Nowadays pelletizing drums are widely used in the steel industry. These units are characterized by high endurance and low cost of maintenance. However, use and control of these units in the process of coarsening have a number of issues. For most of the cases pelletizing drums are “black box” and control accuracy can not be estimated exactly. It is explained by low existing theoretical basis of this production process. Particularly it is tied up with the variability of the bulk materials (charges) parameters supplied to the unit. Overcome of this issues can be reached with development of intelligent control systems for drum pelletizing machines. Main requirement for such systems is possibility to level or consider the effect of charges properties variability in control. However, it is necessary to study the behavior of bulk materials inside the units. Visual assessment of pelletization does not allow to evaluate the ongoing physical processes. Development of mathematical and numerical models can help studying the process and take a lot of parameters into account including charges properties and even interaction with water. But the adequacy of the resulting models also has to be clarified using physical devices to record or capture bulk materials behavior inside the units. This research proposes a DEM simulation test of the concept for bulk material behavior control through the recognition of the mixture movement fragments using special capsules. This part is dedicated to the simulation model set up and extracting the particles trajectories for further processing.

One of the problems of the use of drum pelletizers in metallurgy is the lining wear, as well as the economic costs associated with it, including increased energy costs during operation and the need to periodically stop the units and then replace the lining. Most significantly the trajectory of particle motion affects the lining wear profile and wear intensity. It is assumed that during the implementation of the technological process, a monodisperse occurs, which has the greatest effect on the wear profile. In addition, the lining wear is influenced by the impact of particles at an acute angle, with a maximum impact caused by a collision at an angle of 39°18′. At present there are no universal solutions for determining the degree of lining wear in real time with a corresponding adjustment of the pelletizing process parameters. Creating a system for monitoring the lining wear is necessary for timely repair and maintenance of equipment to prevent an emergency situation, as well as increase the service life of the aggregates. This article proposes a concept of a method that allows to evaluate the trajectory of the charge during the technological process according to the coordinates of the movement and acceleration of the probe in the unit during the implementation of the technological process. The digitization and analysis of data obtained from the probe will allow to assess the integrity of the lining surface, the degree of lining wear and places with increased wear rate in real time with the possibility of adjusting technological processes to increase the lining service life. The obtained data will allow to clarify the computer model of the process by assessing the behavior of the charge in the unit and create a reserve for the further implementation of digital twin equipment.

The research considers conducting orthogonal experiment (OT) as one of the stages in developing a new discrete element method (DEM) parameters calibration approach. The measured responses in experiment are the parameters obtained by DEM animation processing using machine vision system (MVS). The variable factors in experiment are DEM parameters. A brief overview of an existing calibration approaches given in the article. The choice of OT as a design of experiment tool among other mathematical tools discussed. Experiments conducted using specially developed rig where bulk material's flow captured as DEM animation. DEM animation converted to video and then processed using MVS that allow register the values of such parameters as angle of repose or expiration time (measured responses). The results of the OT show that it is possible to identify four measured responses with the most valuable correlation coefficient. DEM parameters with the biggest influence on the measured responses identified for each of the obtained regression. Obtained results are useful in learning or iterative algorithms development for DEM parameters calibration.