International Journal of Mineral Processing 110111 (2012) 135139

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International Journal of Mineral Processing

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijminpro

Predicting ow mode in cylindrical hopper

Ankit Gupta, Samik Nag , Vilas Tathavadkar
Research and Development, Tata Steel, Jamshedpur, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Most of the problems associated with industries handling solids are related to hopper ow. Hoppers may
Received 26 October 2010 develop slow and sluggish zones, commonly known as stagnant zones, leading to funnel ow which reduces
Received in revised form 12 March 2012 the efciency of the process. Modelling can be used to predict the hopper ow based on material properties
Accepted 17 March 2012
and hopper design. We have simulated the ow in a cylindrical hopper and validated it by performing 3D
Available online 17 April 2012
experiments. Further the model is used to investigate the effect of material properties and hopper design.
Keywords:
It was found that stagnant zone size increases with increase in internal friction angle and decrease in ability
Modelling of granular material to transfer load. It is also observed that stagnant zone size decreases as hopper angle is
Process optimization increased. Optimum hopper angle can be calculated from the simulation to minimise hopper height. This
Simulation model can further be used for predicting ow for more complex conditions.
2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction be owing like a uid at a macroscopic level. This dual characteristic

Flow of granular materials in hoppers is of importance to all the
engineering processes handling solids. Most of the problems in material
handling are related to solid ow within hoppers. Funnel ow is the
most important phenomenon which creates problems like ooding,
segregation etc. Funnel ow takes place due to formation of stagnant
zones inside the hopper. Achieving stable material ow without local
growth of stagnant zones leads to high efciency (Nikacevic and
Dudukovic, 2010; Zhang et al., 2002; Faqih, 2007; Johanson, 2002).
Stagnant zones and other high solid fraction regions decrease the
effective working volume of the process vessel. Hoppers where lling
and emptying is important, ow characteristics play a critical role. In
counter current reactors these regions do not allow gas to pass through,
reducing the gas utilization.
Prediction of dynamics of granular materials in a moving bed
reactor is crucial for its design and operation. Inadequacy of describ-
ing the physics associated with particleparticle granular ow model-
ing still requires further attention (Choi et al., 2005; Langston et al.,
1997). Granular material, like solid, can resist shear force by surface
friction and cohesion, but beyond a particular level of stress, particles
slide against each other. Granular material thus can be considered to
Corresponding author. Tel.: + 91 6576648960; fax: + 91 6572271748.
E-mail address: samiknag@tatasteel.com (S. Nag).
behavior makes the prediction of granular material complex.
Various parameters are used to dene characteristics of Granular
material like size, shape, cohesiveness, surface roughness, deformation
capability, compaction factor, owability etc. These parameters are
derived from specically designed experiments and it is difcult to
extrapolate effect of these parameters in a hopper ow. Flow pattern
in a hopper also depends on parameters like wall pressure, hopper
geometry (Weir, 2004; Zugliano, 2008) etc. Mathematical models can
use granular material properties and hopper geometry to simulate ow.
Modelling of granular ow can be divided into two categories:
discrete approach and continuum. Discrete approach involves
analysis of motion of individual particles (Guises, 2008). Due to
lack of computational capabilities it is very difcult to handle large
number of particles and run simulations in real time (Zhang et al.,
2002). Solid and uid mechanics principles are applied in continuum
approaches. Satisfactory prediction for the stress eld can be
obtained through solid mechanics approaches (Jenike et al., 1973;
Jenike, 1964) but prediction for velocity eld is not satisfactory.
Most of the models based on continuum approach are unable to
predict stagnant zone prole instead require that as an input
(Nedderman and Tuzun, 1995). Model proposed by Zhang et al. (2002)
captures the dual nature of granular material by splitting the surface
shear stress into two terms, rate dependent and rate independent. Rate
dependent part of the surface stress is due to particleparticle kinetic in-
teraction because of collision, dynamic friction etc. whereas rate indepen-
dent term stems from the particleparticle contact interaction due to

0301-7516/$ see front matter 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.minpro.2012.03.010
136 A. Gupta et al. / International Journal of Mineral Processing 110111 (2012) 135139

where is the solid fraction, v velocity vector. The modied Navier

Nomenclature
Stokes equation as proposed after splitting of shear stress term can
be written as:
Solid fraction
* Solid fraction under standard loose condition
v
v Velocity vector :vv : rd :ri g 2
t
t Time
Density where is the density, rd rate dependent shear stress, ri rate inde-
rd Rate dependent shear stress pendent shear stress, g gravitational acceleration. Rate dependent
ri Rate independent shear stress term is derived from the viscous stress term as follows:
g Acceleration due to gravity
D Stretching tensor 2
I Identity matrix rd 2D trDI 3
3
Viscosity
Pe Effective pressure where is the viscosity, D stretching tensor, I identity matrix.
Go Constant of effective pressure The rate independent term is derived from the dry Coulomb
c Compaction modulus frictional relation, which can be written as:
dP Diameter of the particle
Co-efcient of plastic modulus D
ri P e I 2 p 4
tr(A) Trace of A square matrix trD2
1 Cohesion constant
2 Friction coefcient where Pe is the effective pressure, coefcient of plastic modulus. The
Angle of internal friction formulation of normal component of the surface stress given by Orr
(1966) is employed to determine the effective pressure, which can
be written as:
Subscript
x Horizontal direction Go 
Pe exp 5
y Vertical direction c

where Go is the constant, c compaction modulus and * is packing

density under standard loose condition. Compaction modulus is derived
packing, including normal contact and static shear friction. This model can from the ability of material to transmit force. This varies with factors
predict transition between moving and stagnant zones. such as particle size and space. It can be calculated experimentally.
The present paper is focused to predict solid fraction distribution in a Coefcient of plastic modulus () can be determined by the
cylindrical hopper ow. Model developed by Zhang et al. (2002) is used to following equation (Norem et al., 1987):
predict the granular ow. Effects of material properties and hopper design
are calculated on the hopper ow. Results generated from the simulation 1
p 1 2 P e 6
can be used to optimize the hopper design for required material ow. 2

2. Prediction of hopper ow Where 1 is constant and for cohesive materials it is taken as 0. 2

is given by
The model proposed by Zhang et al. (2002) is based on continuum
mechanics. Continuity equation can be written as:  
vy 1 
 x : vy 
2 v 
 tan 7
:v 0 1  xy : v1y 
t Max

Fig. 1. Velocity prole and solid fraction distribution in a at-bottomed hopper. Stagnant zone can be observed at the bottom of the hopper. v is the velocity, vin in the initial
velocity, x is the horizontal direction, y is the vertical direction and d is the orice radius. Simulation parameters glass balls of particle size = 10 3 m, density = 1500 kg/m3,
viscosity = 1.0 kg/m.s, inlet velocity (vin) = 10 2 m/s, inlet solid fraction = 0.5, internal friction angle = 35 o, compaction modulus = 150. a velocity prole and b solid
fraction prole.
 A. Gupta et al. / International Journal of Mineral Processing 110111 (2012) 135139
Fig. 2. 3D cylindrical hopper experimental setup.
where is the angle of internal friction. Internal friction angle is dened
as the angle which the solid makes with the horizontal while discharging.
For the purpose of current calculations, Eq. (7) is simplied as
2 tan
For solving the equations boundary conditions have to be specied.
At walls horizontal velocity is assumed to be 0 with vertical velocity is
given by the following equation:
dp vy
vy
0:33 x
The boundary conditions at the axis of symmetry require that the
gradient of all variables be zero. The inlet and outlet conditions for
solids phase are given.
2.1. Tools and techniques
Staggered grids and upwinding schemes are used to counter the
instability problem. For computational simplicity simulation is done
only for one half of the hopper and symmetric boundary conditions
are used at the central line. Algorithm used is as follows Velocity
Fig. 3. Frozen glass balls stagnant zone is distinguishable at the bottom.
137
Fig. 4. Comparison of stagnant zone prole. x is the horizontal direction, y is the
vertical direction and d is the orice radius. Simulation parameters glass balls of
particle size = 10 3 m, density = 1500 kg/m3, viscosity = 1.0 kg/m.s, inlet velocity
(vin) = 10 2 m/s, inlet solid fraction = 0.5, internal friction angle = 35o, compaction
modulus = 150.
is dened initially for all the points. Continuity equation (Eq. (1)) is
used to obtain solid fraction distribution from the velocity eld. This
solid fraction is used to obtain pressure from the Eq. (5). This pressure
is in turn used to calculate the new velocity eld from Eq. (2).
Iteration of above mentioned steps continue till steady state velocity
eld is obtained. After reaching the steady state; region having
velocity lower than the critical value is marked as a stagnant zone.
Boundary of the stagnant zone is treated as wall for further calcula-
tions. According to Zhang et al. (2002) further iterations are required
8 to calculate the nal stagnant zone shape. But for the present condi-
tions of hopper ow without gas ow further iterations are not re-
quired as convergence is achieved in rst iteration itself.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Simulation results
9
Model was tested for various parameters like internal friction angle,
compaction factor, particle size, density etc. Typical result obtained
from the simulation is shown in Fig. 1, where x is the horizontal direc-
tion, y is the vertical direction and d is the opening radius. As hopper
ow is assumed to be symmetric along centre line, Fig. 1 shows velocity
prole on the left side of the centre line and solid fraction prole on the
right side.
From the results, formation of stagnant zone and mass spillage
over stagnant zone boundary is easily visible. Within the ow zones
there are also three regions. Particles initially accelerate with a
corresponding decrease in the solid fraction marked as (a) in Fig. 1.
In the region marked as (b) ow gets converged in a manner similar
to funnel as it moves towards exit. Third region marked as (c), is just
above the stagnant zone having a higher shear ow, and compara-
tively higher solid fraction than the other owing regions.
Stagnant zone is marked as the region where the velocities are less
than the critical value. Solid fraction is quite large in that region as
compared to rest of the hopper.
3.2. Experimental validation
3-D Experimental setup was used to validate the stagnant zone
prole obtained by the simulation. The experimental setup had an
acrylic circular hopper, reservoir and a shutter as shown in Fig. 2.
The hopper had opening at the bottom of the size of half of its diam-
eter. The shutter was used to start and stop the ow from the hopper.
The reservoir supplied the material required for the experiment.
Initially hopper was lled with 1 mm black coloured glass balls keep-
ing the shutter closed. The reservoir was lled with 1 mm non-coloured
glass balls. As soon as shutter was opened glass ball started to ow out.
After steady state was reached the shutter was closed. Gelatin solution
138 A. Gupta et al. / International Journal of Mineral Processing 110111 (2012) 135139

Fig. 5. Velocity prole and solid fraction distribution in a at-bottomed hopper. Stagnant zone becomes smaller in size as stagnant zone becomes more compact. v is the velocity, vin in
the initial velocity , x is the horizontal direction, y is the vertical direction and d is the orice radius. Simulation parameters glass balls of particle size = 10 3 m, density = 1500 kg/m3,
viscosity = 1.0 kg/m.s, inlet velocity (vin)= 10 2 m/s, inlet solid fraction = 0.5, internal friction angle = 35o, compaction modulus= 50. a velocity prole and b solid fraction prole.

was poured from the top and the whole set-up was allowed to freeze.
After the system was frozen whole material was taken out from the
acrylic hopper and was cut into half. The stagnant zone was clearly
distinguishable as the boundary of different coloured balls as shown in
Fig. 3. The comparison of model results and experimental results is
shown in Fig. 4.
4. Effect of parameters
After studying the effects of various parameters following parameters
were found to have major impact on material ow.
4.1. Compaction modulus
Fig. 5 shows the solid fraction distribution results for compaction
modulus 50 which can be compared to the results shown in Fig. 1(b)
considering compaction modulus to be equal to 150. Decrease in com-
paction modulus of a granular material leads to more compact packing
near the stagnant zone whereas more open packing in the ow regions.
4.2. Internal friction angle
Increase of internal friction angle leads to an increase in the stag-
nant zone angle and thus the size of the stagnant zone. This is apparent
from Figs. 1 and 6. Keeping all other parameters the same, with in-
crease in internal friction angle from 35o (Fig. 1) to 50 o (Fig. 6) size
of the stagnant zone increases. This is to be expected, since increase
in internal friction angle is equivalent to more friction between parti-
cles, hence smaller relative velocity for a given shear force.
4.3. Hopper angle
As shown in Fig. 7 two inclination angles were selected to obtain
different solid fraction distribution and stagnant zone prole.
Simulation results show that as the hopper angle increases region
having high solid fraction decreases. This allows more material to
ow faster and ensures better mixing. Hopper design can be varied
based on the simulation results for the optimum solid fraction distri-
bution and minimum stagnant zone size.
5. Summary
In this paper effects of material properties and hopper design are
shown for hopper ow. Simulation results are veried by experimental
data. This enables study of the ow characteristics of hopper for varying
conditions. Increase in hopper angle decreases the stagnant zone size.
Since for a given volume hopper with higher angle will have more
height, optimization can be done to minimize the height and maximize

Fig. 6. Velocity prole and solid fraction distribution in a at-bottomed hopper. Increase in stagnant zone size can be observed. v is the velocity, vin in the initial velocity, x is the
horizontal direction, y is the vertical direction and d is the orice radius. Simulation parameters glass balls of particle size = 10 3 m, density = 1500 kg/m3, viscosity = 1.0 kg/m.s,
inlet velocity (vin) = 10 2 m/s, inlet solid fraction = 0.5, internal friction angle = 50o, compaction modulus = 50. a velocity prole and b solid fraction prole.
 A. Gupta et al. / International Journal of Mineral Processing 110111 (2012) 135139 139

Fig. 7. (a) Solid fraction proles in hopper with angle 26. (b) Solid fraction proles in hopper with angle 45. As hopper angle increases stagnant zone size decreases. x is the
horizontal direction, y is the vertical direction and d is the orice radius. Simulation parameters glass balls of particle size = 10 3 m, density = 1500 kg/m3,
viscosity = 1.0 kg/m.s, inlet velocity (vin) = 10 2 m/s, inlet solid fraction = 0.5, internal friction angle = 50o, compaction modulus = 50. a velocity prole and b solid fraction
prole.

the ow properties based on simulations results. For existing systems
simulations can be used to monitor the ow and formation of stagnant
zones. Flow rates and particle size can be optimized to get stable mate-
rial ow. This model can also be implemented for complex moving bed
reactors to understand and optimize their designs.
Acknowledgements
Authors are thankful to Tata Steel management for granting permis-
sion for publishing. Authors wish to acknowledge with deep gratitude,
the valuable guidance we received from Prof. N.N. Viswanathan and
Prof. N.B. Ballal. Authors also extend gratitude to Mr. Binayak Aich for
his help in the experimental work.
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