Coupled CFD-DEM simulation of separation process in combine harvester cleaning devices

Operation technological process research in the cleaning system of the grain combine

“…Thefore, it is necessary to establish the mode of interaction between the air and the grain heap using Reynolds number of the Rep particle, the volume concentration of particles Q, and the design and technical parameters of the cleaning system. In turn, in order to determine these parameters, it is necessary to know the amount of material to be cleaned (throughput), the speed of the airflow and particles, as well as the coefficients of their aerodynamic resistance (Korn and Herlitzius, 2017;Wang et al, 2018;Korn, 2020).…”

“…We can also add moisture and clogging of the grain heap, uneven distribution of the grain heap along the sieve mill's width, when harvesting on slopes. All these issues are due to the uneven distribution of the airflow and the width of the sieves due to the imperfection of existing designs of the cleaning system and the lack of a complete theoretical description and methods for substantiating design and technological parameters (Alferov, 1987;Kutzbach and Quick, 1999;Kutzbach, 2001;Rademacher, 2003;Feiffer et al, 2005;Kelemen et al, 2005;Miu and Kutzbach, 2008;Steponavičius et al, 2008;Voicu et al, 2008;Kotov and Chaus, 2010;Mudarisov and Badretdinov, 2013;Vasilevskij et al, 2013;FAO Report, 2014;Mirzazadeh et al, 2015;Baran et al, 2016;Špokas et al, 2016;Korn and Herlitzius, 2017;Sorochenko, 2017;Aldoshin and Lylin, 2018;Wang et al, 2018;Korn, 2020). Wang et al (2018) proposed a fatigue life analysis method and an optimization method for designing the cleaning system in order to improve the fatigue life of the cleaning system in combine harvesters.…”

“…In their work, Korn and Herlitzius (2017) described the possibility of using a coupled CFD-DEM approach to simulate the process of separating grain from impurities in a cleaning device of a combine harvester. A strategic approach to create a reliable simulation model was needed to account for a large number of influencing factors, their interactions, a wide range of scattering of properties of the biogenic particles, and the resulting complexity of the separation process.…”

“…Numerical results have shown the applicability of the numerical method by comparing it with similar experiments. However, potential deviations were noted, which underscore the need for further research to improve parameterization and modeling (Korn and Herlitzius, 2017;Korn, 2020). Ostrikov et al (2018Ostrikov et al ( , 2020 investigated the relationship between the cleaning effect of a combine harvester's cleaning system and its influencing factors.…”

“…Due to aerodynamic drag force, light particles are separated by the airflow, which is stronger than the force of gravity, due to the difference between the air speed and the the speed of the hovering particles. The grains (with more massive particles) are predominantly moved (separated from lighter particles) due to the action of gravity and inertia of the sieves, while the aerodynamic drag force has no significant action (Kutzbach and Quick, 1999;Kutzbach, 2001;Rademacher, 2003;Feiffer et al, 2005;Kelemen et al, 2005;Miu and Kutzbach, 2008;Steponavičius et al, 2008;Voicu et al, 2008;FAO Report, 2014;Mirzazadeh et al, 2015;Špokas et al, 2016;Korn and Herlitzius, 2017;Aldoshin and Lylin, 2018;Wang et al, 2018;Ospanov et al, 2019;Korn, 2020).…”