MORE | Fall 2020

Predicting Flow Function of Bulk-Solids and Powders at Different Size Ranges and Moisture Conditions

The purpose of the research is to model the flowability of bulk-solids/powders, thereby helping in the industrial handling and processing of such substances to be more efficient and sustainable. Flowability of varying grain sizes of glass beads with different moisture percentages were evaluated on the FT4 Powder Rheometer employing the shear cell test. The data obtained was used to construct a model to predict the flow function of the samples based on particle size and moisture level. The present model outputted an average error of about 4% across all tested sizes and moisture levels. Future work involves further refining of the model and incorporating a shape factor.