Academic Journal of Science and Technology 
ISSN: 2771-3032 | Vol. 4, No. 2, 2022 

 

34 

Design	and	Analysis	of	Powder	Vertical	Spiral	Feeding	
Based	on	EDEM	
Jingquan Li1, *, Liang Guo1, 2 

1School of Mechatronic Engineering, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China 
2Sichuan Shared platform for oil and gas equipment technology, Chengdu, Sichuan 610500, China 
*Corresponding author: Jingquan Li 

 

Abstract: In order to solve the problems of low automation degree of micro-high-precision powder addition in the laboratory, 
large influence of human factors and high labor cost, a set of screw feeding and weighing integration device is designed to realize 
the automatic addition of powder agent, the mechanical structure and speed of screw feeding are closely related to the accuracy 
of powder addition, and the discrete element method (EDMEM) is used to simulate spiral powder feeding at different speeds, 
and the simulation analysis shows that the spiral speed is positively correlated with the motion speed of particles. The spiral 
velocity is inversely correlated with the density of the particles. 

Keywords: Screw add, EDEM, Rotate speed. 
 

1. Introduction 
Drilling fluid plays an important role in removing cuttings, 

balancing formation pressure, cooling and lubricating drill bit, 
and providing power for downhole power tools. In order to 
give full play to the function of drilling fluid in oil and gas 
exploitation, it is necessary to prepare drilling fluid with 
different properties according to different geological 
conditions. At present, the preparation of drilling fluid in the 
laboratory is mainly through the staff to first weigh various 
agents, then pour into the mixing cup and use the mixer to stir 
to form drilling fluid. In order to solve the problems of low 
efficiency of manual weighing and adding powder agents in 
laboratory, and the adding accuracy depends on the operation 
standard of personnel, a set of components is designed to 
realize the automatic adding of powder agents. 

Hong Haijin applied disc feeding technology and multi-
dimensional adaptive intelligent control technology to carry 
out relevant research on the measurement of micro-powder 
feeding, and verified the accuracy and qualified rate of 
quantitative feeding [1]. Ningtingzhou used EDEM software 
to conduct orthogonal simulation experiment analysis on key 
parts of horizontal screw conveyor such as blade shape, pitch 
and axle diameter [2]. Zhu Hongxiang studied the factors 
affecting the detailed working performance of the inclined 
screw conveyor through discrete element software [3]. By 
using the computer fluid dynamics technology of Ansys 
Fluent and the orthogonal test design, Zhou Dan analyzed the 
geometric parameters of the screw that affect the quality of 
the horizontal conveying screw, and determined the geometric 
parameters for obtaining the maximum filling rate [4]. Based 
on the discrete element model, Liu Weili et al. analyzed the 
relationship between the mass flow rate, particle velocity, 
energy consumption, energy dissipation rate and the dip 
Angle and speed of the screw conveyor in the conveying 
process [5]. 

In some structural designs, because of spatial layout and 
other reasons, it is necessary to realize vertical spiral feeding, 
so it is an important research direction to study vertical 
feeding spiral transportation, especially for the addition of 
high precision and trace powder agents. Simulation analysis 

of powder operation by discrete element method, It provides 
theoretical basis for the optimization design and control 
design of key parts of screw conveyor. 

2. Screw Feeding Model and Main 
Parameters 

2.1. Establishment of simulation model 
In order to accelerate the simulation speed and quickly 

obtain the simulation results, the model was simplified and 
only the mechanical parts directly in contact with powder 
feeding were retained. The specific simulation model is 
shown in Figure 1. 

 

 
 

Figure 1. Simplified model of screw conveyor 

2.2. Material parameter Settings 
Bentonite powder, an agent of drilling fluid used in the 

experiment, is the experimental object, and the shape of 
bentonite powder is. The storage cylinder and screw rod are 
made of SUS304 material. The contact parameters of SUS304 
stainless steel with bentonite powder and storage cylinder and 
screw rod are set in Table 1 below. 



 

35 

  
Table 1. Material properties of conveying medium and spiral conveying parts 

Material Poisson's ratio Modulus of shear/Pa Density/m (kg.m-3) 
Bentonite soil 0.25 1.0x107 1580 
Stainless steel 0.3 1.94x1011 7930 

 
Table 2. Contact properties between bentonite and bentonite and between bentonite and spiral conveyor parts 

Object of action Coefficient of recovery Coefficient of static friction Coefficient of dynamic friction 
Bentonite and bentonite 0.02 0.9 0.75 

Bentonite and snails 
Rotary conveying parts 

0.05 0.8 0.6 

 

2.3. Particle parameter analysis and setting 
The bentonite powder is composed of irregular non-

spherical particles with an aspect to length ratio concentrated 
in 0.7 ~ 0.9, and more than 95% of the particles are less than 
0.075mm in diameter. Using the similarity theory of the 
discrete element method to scale the particle size artificially 
is to use the similarity theory and dimensional analysis, 
replace the actual small particles with the simulated particles 
with large particle size, and determine the relationship 
between the simulated physical quantity and the actual 
physical quantity through the physical quantity scaling factor 
[6]. The particle diameter of the simulation amplified by the 
similarity theory is 0.75mm. This method ensures the 
effectiveness of the simulation for the real working condition, 
and can effectively save the simulation time and reduce the 
requirements of the simulation on the computer performance. 

There are many specific contact models in EDEM software. 
The Hertz-Mindlin with JKR Cohesion model, also known as 
JKR Cohesion model, was selected in this simulation [7]. It is 
suitable for powder particles and wet materials such as crops, 
ores and soil. The particles are obviously bonded and 

aggregated due to electrostatic force and wet moisture. This 
kind of contact model can truly express the stress of bentonite. 

3. Simulation Results and Analysis 

3.1. Simulation analysis of conveying process 
at different speeds 

Screw feeder vertical layout, analysis of 4 different speed 
(100 r/min, 400 r/min, 800 r/min, 1200 r/min) under the 
condition of the movement law, the feeding machine particle 
speed distribution is shown in Figure 2, the size of the speed 
using color to distinguish. Increasing the rotational speed of 
the spiral rod will increase the velocity of the particles, 
especially the particles sticking to the upper surface of the 
spiral blade. When the rotational speed increases, the density 
of particles in the screw rod decreases, mainly because the 
centrifugal force of particles increases with the rotational 
speed increasing. Therefore, with the increase of the 
rotational speed of the spiral shaft, the trend of increasing the 
particle velocity is correct. 

 

          
(a) 100r/min                (b) 400r/min 

 

           
(c) 800r/min                (d) 1200r/min 

Figure 2. Motion velocity of particles at different rotational speeds 



 

36 

 

3.2. Motion distribution diagram of particles 
with different diameters 

Bentonite powder has particles of different diameters. FIG. 
3 shows the distribution diagram of particles under the 

condition of movement. It can be found from this diagram that 
the particles are evenly distributed in the movement without 
obvious segregation and surge [8], which is conducive to the 
quantitative and high-precision addition of agents. 

 

 
Figure 3. Motion distribution of particles with different diameters 

 

3.3. Velocity vector diagram 
As can be seen from the motion vector diagram in Figure 

4, the velocity and motion of particles are mainly divided into 
two categories. One is mainly that particles with small particle 
size rotate with the blade, and the motion direction is basically 

perpendicular to the blade surface. The other type is mainly 
the larger particle size along with the spiral rod to do axial 
movement. Each particle rotates with the spiral blade under 
the push of the spiral blade, the spiral shaft and the 
comprehensive action of other particles. 

 

 
Figure 4. Motion vector diagram 

 

4. Conclusion 
Helical powder addition has dual functions of 

quantification and transmission, especially for ultrafine 
powder addition has high efficiency. Through the simulation 
analysis of discrete element software EDEM, the motion 
velocity and motion law of powder particles were analyzed. 
The main conclusions are as follows: 

(1) The discrete element software EDEM was used to 
visually observe the velocity distribution of particles in the 
spiral feeder. The velocity of particles close to the cylinder 
wall was small, while the velocity of particles close to the 
surface of the spiral blade was large. 

(2) The higher the spiral speed, the higher the particle 
velocity, and the lower the density of particles. 

References 
[1] Hong Haijin, Hou Chengwei, Fan Jun, et al. Design of 

Microfeed metering system for powder [J]. Weighing Machine, 
2018, 47(06): 16-18. 

[2] Ning Tingzhou, Wang Jie, Fu Ling. Optimization of Key Parts 
of Screw Conveyor Based on EDEM [J]. Journal of Hunan 
University of Arts and Sciences (Natural Science Edition), 
2019, 31(04): 35-38. 

[3] Zhu Hongxiang, Tan Huan. Research on Performance of Screw 
Conveyor Based on EDEM [J]. Mechanical and Electrical 
Engineering Technology, 2018, 47(07): 27-29. 

[4] Zhou Dan, Wang Liqiang, Fang Xianqi et al. Design of 
Horizontal Conveying Screw of Super Fine Powder Valve 
Pocket Packaging Based on Ansys Fluent [J]. Chinese Powder 
Technology,20, 26 (05) :54-59. 



 

37 

[5] Liu Weili, Wei Hongbo. Simulation and Analysis of Screw 
Conveyor Based on EDEM Software [J]. Mechanical 
Engineer,2015(10):121-123. 

[6] Zhou Longhai. EDEM Simulation and Experimental Research 
on Vertical Spiral Transportation [D]. Zhejiang University of 
Technology, 2017. 

[7] Wu Tao, Huang Weifeng, Chen Xueshen, et al. Parameter 
calibration of discrete element model for cohesive soil 
considering interparticle bonding force [J]. Journal of South 
China Agricultural University, 2017, 38(03): 93-98. 

[8] Li Yong, Liu Weidong. Simulation and Analysis of Single 
Screw Discrete Element Based on EDEM Software [J]. 
Hoisting and Conveying Machinery, 2017(4):78-81.