Design and assessment of plowshares for industrial mixers using DEM

Discrete Element Method (DEM) simulations are increasingly used to analyze powder mixing; however, the design of plowshare geometry in industrial mixers is generally addressed through parametric approaches, with limited insight into the underlying particle transport mechanisms. In this work, a DEM-based framework is developed to analyze plowshare mixer performance by linking plowshare geometry with particle transport mechanisms and mechanical load. DEM material models for baking soda and corn starch are first calibrated and validated against experimental Flow Function Tests, ensuring realistic reproduction of bulk rheology. The proposed plowshare design strategy focuses on enhancing lateral particle transport, which has been identified as a convective mixing mechanism. Simplified simulations with a single plowshare are employed to isolate geometric effects and compare alternative designs. The proposed plowshare geometry shows enhanced lateral particle redirection in the simplified configuration, confirming the effectiveness of the mechanism-based design approach. Full-scale simulations of the industrial mixer are then performed to assess whether this local transport enhancement translates into improved global mixing performance. The results show that the modified geometry achieves slightly higher Lacey mixing indices and faster mixing evolution, but at the expense of a significant increase in torque demand. These findings demonstrate that improving a local particle transport mechanism does not necessarily lead to a practically advantageous mixer design, and that the overall performance must be evaluated by considering both mixing quality and mechanical load. The proposed framework provides a rational tool for plowshare design and highlights the importance of combining mechanism-based analysis with full-scale validation.