DEM Study of Particle Shape Effects on the Structure of Monosized and Triple-Sized Sinter Piles

The packing structure of particles is a critical aspect of granular materials research. For irregularly shaped particles, such as sinter, the shape is a parameter that is often simplified in computational research but plays a crucial role in determining the packing structure of the real granular system. In this study, the discrete element method was employed to investigate the effect of particle shape on the structural characteristics, including porosity, porosity distribution, and segregation, of sinter piles with mono- and triple-sized particles. A realistic sinter particle model was used as a template to generate multisphere particles with varying sphericity. The results show that piles of triple-sized particles exhibit lower porosity than monosized particle piles, regardless of particle shape. Particle shape was found to have a nonmonotonic effect on porosity, with porosity first decreasing and then increasing with particle shape deviation from spherical, while particle shape had almost negligible influence on the axial and radial porosity distribution and segregation. In piles of triple-sized particles, spherical particles were found to exhibit greater radial mobility than nonspherical ones, leading to lower axial segregation and more gradual changes in the radial porosity distribution.