Ch.
E-203 PARTICLE TECHNOLOGY
Department of Chemical Engineering,
University of Engineering & Technology Lahore
Angle of Repose & Angle of Internal Friction
Angle of Repose:
The angle measured from the horizontal at which a heap of loose solids will stand without
sliding.
Angle of Internal Friction:
A measure of frictional forces between particulate masses.
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Angle of Repose
Angle of repose determines the flow characteristics
of particulate masses.
Smaller angle Free flowing solid
Larger angle Poor flow characteristics
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Storage of solids
Bulk storage
Bin storage
BULK STORAGE
Coarse solids like coal and gravels ……. Outside in large piles
Unprotected from the weather
Most economical for large amount of material
Solid can be removed from pile by dragline or tractor shovel and delivered to
conveyer or process
May lead to environmental problems
Dusting - avoided by providing protective cover
Leaching - avoided by providing protective cover or shallow basin
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BIN STORAGE
Valuable or soluble solids
cannot exposed in outdoor piles
Stored in bins, silos and hoppers.
These are cylindrical or rectangular vessels of concrete or metal
SILO: tall and relatively small in diameter
BIN: not so tall and usually fairly wide
HOPPER: small vessel with a sloping bottom for temporary storage before feeding
All these vessels are loaded from top and discharged from bottom
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FLOW OUT OF BINS
Solids tend to flow out of any opening in bottom of
storage vessel.
Side opening
Base opening
Its not possible to open entire bottom for discharge.
Rather a bottom section is set at the bottom of a bin for
discharge;
Conical bottom
Pyramidal bottom
Bottom Section
Conical
Pyramidal
FLOW PATTERNS
Mass flow
Tunnel/Funnel flow
Flow pattern depends on
Steepness of the wall in the bottom section
Friction between solids and the wall
MASS FLOW
All the material moves downward uniformly
It occurs in cone-bottomed bins with sufficient steep and/or smooth discharge
Characteristics of Mass flow
Flow is uniform and well controlled
Constant density flow
Sifting or segregation is minimized
No dead zones
Described as : FIFO (first in, first out)
Free flowing or non cohesive solids follow this pattern
TUNNEL/FUNNEL FLOW
Some material is stationary and rest is moving.
A vertical column of solids above the opening moves downward
without disturbing material at the sides.
It occurs when the bottom section is pyramidal or shallow cone
angle
Characteristics of Tunnel flow
Particles segregate and remain segregated
Flow is irregular and can cause flooding
Density of flow can vary
dead zones
Described as : LIFO (last in, first out)
Cohesive solids follow this pattern
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Flow out of a bin
The rate of flow of granular solids through opening in the bottom of the bin depends
upon the following factors;
Diameter of discharge opening
Properties of the solids
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Discharge opening
Not too small - clogging
Not too large – difficult to control and shut down
Small enough – to be readily closed during solid discharge
Properties of the solids
With cohesive solids, its hard to start flow. They adhere to the vessel walls and
support a plug flow over the discharge opening.
Vibrators on bin walls are used to start the flow.
Flow is easier for non cohesive solids.
Pressures in bins and silos
Pressure exerted by solids on the floor of the container is small because of the strong
frictional forces between the particles and walls.
In granular solids, high pressure does not increase the tendency of the material to
flow instead it often packs the grains more tightly and makes flow difficult.
In extreme cases, frictional forces cause the particles to arch or bridge, so that they
don’t fall as the material below them is removed. arch breakers are provided near
bottom to avoid particles bridging.
Arch Breaker
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