Prediction of Dust Emissions from Belt Conveyor Transfer Chutes

摘要

This paper presents work undertaken to model dust emissions from belt conveyor transfer chutes. Several transfer chute configurations were investigated during the course of the project with the aim of analysing the performance of each using scale model laboratory testing. The experimental work involved measuring the quantity of fugitive dust, in addition to the velocity of the entrained air at the exit of the chutes using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) was then used to theoretically analyse the flow patterns of the granular material and entrained air in each of the transfer chute configurations. The predicted air velocities and flow patterns obtained from the simulations compared favourably with the experimental results, demonstrating that CFD can be used as an effective tool to model and evaluate the performance of transfer chute designs with regards to dust emission.