CHINESEJOURNALOFMECHANICALENGINEERING

Vol.23,aNo. 3,a2010

DOI:10.3901/CJME.2010.04.***,availableonlineatwww.cjmenet.comwww.cjmenet.com.cn

NewMethodtoMeasuretheFillLeveloftheBallMillI
TheoreticalAnalysisandDEMSimulation
HUANGPeng*,JIAMinping andZHONGBinglin
SchoolofMechanicalEngineering,SoutheastUniversity,Nanjing211189,China
Received March3,2009revised May 24,2010 accepted June 10,2010published electronically June 20,2010

Abstract:Uptonow,theaccuratemeasurementofthefilllevelintheballmillhasntbeenresolvedbecauseoftheinterplayofmany
variablefactors,whichledthemilltobeoperatedundertheuneconomicalconditionandlostalotofenergy.Atpresent,somemethods,
suchasvibrationmethodandacousticmethod,havebeenappliedformeasuringthefilllevelbytheresearchers.Aimingattheproblem
ofthetraditionalmethodsformeasuringthefilllevel,thatis,thefeaturevariablesofthefilllevelsuffertheinfluencesoftheballload
andthewatercontentofthecoal,anovelmethodtomeasurethefilllevelisproposedandapossiblerelationbetweenthefillleveland
theangularpositionofthemaximumvibrationpointonthemillshellisinvestigated.Theangularpositionsofthemaximumvibration
point on the mill shell for different fill level cases are calculated theoretically under two assumptions, respectively. Meanwhile the
charge motions of the mill for different fill level cases are simulated with the discrete element method (DEM). And the simulation
resultsareverifiedbycomparingthemotiontrajectoriesofsteelballsandpowerdraftofthemill.Thesimulatedmovementtrajectories
oftheoutmostlayersteelballs inthemill aremonitored andanalyzedtoobtain theangularpositionsofthemaximumvibrationpointon
the mill shell. Both the results of the theoretical calculation and the 3D DEM simulation show that the position of the maximum
vibrationpointonthemillshellmovestoalowerangularpositionsasthefillleveldecreasing,whichprovidesanewideaformeasuring
thefilllevel accurately.
Keywords: ballmill, filllevel, discreteelementmethod(DEM), simulation

level. One of traditional methods was that the fill level

can be measured as a function of the differential
1 Introduction
pressurebetweentheinletandtheoutletofthemill.Asthe
filllevelincreases,morecoalpowderisexposedtotheair
The ball mill pulverizing system has the advantages of
flow through the mill, air drag forces are high, and the
good adaptability for different types of coal and easy
maintenance,andhasbeenappliedwidelyforcomminuting differential pressure increases. The same relationship
anddryingcoalincoalfiredpowerplant.Atthesametime concernstheoppositecondition,asthefillleveldecreases.
ZHANG studied the fill level by measuring the power
thissystem consumeshigh energythatmakesupabout 20
consumption of the millmotor[1].KOLACZput forwarda
percent of all electricity consumption of power plant. So
method to measure the fill level by using a strain
makingthemilloperationsafely and having highefficiency
transducer[2].Thetransducerwasinstalledatthemiddleof
areimportantgoals for power plant. Becausethe ballmill
pulverizing system is nonlinearity, long time delay and themillshell.Whenthetransducerwasinthetopposition
timevarying, the fill level of coal powder can not be of the mill shell, compression was measured by the
transducer.Whenthetransducerreachedthebottomofthe
measured accurately, which leads the mill to be operated
mill shell along with the rotation of the mill, tension was
usually under the very uneconomical condition to prevent
measured by the transducer. By taking the difference
the coal blockage. Furthermore it is difficult for the
between the readings corresponding to compression and
automatic control system to accomplish the steady
tension, it was possible to calculate the total strain
operation of themill. Therefore the exact measurement of
the fill level is a key and basic factor for realizing variations that are directly proportional to the fill level.
Recently the measurement and control of the fill level in
automatic, reliable and efficient operation of the mill
the mill have also been accomplished by analyzing the
system.
acousticsignalsofthemill[35]. Togetherwiththeincrement
Many methods have been applied for measuringthefill
of the fill level, the acoustic signal presents a decreasing
trend, and vice versa. Since the vibration strength of the
* Correspondingauthor.Email:feihonghp@163.com
mill shell and the bearing housings can reflect the
This project is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of
information of the fill level, vibration methods have
China(GrantNo.50775035)
*

YHUANGPeng,etal:NewMethodtoMeasuretheFillLeveloftheBallMillITheoreticalAnalysisandDEMSimulation

recently been carried out to develop techniques for

monitoring the fill level. Among these vibration methods,
the fill level can be measured through extracting some
characteristic values from the vibration signals of the
bearing housings, such as amplitude, energy, power and
rootmeansquare(RMS)[68].
Tosumupaboveworks, somefactorsandvariables,such
as the steel ball load, coal property andthe disturbance of
other noise near the mill can affect the main variables
corrective to the fill level and the measured result. For
example, the amplitude of acoustic and vibration signal of
the mill has a greater difference under the same fill level
condition by the variation of the ball load and the water
contentofcoal,andthepowerofthemillisalsoinfluenced
seriouslybythechangeofsteelballload.Themaingoalof
thispaperistoputupanewmethodformeasuringthefill
level through studying the relation between the fill level
andthepositionof the maximumvibrationpoint onthe mill
shell. In this paper, this relation is researched by two
approaches. Oneistheoreticalanalysismethod,andanother
istheDEMsimulationmethod.Atthesametinetheresults
of the theoretical calculation and the DEM simulation are
compared and discussed. Finally, inthe second part (II) of
this research, the vibration signals that are directly
collected off of the mill shell under various experiment
conditions are analyzed to verify the results and
conclusionsofthefirstpart(I)ofthis research.

vibration point on the mill shell. In this research, the

relationship between the fill level and the position of the
maximumvibrationpointofthemillshellistriedtostudy
on the first time. If this relationship can show certain
regularity,thefilllevelcanbe studiedbythispoint.
Inthisresearch,thefilllevelisdefinedasfollows:
L=

Vcoal
100%,
Vmill -Vball

where Vmill is the effective volume of themill, m3 Vball is

the accumulated volume of the steel balls inside the mill,
m3 Vcoal is the accumulation volume of the coal particles
andpowderinsidethemill,m3.
Thepositionofthemaximumvibrationpointofthemill
shell is calculated theoretically under two assumptions
describedasfollows:
(1)Duringthe workingconditionof the mill,exceptfora
steelballintheoutmostlayer,asshowninFig.2,thecoal
particlesandothersteelballsareaccumulatedatthebottom
oftherolleratstaticstate.In Fig.2,thelengthoflineCH
denotes the accumulated height of the coal particles and
steel balls in the mill, and the line AE represents the
accumulationsurface.
(2) In Fig.2, there isnodisplacementinthexdirection
forthemovementtrajectoryoftheballinthe outmostlayer,
and x coordinate ofthisball isalwaysequaltozero.

2 TheoreticalCalculation

180 Z

Comparedwithsteelballsinotherlayers,thesteelballs
in the outmost layer steel balls have the greatest impulse
and kinetic energy in the course of falling, and the
maximumvibrationpointon themillshellisgeneratedby
thefallingimpactofsteelballsinthislayer.Thepositions
of the outmostlayersteelballscanbeseeninFig.1.

Outmostlayer
steelballs

v
G

Outmostlayer
steelball

Parabolic
trajectory

Y
270

90
Accumulation
surface

(1)

0H

Fig.2. Schematicdiagramofmotiontrajectory
oftheoutmost steelballinthemill

WhentheballreachesthedetachmentpointG,asshown
in Fig. 2, this ball begins a parabolic movement. The
intersection point (collision point) between this parabolic
trajectoryandaccumulationsurfaceispointD(0,a,b).In
the course of falling, when the steel balls impacts on the
coal particles, the part of impact energy of steel balls is
Fig.1. Schematicdiagramofmotionof the steelballs
absorbed by coal particles to realize the grinding and
inmanylayersinthemill
comminutingofcoal,andanotherpartofimpactenergyis
delivered from the collision point to the mill shell and
Whentheoutmostlayersteelballimpactsdirectly onthe causes the vibration of the shell. So the position of the
mill wall, the collision point is the maximum vibration maximum vibration point is at a minimum distance from
point of themill shell. When thesteel ball in the outmost the collision point on the mill shell, and point B (0, y, z)
layer impacts on coal particles, the impact energy is (seeFig.2)denotesthemaximumvibrationpoint.Herethe
deliveredtothemillshell,whichalsoleadstoamaximum minimum distance is obtained witharestrictive condition,
Y

CHINESEJOURNALOFMECHANICALENGINEERING
whichisexpressedby
u = m 2 = ( a - y ) 2 + (b - z) 2,

y 2 + z 2 = R 2,

(2)

where m isthedistancebetweenpoint B and point D.InEq.

(2), the minimum value of u is needed, and the following
formulacanbeobtainedby the restrictive condition.
z = - R 2 - y 2 .

(3)

coordinates ofpointBandis equalto 28.3. In Fig.2, the

position ofpointBlocates at 331.7on themill shell,and
this angle (331.7) represents the angular position of the
maximum vibration point on the mill shell. This angular
position is denoted by the parameter in this paper. Bya
similar principle, the coordinates of point D and point B,
andtheangular positions ofpointB for 0%, 5%and 10%
filllevelcasescanbecalculated,andthecalculatedresults
areshownin Table1.
Table1. Coordinatesofpoints DandB,theangular
positionsofpoint B forfourlevelsoffilllevel

Thenparameteru canbecalculatedasfollows:
u = ( a - y ) 2 + (b + R 2 -y 2 )2 .

Filllevel
L/%

(4)
0
5
10
15

Eq.(4)takingthederivativeofyatbothitsendscanbe
determinedby
2by
2

(5)

R - y

Zero value is given the left end of Eq. (5), and y

coordinateof point B canbeobtainedby

y =

aR
a2 + b2

(6)

Andthenzcoordinateof point B canalsobeobtainedby

z =-

bR
a2 + b2

(7)

In Fig. 2, point D is the intersection point of the

parabolic trajectory GF and the accumulation surface AE,
andthisparabolictrajectoryandaccumulation surfacecan
bedescribedbythefollowingequations:
y = - R sin a + tvcosa
,

2
z = R cos a + tv sin a - 0.5gt

z =CH - R.

(8)

Angularposition
of point B /()
336.1
334.6
333.6
331.7

As evident from Fig. 3, the angular position of the

maximum vibration point on themill shell decreases with
theincreaseinthefilllevel.Howeverthisresultisobtained
under the ideal conditions. Many factors, such as the
collisionbetweenballandballorthemillwall,themotion
of coal and steel balls, have not been considered, so this
conclusionneedstobeverifiedfurtherbyotherapproaches.
Oncethisconclusioncanbevalidated,whichcanprovidea
new theory and methodfor measuringthefill level. In the
next content, the 3dimensional DEM simulations are
performed to predictthe load behaviour,motion trajectory
of the outmost layer steel balls and the mill power draw.
And the DEM simulated results will be compared and
discussedwiththe resultsof the theoreticalcalculation.
337
336
Angularposition/()

u
= -2a+
y

Coordinate
PointD
PointB
a/m
b/m
y/m
z/m
0.47
1.05
0.71
1.60
0.43
0.91
0.75
1.58
0.39
0.78
0.78
1.57
0.35
0.65
0.83
1.54

335
334
333
332

(9)

331
0

10

15

Filllevel L/%

ThecoordinatesofpointDcanbegainedby theEqs.(8) Fig.3.Vibrationintheangularpositionof point B (the maximum

vibrationpoint)onthemillshellwiththefilllevel
and(9).Inthe onsitetests,a3.5mdiameterby6.0mlong
industrial tubular ball mill was operated at 17.57 r/min
(77% of critical speed), and this mill filled by 38 t steel
ballswithdiameterfrom0.04mto0.06m.Whenthemill 3 3DDEMSimulationofChargeMotion
oftheMill
is operated with 15% filllevel, thecoordinates ofpoint D
(0, 0.35 m, 0.65 m) can be calculated, and then the
coordinatesofpointB(0,0.83 m, 1.54m)canbeobtained 3.1 Discreteelementmethod
TheDEMwasoriginatedin1971byCUNDALLforthe
easilyby means of Eqs. (6)and (7). At the same time the
value of BOC (see Fig. 2) can be calculated by the analysisofrockmechanicsproblemsandthenwasapplied

YHUANGPeng,etal:NewMethodtoMeasuretheFillLeveloftheBallMillITheoreticalAnalysisandDEMSimulation

to model the behavior of soil particles under dynamic

loading conditions by CUDALL and STRACK[9]. The
DEM refers to a numerical scheme that allows finite
rotationsanddisplacementofrigidbodies,wherecomplete
loss of contacts and formation of new contacts between
bodies take place as thecalculation cycle progresses. And
the DEM is basically a numerical method by which the
dynamic behaviour of the particles or bodies in a physical
system is simulated with the particles being treated as
distinctbutinteractingelement.Accordingtotheadvantage
oftheDEMandtheworkmechanismofthemill,theDEM
suitstoresolvetheproblemofthemill. SincetheDEMwas
firstlyusedinthemillingbyMISHRAandRAJAMANI[10],
there were some successful applications of the DEM in
solving various tumbling mill problems[1114]. The theory
and principle of DEM can be acquired in detail from the
Refs.[1517],itisonlyintroducedbrieflyinthispaper.In
the DEM model, the steel balls and coal particles are
simulatedasthesmoothroundsphereandcontactsbythem
with other balls and walls are considered to be distinct
singlepoint contacts. The balltoball and balltowall
collisionsare modeledby theDEMwithalinearspringand
dashpot. The spring provides the repulsive force, and the
dashpot dissipates a portion of the relative kinetic energy.
Inthefollowing,theballballcollisionmodelisillustrated
tointroducethemotionandforceoftheball.Theballwall
collision is simulated in a similar manner. Fig. 4 is a
schematicdiagramof ball Aand ball B incollision.

ofballBrelative toballAatthecontactpoint,isgivenby
& B,i - m
&A,i,
vi = m

i =1, 2, 3.

(12)

Thenormalandshearcomponentsof vi are
vn ,i = v j n j ni,

i = j =1, 2, 3.

vs,i = vi - vn,i, i =1,2,3.

(13)
(14)

The contact force vector Fi which represents the action

of ball A on ball B can be resolved intonormal and shear
componentswithrespecttothecontactplaneas
Fi = Fn,i + Fs,i,

i =1, 2, 3,

(15)

where Fn,i and Fs,i denote the normal and shear

componentvectors,respectively.
3.2 3DDEMsimulationandverification
The speed, size of the mill, steel ball load and radii of
steelballsthatarethesamewiththoseoftheexperimental
mill are simulated by the DEM. The coal particles are
modeledassphere,andtheradiusofcoalballis0.01 m.As
shown in Fig. 5, the charge motions of the mill for four
levels of fill level (0%, 5%, 0% and 15%) are simulated,
respectively.

RB

RA

d
Y,2

Z
X

r
n

Z,3
X,1

(a) L=0%

(b)L=5%

(c)L=10%

(d) L=15%

Fig.4. SchematicdiagramofballAtoballBincollision

For theballballcontact,theunitnormalvector,n,from
thecenterofballAtothatofballBthatdefinesthecontact
plane, isgivenby
ni = ( mB,i - mA,i ) d ,

i =1, 2,3.

(10)

where mA,i and mB,i are the position vectors of the

centers of balls A and B, and d is the distance between
theballcenters:

Fig.5. Simulatedchargemotionoftheballmill bytheDEM

2
d = ( mB,i - m A,i )( mB,i - mA,i ) ,
i

i = 1, 2,3. (11)

The contact velocityvi ,which is defined as the velocity

In this study, two methods are used to verify the

simulated results. One is to compare the simulated and
theoretical trajectories of the steel balls, and another is to
comparethesimulatedandexperimentalpowerdraftvalues

1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
1.2
1.4
1.6

zcoordinate
G

Detachment
point

ycoordinate

xcoordinate
B
Collision
point

1.0

2.0 2.5
Time t/s

1.5

Collision
point

zcoordinate

Fig.6. VariationofcoordinatesoftheballCwithtimeduring
foursecondsintheDEMsimulation
Parabolic
movement

1.0
0.0
1.0
2.0

ydirection

3.0
Collision
velocity

4.0

1.0

1.5

3.5

(d) L=15%

3.0
2.0

xcoordinate

0.5

3.0

ycoordinate

Detachment
point

1.2
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
1.2
1.4
1.6

0.5

Velocityv/m/s

Coordinatex,y,z/m

ofthemill.Becausethechargemotionoftheexperimental
industrialmillcannotbephotographedbythecamera,the
simulated charge motion was only compared with the
theoretical chargemotion of the test mill in this research.
Thecataractingtrajectoriesoftheouterballsandcascading
trajectories of the inner balls, as shown in Fig. 5, agree
closely with the theoretic trajectories. In the DEM
simulation,thepositionsandvelocitiesofthe steelballCin
the outmost layer were monitored. Fig. 6 shows the
changes of positions (x, y and z coordinate) of the ball C
with respect to time for four levels of fill level (0%, 5%,
10%and15%),respectively.AndFig.7showsthechanges
ofvelocities(yandzdirection)oftheballCwithrespectto
time for four levels of fill level (0%, 5%, 10% and 15%),
respectively.

Coordinatex,y,z/m

CHINESEJOURNALOFMECHANICALENGINEERING

2.0 2.5
Time t/s

3.0

5.0

3.5

zdirection

6.0
0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0 2.5
Time t/s

(a) L=0%

3.0

3.5

1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
1.2
1.4
1.6

Detachment
point

ycoordinate

Velocity v/m/s

Coordinatex,y,z/m

(a) L=0%

zcoordinate
xcoordinate
B
Collision
point
0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0 2.5
Time t/s

3.0

4.0
3.0
2.0
1.0

Parabolic
movement

0.0
1.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
5.0
6.0

3.5

ydirection

0.5

1.0

Detachment
point

ycoordinate

xcoordinate

Collision
point
1.0

1.5

2.0 2.5
Time t/s

zcoordinate

0.5

1.5

3.0

3.5

(b) L=5%

Velocityv/m/s

Coordinatex,y,z/m

(b) L=5%

1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
1.2
1.4
1.6

Collision
velocity

zdirection

2.0 2.5
Time t/s

(c)L=10%

3.0

3.5

Parabolic
movement

4.0
3.0
2.0
1.0
0.0
1.0
2.0

ydirection

3.0
4.0
5.0

zdirection

Collision
velocity

6.0
0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0 2.5
Time t/s

(c)L=10%

3.0

3.5

YHUANGPeng,etal:NewMethodtoMeasuretheFillLeveloftheBallMillITheoreticalAnalysisandDEMSimulation
ballsinthemillandclingstothemillwall.Whenthemill
begins to rotate, ball C runs circular movement firstly,
which can be reflected by the changes of y and z
coordinates of ball C in Fig. 6. Once ball C passes across
the detachment point G, ball C starts to do parabolic
movement, which can be demonstrated by the constant
velocityprocessinydirectioninFig.7.Andtheprocesses
of parabolic movement are tagged by four ellipses in Fig.
7(a), 7(b), 7(c) and 7(d), respectively. When ball C in y
direction begins to do uniform motion, this ball locates at
thedetachmentpoint,andthecoordinatesofthispointcan
be gained from Fig. 6. Table 2 shows a comparison of
theoreticandsimulatedvaluesofpositionsandvelocitiesof
detachment point for ball C. An exact match between the
simulated and theoretic values can be obtained fromTable
2,whichcanclarifythepositionsofthetoeandshoulderof
theballchargearealsocloselymatched.

Parabolic
movement

3.0

Velocity v/m/s

2.0
1.0
0.0
1.0
2.0

ydirection

3.0
4.0

zdirection

Collision
velocity

5.0
6.0
0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0
2.5
Time t/s

3.0

3.5

(d) L=15%
Fig.7. Variationof velocities of ballCwithtimeduring 4 s
intheDEMsimulation

In Fig. 6, when the time is equal to zero, ball C (0,

0.36m, 1.71m) locates at the outmost layer of the steel
Table2. Comparisonoftheoreticandsimulatedvalues ofpositionsandvelocitiesofthedetachmentpointforballC
DEMsimulation
Filllevel
L/%

Coordinateofdetachmentpoint

Velocityofdetachmentpoint

Theoreticalvalue
Coordinateofdetachment
Velocityofdetachmentpoint
point
y/m
z/m
vy/ (ms1)
vz/ (ms1)

y/m

z/m

vy/(ms1)

vz/ (ms1)

1.39

0.98

2.02

2.10

1.40

1.05

1.93

2.57

1.36

0.99

2.03

1.98

1.40

1.05

1.93

2.57

10

1.33

1.00

2.07

1.96

1.40

1.05

1.93

2.57

15

1.29

1.04

2.06

2.03

1.40

1.05

1.93

2.57

Since the laws of motion imply that velocity,

acceleration, force, power and energy are related,
predicting power successfully is tantamount to predicting
the other quantities correctly as well[17]. At the same time
the power of themillisobtained easily in theexperiment.
Sothecomparisonbetweenthesimulatedandexperimental
power draft of the mill is a good way to verify the DEM
simulation. A comparison of the simulated and
experimental power draft values of the mill is shown in
Table 3. On comparison, it can be seen clearly that the
simulated and experimental power values matches very
closely.So theDEMsimulationof the millis reliable.
Table3.Comparisonofsimulatedandexperimentalmill
powervalues
Filllevel
L/%

PowerofballmillP/kW
DEMsimulation
Experiment

608

622

675

689

10

743

715

15

778

760

3.3Analysisofmotiontrajectoryoftheoutmostlayer
steelball
During the period of parabolic movement, ball C does
uniformmotioniny direction,anddoesfreefallmotioninz
direction, which can be demonstrated by the changes of
velocitiesinyandzdirectionsinFig.7.Whenthevelocity
of ball C in z direction reaches at a maximum value, the
parabolic movement is ended and a collision between ball
Candothersteelballsorcoalis occurred.InFig.7(a),7(b),
7(c) and 7(d), four maximum speeds in z direction are
denotedbyfourcircles,respectively.InFig.7,thecollision
point is expressed bypoint D.The coordinates ofpoint D
can be obtained by the velocity in z direction and the
changes of coordinates. And the coordinates (y and z
coordinates)ofthemaximumvibrationpoint(pointB)can
be calculatedbymeansofEqs.(6)and(7).Table4shows
thepositionsofcollisionpoint(pointD)andthemaximum
vibration point (point B) for four fill level cases in the
DEMsimulation.
Fig. 8 shows a rule that the position of the maximum
vibrationpointon themillshellforhigherfilllevelisata
lower angular position than that of lower fill level in the
DEM simulation, which has a agree consistency with the

CHINESEJOURNALOFMECHANICALENGINEERING
resultof the theoreticalcalculation.
Table4. CoordinatesofpointD and pointB,theangular
positionsofpoint B forfourlevelsoffilllevel
Filllevel
L/%

Coordinate
PointD
PointB
a/m
b/m
y/m
z/m

Angular
positionof
point B /()

0.52

1.15

0.72

1.59

335.6

0.48

0.98

0.77

1.57

333.9

10

0.46

0.86

0.83

1.54

331.7

15

0.42

0.68

0.92

1.49

328.3

collision point. So the y coordinate of the maximum

vibration point that is calculated by the simulated y
coordinateofcollisionpointislagerthanthatoftheoretical
calculation, and the absolute value of z coordinate of this
pointissmallerthanthatoftheoreticalresult,whichcanbe
seen inFig. 10. Andtheangularposition of the maximum
vibrationpoint in the DEM simulation is smallerthanthat
oftheoreticalcalculationatthesamefilllevelasshownin
Fig.11.
y

0.6
0.4
0.2
Coordinate y,z/m

336

Angularposition/()

335
334
333

0
0.2
0.4

y
Theoreticalvalue
DEMsimulation
Theoreticalvalue
DEMsimulation

0.6

332

0.8

331

330

1.2
0

328
0

10

15

Filllevel L/%

329
5

10

15

Filllevel L /%

Fig.9. Comparisonbetween theoreticalandDEMsimulated

coordinates(y and z)ofcollisionpointatvarious filllevelcases
1

Fig.8. Vibrationinthe angularpositionofthemaximum

vibrationpointonthemillshellwiththefilllevel

Figs.911showthecomparisonsbetweenthetheoretical
calculationand DEM simulatedresults. Dueto themotion
of the steel balls and coal in the DEM simulation, the
accumulatedheightofthesteelballsandcoalatthebottom
ofrollerissmallerthanthatoftheoreticalcalculationatthe
samefilllevel.Sothe absolutevaluesofzcoordinate ofthe
collision point (point D) in the DEM simulation is bigger
thanthatofthetheoreticalresultsatthesamefilllevel,and
this conclusion can be observed from Fig. 9. Although at
the same filllevel themotiontime of parabolic movement
for ball C in the DEM simulation is shorter than that of
theoretical calculation, the simulated velocity for
detachment point in y direction is larger than that of
theoretical value (see Table 2), and the absolute value of
simulated y coordinate for detachment point is relatively
smaller compared with that of theoretical value, which
leadsthatthevalueofycoordinateforcollisionpointisnot
smallerthanthatoftheoreticalvalueasshowninFig.9.
From the results presented in Fig. 9, it can be clearly
seen that the absolute values of simulated y and z
coordinates for collision point are all larger than those of
theoretical values at the same fill level. However, the
increased proportion of absolute value of the simulated y
coordinate over the theoretical y coordinate for collision
pointisbiggerthanthatofabsolutevalueofzcoordinateof

0
0.5

y
Theoreticalvalue
DEMsimulation
Theoreticalvalue
DEMsimulation

1.5
2
0

z
5

10

15

Filllevel L/%

Fig.10. Comparisonbetween theoreticalandDEMsimulated

coordinates(yandz)ofthemaximumvibrationpoint
onthemillshellatvarious filllevelcases
337
336
Angularposition/()

4 Comparison between the Theoretical

CalculationResultsandDEMSimulation

Coordinate y,z/m

0.5

335
334
333
332

Theoreticalvalue
DEMsimulation

331
330
329
328
0

10

15

Filllevel L/%

Fig. 11. Comparison between theoreticalandDEMsimulated

angularpositionofthemaximumvibrationpoint
onthemillshellatvarious filllevelcases

YHUANGPeng,etal:NewMethodtoMeasuretheFillLeveloftheBallMillITheoreticalAnalysisandDEMSimulation

5 Conclusions
(1)Theangularpositionsofthemaximumvibrationpoint
on themillshellfordifferentfilllevelcasesarecalculated
theoretically undertwoassumptiveconditions,respectively.
The result shows that there is a descendent trend in the
angularpositionofthemaximumvibrationpoint alongwith
theincreaseofthefilllevel.
(2)The charge motion and power draft of the mill for
differentlevelsaresimulatedandpredictedbythediscrete
element method. The simulated charge motion and power
draft results are verified against the theoretical charge
profiles and measured power drafts with an industrial ball
mill, and then the DEM is validated to be very useful for
simulatingchargemotionofthemill.
(3)Simulated motion trajectories of the steel ball in the
outmost layer were tracked and analyzed to obtain the
positionsofthemaximumvibrationpointonthemillshell.
Having a same conclusion with result of theoretical
calculation,theangularpositionofthemaximumvibration
pointislowerforhigherfilllevelthanforlowerfilllevel.
The angular position of the maximum vibration point
may be utilized for measuring the fill level. However,this
viewpoint needs to be validated further by processing the
actual vibration signals that are collected from the mill
shell. In the next work, ahigh resolution vibration sensor
(accelerometer)willbemountedonthemillshell,andalot
of vibration signals will be collected under different
experimental conditions and analyzed to verifythe results
ofthispaper.
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Biographicalnotes
HUANG Peng,born in 1981,iscurrently a lecturerin School of
Mechanical Engineering, Southeast University, China. He
received his PhD degree from Southeast University, China, in
2010. His research interests include signal processing and soft
measurement.
Tel:+862552090512Email: feihonghp@163.com
JIA Minping, born in 1960, is currently a professor and a PhD
candidate supervisor in School of Mechanical Engineering,
Southeast University, China. He received his PhD degree from
SoutheastUniversity,China,in1991.Hismainresearchinterests
include vibration analysis, fault diagnosis, nonlinear dynamic
systemidentification,artificialintelligencetheoryandapplication.
Tel:+862552090512Email: mpjia@seu.edu.cn
ZHONGBinglin,bornin1951,iscurrentlyaprofessoranda PhD
candidate supervisor in School of Mechanical Engineering,
Southeast University, China. He received his PhD degree from
University of Wales, England, in 1994. His main research
interests include dynamic system modeling and prediction,
equipmentconditionmonitoringandfault diagnosis.
Tel: +862552090512