{"id":{"repo_id":"cape-town","oai_identifier":"oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/10792"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/cape-town/oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/10792","repository":{"repo_id":"cape-town","name":"University of Cape Town","base_url":"https://open.uct.ac.za/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"A one-way coupled DEM-CFD scheme to mode free-surface flows in tumbling mills","abstract":"There is a great need in the minerals processing industry for accurate prediction of slurry flows in tumbling mills. This flow is currently best understood through empirical, mechanistic and computational models. In the case of computational models, a realistic description of the system requires two fluid phases (for slurry and air) and one solid phase (for the charge). Existing 3-phase work makes use of a purely particle-based description, coupling the discrete element method (DEM) for the solids with smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) for the fluids. This work is the first presentation of a 3-phase approach for tumbling mills that combines a particle description for the solids, DEM, and a continuum description for the fluids, computational fluid dynamics (CFD). In this approach, the phase coupling is only one-way, in the sense that forces are applied from the solids to the fluids, but not the other way around. In the course of developing the approach, some computational geometry algorithms are presented for efficiently converting the particle description of DEM into an appropriate continuum description for CFD.","abstract_html":"There is a great need in the minerals processing industry for accurate prediction of slurry flows in tumbling mills. This flow is currently best understood through empirical, mechanistic and computational models. In the case of computational models, a realistic description of the system requires two fluid phases (for slurry and air) and one solid phase (for the charge). Existing 3-phase work makes use of a purely particle-based description, coupling the discrete element method (DEM) for the solids with smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) for the fluids. This work is the first presentation of a 3-phase approach for tumbling mills that combines a particle description for the solids, DEM, and a continuum description for the fluids, computational fluid dynamics (CFD). In this approach, the phase coupling is only one-way, in the sense that forces are applied from the solids to the fluids, but not the other way around. In the course of developing the approach, some computational geometry algorithms are presented for efficiently converting the particle description of DEM into an appropriate continuum description for CFD.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Malahe, Michael"],"institution":"Department of Physics","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Buffler, Andy","Govender, Indresan"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2012,"date_issued":"2012","date_published":"2012","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:23:02Z","subjects":[],"languages":["eng"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10792","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Buffler, Andy","Govender, Indresan"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Malahe, Michael"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2014-12-31T20:02:01Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2014-12-31T20:02:01Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2012"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["Department of Physics"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["University of Cape Town"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Master Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["Masters"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["MSc"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["eng"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10792"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Includes bibliographical references."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["There is a great need in the minerals processing industry for accurate prediction of slurry flows in tumbling mills. This flow is currently best understood through empirical, mechanistic and computational models. In the case of computational models, a realistic description of the system requires two fluid phases (for slurry and air) and one solid phase (for the charge). Existing 3-phase work makes use of a purely particle-based description, coupling the discrete element method (DEM) for the solids with smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) for the fluids. This work is the first presentation of a 3-phase approach for tumbling mills that combines a particle description for the solids, DEM, and a continuum description for the fluids, computational fluid dynamics (CFD). In this approach, the phase coupling is only one-way, in the sense that forces are applied from the solids to the fluids, but not the other way around. In the course of developing the approach, some computational geometry algorithms are presented for efficiently converting the particle description of DEM into an appropriate continuum description for CFD."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["A one-way coupled DEM-CFD scheme to mode free-surface flows in tumbling mills"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Buffler, Andy","Govender, Indresan"],"dc:creator":["Malahe, Michael"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2014-12-31T20:02:01Z"],"dc:date.available":["2014-12-31T20:02:01Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2012"],"dc:description":["Includes bibliographical references."],"dc:description.abstract":["There is a great need in the minerals processing industry for accurate prediction of slurry flows in tumbling mills. This flow is currently best understood through empirical, mechanistic and computational models. In the case of computational models, a realistic description of the system requires two fluid phases (for slurry and air) and one solid phase (for the charge). Existing 3-phase work makes use of a purely particle-based description, coupling the discrete element method (DEM) for the solids with smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) for the fluids. This work is the first presentation of a 3-phase approach for tumbling mills that combines a particle description for the solids, DEM, and a continuum description for the fluids, computational fluid dynamics (CFD). In this approach, the phase coupling is only one-way, in the sense that forces are applied from the solids to the fluids, but not the other way around. In the course of developing the approach, some computational geometry algorithms are presented for efficiently converting the particle description of DEM into an appropriate continuum description for CFD."],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10792"],"dc:language.iso":["eng"],"dc:publisher.department":["Department of Physics"],"dc:publisher.institution":["University of Cape Town"],"dc:title":["A one-way coupled DEM-CFD scheme to mode free-surface flows in tumbling mills"],"dc:type":["Master Thesis"],"dc:type.qualificationlevel":["Masters"],"dc:type.qualificationname":["MSc"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:23:02Z"}