Mixing and heat transfer processes of the granular materials within rotary cylinders play a key role in industrial processes. The numerical simulation is carried out by using the discrete element method （DEM） to investigate the influences of material properties on the bed mixing and heat transfer process, including heat conductivity, heat capacity, and shear modulus. Moreover, a new Prclet number is derived to determine the dominant mechanism of the heating rate within the particle bed, which is directly related to thermal and mechanical properties. The system exhibits a faster heating rate with the increase of ratio of thermal conductivity and heat capacity, or the decrease of shear modulus when inter-particle conduction dominates the heating rate; conversely, it shows a fast-mixing bed when particle convection governs the heating rate. The simulation results show good agreement with the theoretical predictions.
The temperature distribution of iron ore pellet bed in grate has a significant effect on pellet production and quality control, but the related work is scarce. A well-designed test was successfully carried out by means of tracking measurement and the temperature distribution and variation in pellet layers were obtained. The effects of blast tem- perature, blast velocity and oxidation reaction on the pellet layer temperature were studied. According to the analy- sis, the inlet air temperature in the up-draught drying zone （UDD） and blast temperature in the Preheating I （PH I） zone should be raised, and the length of the down-draught drying zone （DDD） should be properly increased.
