Abstract
The productivity of the feed preparation line and its technical and economic efficiency are affected by the design and technological parameters of the equipment. The geometry of the expander screw and its operating modes are no exception. To reduce the specific energy consumption of the expander, it is necessary to establish its rational design and operating parameters. This can be done using analytical calculation methods that consider the mechanisms of movement and destruction of solid substances. Modelling using the discrete element method is becoming increasingly common to describe the movement of solid components in granulators, extruders, or expanders. The purpose of the study is to improve the physical and mathematical apparatus of movement of solid feed components in the screw channel of the feed expander and develop a method for its numerical modelling. Numerical modelling was performed using a model of the movement of a multiphase Euler mixture with a split flow in three-dimensional space. In this case, the motion was subject to an admissible two-layer k-ε model of turbulence and the multiphase equation of state. The physical and mathematical apparatus for the movement of solid feed components in the screw channel of the feed expander was improved, which is the basis for the numerical modelling technique in the Star-CCM+ software suite, based on the fact that the conglomerate of feed components is represented as a package of spherical particles. In this case, the pressure force must be compensated by the total force of contact interaction of particles with each other and the wall. Preliminary numerical modelling of the process of expanded feed preparation was performed in the Star-CCM+ software suite. The practical significance lies in the fact that the improved physical and mathematical apparatus and the developed method of numerical modelling of the feed expander operation process allow substantiating its design and regime parameters to ensure low specific energy consumption without losing the quality of the technological process