Abstract
Aiming at the problems of incomplete particle sieving and excessive residual fine particles in the traditional vibrating screen during the grading process of rockfill materials, this study proposes a secondary screening enhancement method by adding an auxiliary screen to the screen box to further improve the screening efficiency. Through the EDEM simulation software, a vibrating screening model with a four-layer screen structure was established, and an improved optimization scheme of adding an auxiliary screen in the screen box was designed. Systematic simulation analysis was conducted on the generated particles. The research content includes the influence of different screen angles, numbers of layers, amplitudes, frequencies, and direction angles on the screening efficiency, as well as the optimization and analysis of the secondary screening process with the auxiliary screen in the screen box. The simulation results show that the secondary screening scheme with the auxiliary screen in the screen box can significantly improve the screening efficiency of particles of various sizes. Based on rigorous verification simulations, the total efficiency increased from 92.4% in the traditional single-pass screening to 96.5%. While ensuring conservative estimates, this result still demonstrates a significant efficiency advantage over conventional designs.
Data availability
The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
References
Ma, H. & Chi, F. Major technologies for safe construction of high Earth-Rockfill Dams. Engineering 2(4), 498–509 (2016).
Wu, Z. et al. Discussion on the allowable safety factor of slope stability for high rockfill dams in China. Eng. Geol. 272, 105666 (2020).
Liu, H. et al. Soil and rockfill dams safety assessment for Henan province: Monitoring, analysis and Prediction. Remote Sens. 15(17), 4293 (2023).
Yuan, H. et al. Time history method of Three-Dimensional dynamic stability analysis for high Earth-Rockfill dam and its Application. Sustainability 14(11), 6671 (2022).
Liu, D., Yang, J. & Dong, B. Discrete element analysis of the influence of compaction quality on mechanical properties of rockfill materials. Comput. Geotech. 151, 104958 (2022).
Huang, S., Zhang, W. & Wu, G. Research on Real-Time supervisory system for compaction quality in face rockfill dam Engineering. J. Sens. 2018, 1–11 (2018).
Liang, J. et al. Standard compression rate test method and its application for rockfill materials. Case Stud. Constr. Mater. 17, e01364 (2022).
Li, Z. et al. Modeling and parameter optimization for the design of vibrating screens. Miner. Eng. 83, 149–155 (2015).
Makinde, O. A., Ramatsetse, B. I. & Mpofu, K. Review of vibrating screen development trends: linking the past and the future in mining machinery industries. Int. J. Miner. Process. 145, 17–22 (2015).
Bento Linhares, T., da Silva Scari, A. & Bruno Santos Vimieiro, C. Causes of failures in vibrating screens: A literature review. Miner. Eng. 218, 109027 (2024).
Yin, Z., Zhang, H. & Han, T. Simulation of particle flow on an elliptical vibrating screen using the discrete element method. Powder Technol. 302, 443–454 (2016).
Xiao, R. F. et al. Study on the screening performance of single-layer linear vibrating screen for sand and gravel particles. Miner. Eng. 232, 109527 (2025).
Dong, K. J., Wang, B. & Yu, A. B. Modeling of particle flow and Sieving behavior on a vibrating screen: from discrete particle simulation to process performance Prediction. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 52(33), 11333–11343 (2013).
Li, Z. et al. Design and efficiency research of a new composite vibrating screen. Shock Vib. 2018(1), 1293273 (2018).
Xiao, J. & Tong, X. Characteristics and efficiency of a new vibrating screen with a swing trace. Particuology 11(5), 601–606 (2013).
Standish, N., Bharadwaj, A. K. & Hariri-Akbari, G. A study of the effect of operating variables on the efficiency of a vibrating screen. Powder Technol. 48(2), 161–172 (1986).
Zhang, Z., Wang, Y. & Fan, Z. Similarity analysis between scale model and prototype of large vibrating Screen. Shock Vib. 2015(1), 247193 (2015).
Yue-min, Z. et al. Dynamic design theory and application of large vibrating screen. Procedia Earth Planet. Sci. 1(1), 776–784 (2009).
Yu, C. et al. Comparison of flip-flow screen and circular vibrating screen vibratory Sieving processes for sticky fine particles. Miner. Eng. 187, 107791 (2022).
Yang, H. & Ma, X. Research on the screening mechanisms of composite vibrating screens based on discrete elements. PLOS ONE. 18(10), e0293205 (2023).
Ma, F. et al. Study on impact soil movement experiments on wheat seeds based on EDEM. Agriculture 15(4), 400 (2025).
Yin, Z. et al. Optimization and experimental study of iron ore grinding medium parameters using EDEM discrete element Software. Materials 17(19), 4726 (2024).
Yao, Y., Meng, W. & Kou, Z. Study horizontal screw conveyors efficiency flat bottomed bins EDEM simulation. Sens. Transducers. 159(11), 282 (2013).
Zhang, X. et al. Parameter calibration of discrete element model for alfalfa seeds based on EDEM simulation experiments. Int. J. Agricultural Biol. Eng. 17(3), 33–38 (2024).
Zhang, P., Li, F. & Wang, F. Optimization and test of ginger-shaking and harvesting device based on EDEM software. Comput. Electron. Agric. 213, 108257 (2023).
Weerasekara, N. S. et al. The contribution of DEM to the science of comminution. Powder Technol. 248, 3–24 (2013).
Liu, J. S. et al. Numerical simulation of fertilizer shunt-plate with uniformity based on EDEM software. Comput. Electron. Agric. 178, 105737 (2020).
Wang, G. et al. Numerical simulation and parameter optimization of Earth Auger in hilly area using EDEM software. Sci. Rep. 12(1), 19526 (2022).
Wang, Y. et al. Numerical analysis of Friction-Filling performance of Friction-Type vertical disc precision Seed-Metering device based on EDEM. Agriculture 13(12), 2183 (2023).
Zhao, L. et al. Optimisation of a circularly vibrating screen based on DEM simulation and Taguchi orthogonal experimental design. Powder Technol. 310, 307–317 (2017).
Xu, Y. et al. Numerical simulation of particle motion at cucumber straw grinding process based on EDEM. Int. J. Agric. Biol. Eng. 13(6), 227–235 (2020).
Moncada, M. M. & Rodríguez, C. G. Dynamic modeling of a vibrating screen considering the ore inertia and force of the ore over the screen calculated with discrete element method. Shock Vib. 2018(1), 1714738 (2018).
Shen, G. et al. Effect of particle size distribution on screening efficiency of vibrating screen. Sci. Rep. 15, 39677. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-23380-6 (2025).
Aidanpää, J-O. Mechanical vibrations. Proc. Institution Mech. Eng. Part. C: J. Mech. Eng. Sci. 221, 135–136. https://doi.org/10.1177/095440620722100101 (2007).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
C.Z.: Methodology, Data curation, Writing original draft. H.L.: Resources, Supervision, Project administration. Z.P.: Structural adjustment, Validation. X.W.: Supervision. X.C.: Guide the writing of the manuscript. Z.T.: Conceptualization. H.F.: Investigation, Validation, Data curation.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
About this article
Cite this article
Zhu, C., Long, H., Peng, Z. et al. Research on the optimization efficiency of secondary vibrating screening based on EDEM simulation. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-37230-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-37230-6
