Computational Modelling in Mineral Processing

Many of the delegates at the recent Computational Modelling '11 emailed to say that they would like to keep in touch with the small, specialised group of participants from all over the world, who are involved with this exciting and rapidly developing technology. It really is very impressive what can be achieved now, and not only do their simulations look good, they also have real practical significance.

In minerals engineering, the typically complex multi-phase nature of the systems makes modelling particularly challenging. This has resulted in a wide range of different techniques being applied, ranging from Computational Fluid Dynamic methods such as Finite Element, Finite Volume, Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics to particle methods such as Discrete Element Methods, as well as many others. Given the interactions that occur in minerals processing systems, an increasing area of study is in coupling different methods.

In order to have confidence in these models, they need to be verified against experimental results. This has led to a complementary development and use of more advanced measurement techniques such as various forms of tomography, particle tracking techniques such Particle Image Velocimetry and Positron Emission Particle Tracking and many others.

With this in mind, MEI has introduced a new group to LinkedIn, Computational Modelling in Mineral Processing.

If you are active in this area, we invite you to join the group. If you are not a LinkedIn user, then take a look at the MEI guide to getting the most out of LinkedIn, now the world's most powerful professional networking tool. We also invite you to join the Minerals Engineers group, which now has over 1300 members.