A Review of the Discrete Element Method (DEM) Simulation of Mineral Comminution Processes: Part I. Theoretical Developments

We intend to provide a systematic review of a series of works conducted by our group on the modeling and investigation of the comminution of minerals (primarily including the grinding and crushing processes) using the discrete element method (DEM). As the first part of the two-part series, this paper comprehensively reviews the theoretical developments in modeling mineral comminution processes using the DEM. This paper concentrates on the key advancements in enhancing simulation accuracy and calculation efficiency of DEM simulations, including the development of energy-based wear prediction models (such as the shear impact energy model and its improved versions) and particle breakage models within the DEM framework. Subsequently, the coupling strategies of DEM with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and multi-body dynamics (MBD) used to address multi-physics challenges in comminution simulations are elaborated. These theoretical foundations and numerical models establish a robust basis for the numerical investigations of grinding and crushing processes, providing the important technical support for high-fidelity and efficient DEM simulations in mineral processing.