For the cases where two-phase flows were simulated
with slurry and solid particles, the coupling with the DEM
solid particles was done by placing SPH particles volumet-
rically inside the DEM particles and applying the forces on
these coupled SPH particles to the DEM particles. These
coupled SPH particles move with the parent DEM parti-
cles. This approach for the two-dimensional simulation is
described in Potapov et al.(2001), and the extension of it to
three dimensions is elementary.
The flow of slurry and solid in the simulated system was
calculated by placing control surfaces into the simulation
domain and calculating SPH (fluid) and DEM (solid) par-
ticles masses for the particles crossing these surfaces. Rocky
SPH-DEM coupling is a multi-GPU implementation.
SAG MILL MODEL AND MESHING
The SAG mill model is depicted in Figure 1. The internal
dimensions are 6.7 m × 2.13 m with vertical feed and dis-
charge heads and fitted with shell lifters/liners with the pro-
file shown in Figure 1a. The grate apertures are portrayed
in Figure 1c and Figure 1d, with 14×11mm grate apertures.
The grate and pulp lifter design that was in operation dur-
ing the start of this study are referred to as current design
in this paper. As shown in Figure 1d, every couple pulp
Figure 1. SAG Mill model