Numerical simulation of liquid transfer between particles

Liquid transfer between particles plays a central role in the operation of a variety of particle processing equipment, including flotation, spray-coating, flocculation, granulation, and drying. In each of these applications, the local liquid concentration within the bed dramatically affects the flow behavior of the system and can strongly impact performance. In this work, we introduce a dynamic liquid transfer model for use in discrete element modeling (DEM) of heterogeneous particle systems. We explicitly track moisture levels on individual particles and utilize an experimentally validated rule-set for liquid transfer upon forming/breaking contacts. As a test of this new model we present results from the simulation of a rotary drum spray-coating system, but expect that this liquid transfer-modified DEM is general and would be applicable to wide range of processing operations.