MULTI-BODY DYNAMICS AND VIBRATION ANALYSIS OF CHAIN ASSEMBLY IN ARMOURED FACE CONVEYOR.

For armoured face conveyors (AFC) in coal mines, fracture and jam phenomena of the chain are common failure patterns in the chain assembly. These failure patterns are caused by chain's severe vibrations from uneven loads on the conveyor. However, due to limitations of harsh operating environment in coal mines, performing underground experiments is difficult to obtain real vibration signals. Multi-body dynamic simulation is an efficient approach to analyse the complex dynamic behaviour of chain assembly in the AFC. In order to determine the actual dynamic properties of chain assembly in the AFC under different operating conditions, multi-body simulation was used to analyse the vibration properties of the chain assembly. In this study, theoretical analysis of contact force between horizontal and vertical rings, and between sprocket wheel and rings in the chain assembly was initially performed. Rigid and rigid-flexible coupling models of the chain assembly were then established. Dynamic simulations through two types of models, that is, rigid and rigid-flexible coupling models were conducted under full-, half- and empty load conditions using the ADAMS software. Trends of contact force, stress, and velocity of horizontal and vertical rings under various working conditions were obtained, and vibration properties of the chain assembly were analysed based on the corresponding curves. Results indicate that the maximum velocity is 1.75 m/s in the rigid simulation, whereas the maximum velocity is 3.0 m/s in the rigid-flexible coupling simulation. The rigid-flexible coupling method is proven to be more accurate and feasible in describing the dynamic properties of the chain assembly than the rigid method. The proposed method should be preferentially utilized in performing multi-body dynamic simulation of the chain assembly in the AFC. This study provides references for the structural optimization and design of the chain assembly in mining AFC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]