A study of the design and arrangement of flights in a rotary drum

Abstract The performance of flighted rotary drums strongly depends on the distribution of the particles across the drum transverse and longitudinal sections. This work aims to determine the design and arrangement of flights that optimize the distribution of the particles in the active region. The prediction of the solids flow was investigated by DEM simulations. A multi-response optimization was performed, in which the obtained best configuration of three-segments flight presented the following internal angles: α1 = 95°, α2 = 130°, and α3 = 145°. The effect of the intercalated position of the flights on particles distribution in the active region was also evaluated. The configuration with the separation distance between flights of 15° promoted an increase of 24.6% in the area occupied by the particles in the active region, and a reduction of 38.5% in dispersion heterogeneity of solids when compared to that of the arrangement of aligned flights.