Abstract

In the mineral processing industry, crushers are relevant machines used for the comminution of ore. One method that has been used to model mining equipment is the discrete element method (DEM), which has proven to be an excellent tool for predicting the behavior of mineral processing machines. This paper presents a DEM model of a laboratory cone crusher with two versions: full and simplified. The simplified version — developed for simulation using fewer computer resources — is compared with the full model to analyze its usefulness. Complete and rigorous parameter calibration was performed, and the results obtained in both models were validated with experimental testing of crushing power, mass flow rate, and product size distribution; errors of less than 15% were obtained in all tests. In addition, a detailed analysis of the loads on the crusher mantle was performed using a polar coordinate representation of the crusher mantle.