PARTICLE MOTION OF COATED CORN SEED ACCUMULATION PROCESS BASED ON DISCRETE ELEMENT METHOD

Abstract

The rolling friction coefficient was a fundamental parameter for particle modeling, but it was challenging to quantify for unevenly shaped corn seeds. If the rolling friction coefficients of corn with different guiding seeds and different shapes were not believed to be significantly different, direct simulation in EDEM would produce simulation distortion. This paper began by selecting three models with a relatively high proportion from five corn samples with various shapes (such as horse-tooth shape, spherical shape, oblate shape, and irregular shape, etc.) and modeling them according to the actual seeds. Due to the large disparity between seed models with different shapes, the study adopted the method of combining physical experiment and discrete element simulation, took the rolling friction coefficient as the independent variable and the angle of repose in the simulation test as the target value, and calibrated the rolling friction of various shapes of corn seed particles separately. Coated corn seeds' rolling friction coefficients were accurately predicted (0.0047 for horse tooth, 0.0058 for pyramid, and 0.049 for spherical shape). During the validation test, the calibrated simulation parameters were entered into EDEM for simulation, and the distribution of seeds on the seed platter was compared between the actual test and the simulation test. The results demonstrated that the difference in the sizes of key features was less than 5.60 percent, and the population boundary in the seed platter after calibration was closer to the actual situation, which improved the accuracy of the simulation.