Impact-Induced Breakage Behavior During Grain Discharge and Modeling Framework for Discharge Impact Prediction

Yawen Xiao (), Minyue Sun, Anqi Li, Yanlong Han, Yanqin Zhao, Xiaobo Xi and Ruihong Zhang
Additional contact information
Yawen Xiao: School of Mechanical Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225127, China
Minyue Sun: School of Mechanical Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225127, China
Anqi Li: College of Engineering, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China
Yanlong Han: College of Engineering, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China
Yanqin Zhao: School of Mechanical Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225127, China
Xiaobo Xi: School of Mechanical Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225127, China
Ruihong Zhang: School of Mechanical Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225127, China

Agriculture, 2025, vol. 15, issue 22, 1-23

Abstract: Grain breakage serves as a primary causative factor for microbial infestation and oxidative deterioration, significantly diminishing product value and resulting in substantial grain waste and economic losses. The grain discharging process represents the most extensively involved and primary breakage-inducing stage throughout harvest handling and processing operations. However, impact and impact-induced breakage behavior during grain discharge are still poorly understood. To elucidate the impact-induced breakage behavior during grain discharge, this study first employed the discrete element method (DEM) to numerically simulate the discharging process, thereby quantifying the variation patterns of grain kinematic characteristics (e.g., velocity and attitude). Building upon the simulated kinematic data, a dedicated impact testing platform was constructed to investigate single-grain breakage. This enabled the determination of critical unit mass impact energy (along 90°: 106.4 J kg −1 ; along 0°: 57.28 J kg −1 ) and critical breakage velocity (along 90°: 14.59 m s −1 ; along 0°: 10.70 m s −1 ) under two extreme impact attitude conditions. By integrating the DEM-derived kinematics with the experimentally obtained breakage thresholds, a breakage probability zoning diagram for both large-scale and small-scale discharge processes was developed. Finally, leveraging this comprehensive understanding of the flow and breakage mechanics, theoretical models were successfully established to predict key engineering design parameters, including mass flow rate, impact force, and impact pressure. All models were validated and demonstrated excellent predictive capabilities. The research result is of guiding significance for the design of relevant parameters of discharge systems to minimize grain breakage loss to the greatest extent possible.

Keywords: impact breakage; grain discharge; breaking detection device; breakage probability; impact pressure (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/15/22/2368/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/15/22/2368/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:15:y:2025:i:22:p:2368-:d:1795006

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().