A rigid-flexible coupled dynamic model of a flip-flow vibrating screen considering the effects of processed materials

Flip-flow vibrating screens (FFVSs) are the critical screening equipment for classifying and dewatering wet materials in mining processing industry. During the screening process, the FFVSs can be regarded as a complex rigid-flexible coupled multi-body system where the screening operation and the dynamics of two screen frames interact. However, there exists no mechanical model that can describe the dynamics of FFVSs during the screening process. The lack of such a dynamic model causes the amplitudes of the main and the floating screen frames unpredictable after the processed materials are loaded on FFVSs, which affects the screening performance and the service life of FFVSs. To bridge this research gap, the loaded dynamic model of a FFVS is established in this paper. First, dynamic tests are performed to investigate the equivalent stiffness and the equivalent damping of the force along the screen surface which is induced by the processed materials. Then, the proposed model of the FFVS is verified qualitatively by existing experimental results, and the effects of the processed materials on the dynamics of the FFVS are explored by comparing the non-load dynamics of the FFVS. Finally, the sensitivities of the main parameters on the dynamic response are investigated based on Sobol's method of global sensitivity analysis. It is shown that the proposed rigid-flexible coupled multi-body dynamic model of the FFVS can not only effectively reveal the dynamic response of FFVS in the screening process, but can also provide a reference for modelling the dynamics of the screening process of other screening equipment.