Modeling Granular Material Mixing and Segregation Using a Multi-Scale Model

A multi-scale model is presented for predicting the magnitude and rate of powder mixing and segregation in blenders. The model combines diffusion and percolation correlations from small-scale discrete element method (DEM) simulations with advective flow field information from large-scale finite element method simulations. The multi-scale model predictions closely match results from both large-scale DEM-only simulations and experiments, but they are much more computationally efficient than DEM-only simulations. Therefore, in contrast to DEM, the multi-scale model is well suited for predicting blending in industrial-scale systems.