An Experimental Study on the Particle Size and Shape Distribution of Coal Drill Cuttings by Dynamic Image Analysis

Particle size and shape distribution can be measured in great detail by dynamic image analysis (DIA). The narrow dispersion of repeated experiment results indicates that the particle size distribution can be obtained with high reliability. Particle size distribution can be better fitted to Rosin-Rammler equation than Gaudin-Schuhmann distribution and the lognormal distribution. The spread parameter (m) and the location parameters (d0) of the Rosin-Rammler equation can be calculated precisely. We analyzed the similarities and differences between the different particle shape distributions. The distributions of form factor and circularity are right-skewed distributions, while the distributions of ellipse ratio, irregularity, and aspect ratio obey a normal distribution. By studying the relation between particle size and shape, we find a linear relationship between the ellipse ratio and the Legendre ellipse diameter on the logarithmic scale.