Modelación de tensiones de contacto en las llantas del secador rotatorio de menas lateríticas.

The objective of the present paper is to model the behavior of the compressive and thermal surface stresses originated in the wheel of the rotary dryer with the aim of carrying out fatigue and superficial wear tests on the wheels. Firstly, a theoretical model to estimate the surface stresses that originate in the wheel was established. An equivalent geometrical model of the wheel and the contact zone was discretized using ANSYS v.12.1. Lastly, simulations were carried out using the finite element method in order to determine the behavior of the contact stresses. The results showed that the maximum stress acts along the middle of the contact strip and its magnitude increases proportionally with the force on the wheel and its temperature. The highest value of maximum contact stress (415,14 MPa) was observed when the force acting on the wheel was 1 254 467 N and its temperature 100 °C, whereas the smallest value (87,662 MPa) was obtained for 1 153 915 N and 40 °C [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]