COMPUTER MODELLING AND SIMULATION APPLIED TO PARTICULATE AND MINERAL PROCESSING

Computer modeling and simulation have been extensively used to study the fundamentals of particulate and mineral processing in recent years, mainly as a result of the rapid development of simulation techniques and computer technology. This paper briefly reviews such research in the laboratory of Particulate and Multiphase Processing (PMP) at UNSW, which covers the development of computational techniques and their application to the study of various phenomena and operations related to particle packing, particle and particle-fluid flow. Focus is given to the discrete particle simulation which has been recognized as a promising technique to generate information at a particle scale. The validity and usefulness of this approach are discussed with reference to the examples relevant to operations in alumina/aluminium industry.