The prediction of bulk material adhesion using a modified Instantaneous Yield Locus (IYL)

The determination of the flow properties of a bulk material is critical for the design of any bulk materials handling system. The design of such materials handling systems will be most effective when handling bulk materials at the physical properties they were designed to handle. Due to the fast-paced nature of expansion in the mining industry and demand of mineral resources, it is quite common for materials handling systems to handle bulk materials that were not intended for the system. Problematic bulk materials can cause significant downtime within the materials handling stream, due to events such as blockages of bins, hoppers and transfer chutes, remains left in train wagons and dump trucks as well as conveyor belt carry back. The current measurement techniques for problematic bulk materials have limitations and new methods must be considered. The development of new testers that can measure the inter-particle adhesion of a bulk material can give a quantitative value for the adhesion present in a bulk material sample. The following paper presents a revised methodology for the estimation of the adhesion of bulk materials determined from the extrapolation of the Instantaneous Yield Locus (IYL). The predicted adhesion values from this methodology are compared to experimental measurements using an inter-particle adhesion tester.