Engineering, Energy, Transport AIC

Ihor KUPCHUK – Candidate of Technical Sciences, Associate professor, Associate Professor of the Department of Engineering Mechanics and Technological Processes in the Agricultural Industry, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Vinnytsia National Agrarian University (3, Sonychna St., Vinnytsia, 21008, Ukraine, e-mail: kupchuk.igor@i.ua; http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2973-6914).

The mixing processes of multicomponent feed materials are characterized by a complex physical nature resulting from the combination of various mechanisms of transport, deformation, and structural rearrangement of the material medium. In real feed preparation technologies, granular, cohesive, fibrous, and viscoplastic components interact simultaneously, which leads to the formation of different material flow regimes and complicates the achievement of stable spatial homogeneity. Existing classifications of mixing processes are mainly oriented toward the design features of equipment or specific groups of materials and therefore do not provide a generalized, physically substantiated description of the process.
The aim of this study is to develop an integrated, physically oriented classification of feed material mixing processes that is invariant with respect to the structural type of the mixing apparatus. The methodological basis of the research is a system-level analysis of contemporary theoretical and experimental studies in mixing physics, the mechanics of granular and cohesive media, and the rheology of viscoplastic materials.
The basic physical mechanisms of mixing are systematized, and a set of physical and structural–topological descriptors is introduced, enabling a generalized description of the process evolution regardless of its hardware implementation. Based on the analysis of the manifestations of these descriptors, the dominant process regimes are identified as generalized physical scenarios of material transport and deformation. An integrated classification of feed material mixing processes is proposed, in which the process class is determined by the combination of the structural–mechanical nature of the medium and the dominant regime, taking into account demixing phenomena.
The obtained results provide a theoretical basis for further quantitative analysis of mixing processes, optimization of feed mixer operating modes, and the substantiated selection of their design and technological parameters.

1.    Paul, E. L., Atiemo-Obeng, V. A., & Kresta, S. M. (Eds.). (2004). Handbook of industrial mixing: Science and practice. John Wiley & Sons. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/0471451452 [in English].
2.    Ottino, J. M., & Khakhar, D. V. (2000). Mixing and segregation of granular materials. Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics, 32, 55–91. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.fluid.32.1.55 [in English].
3.    Marigo, M. (2015). Discrete Element Method (DEM) for industrial applications. KONA Powder and Particle Journal, 32, 201–223. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14356/kona.2015016 [in English].
4.    Hassanpour, A., Tan, H., Bayly, A., & Ghadiri, M. (2011). Analysis of particle motion in a paddle mixer using Discrete Element Method (DEM). Powder Technology, 206(3), 189–194. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.powtec.2010.07.025 [in English].
5.    Bonn, D., Denn, M. M., Berthier, L., Divoux, T., & Manneville, S. (2017). Yield stress materials in soft condensed matter. Reviews of Modern Physics, 89(3), 035005. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.89.035005 [in English].
6.    Schingoethe, D. J. (2017). A 100-year review: Total mixed ration feeding of dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science, 100(12), 10143–10150. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2017-12967 [in English].
7.    Moallem, U., & Lifshitz, L. (2020). Accuracy and homogeneity of total mixed rations processed through trailer mixer or self-propelled mixer, and effects on the yields of high-yielding dairy cows. Animal Feed Science and Technology, 270, 114708. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anifeedsci.2020.114708 [in English].
8.    Buckmaster, D. R., Wang, D., & Wang, H. (2014). Assessing uniformity of total mixed rations. Applied Engineering in Agriculture, 30(5), 693–698. DOI: https://doi.org/10.13031/aea.30.9783 [in English].
9.    Vegricht, J., Miláček, P., Ambrož, P., & Machálek, A. (2007). Parametric analysis of the properties of selected mixing feeding wagons. Research in Agricultural Engineering, 53(3), 85–93. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17221/2123-RAE [in English].
10.    Aliiev, E. B., Koshulko, V. S., & Kocherezhko, N. V. (2023). Obgruntuvannia konstruktyvno-tekhnolohichnykh parametriv rotornoho zmishuvacha kombikormiv periodychnoi dii [Substantiation of design and technological parameters of a batch rotary feed mixer]. Tekhnika, enerhetyka, transport APK, 3(122), 5–13. DOI: https://doi.org/10.37128/2520-6168-2023-3-1 [in Ukrainian].
11.    Cao, K., et al. (2023). Design and analysis of a vertical screw feeding device for dairy goats based on DEM. International Journal of Simulation Modelling, 22(3), 655–667. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2507/IJSIMM22-3-CO13 [in English].
12.    Hlosta, J., et al. (2020). DEM investigation of the influence of particulate properties on mixing in a rotary drum. Processes, 8(2), 184. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/pr8020184 [in English].
13.    Kaletnik, H. M., Kulyk, M. F., & Hlushko, Ya. T. (2006). Enerhooshchadni tekhnolohii kormiv – osnova konkurentozdatnosti tvarynnytstva [Energy-saving feed technologies as the basis of livestock competitiveness]. Teza. [in Ukrainian].
14.    Lee, S. J., & Hwang, S.-Y. (2025). Comparative study to evaluate mixing efficiency of very fine particles. Applied Sciences, 15(15), 8712. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/app15158712 [in English].
15.    Kupchuk, I. M. (2025). Mekhaniko-reolohichni modeli povedinky kormovykh materialiv u protsesi zmishuvannia [Mechanical and rheological models of feed materials during mixing]. In Proceedings of the VII International Scientific and Practical Conference “Technical Support of Innovative Technologies in the Agro-Industrial Complex” (p. 29). TDATU. [in Ukrainian].
16.    Kupchuk, I. M. (2025). Reolohichna typolohiia kormovykh materialiv u protsesakh zmishuvannia [Rheological typology of feed materials in mixing processes]. In Proceedings of the IV All-Ukrainian Conference of Young Scientists (Vol. 1, pp. 47–50). DDAEU. [in Ukrainian].
17.    Khakhar, D. V., McCarthy, J. J., & Ottino, J. M. (1999). Mixing and segregation of granular materials in chute flows. Chaos, 9(3), 594–610. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.166433 [in English].
18.    Macaulay, M., & Rognon, P. (2019). Shear-induced diffusion in cohesive granular flows: Effect of enduring clusters. Journal of Fluid Mechanics. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2018.861 [in English].
19.    Yu, F., Zhang, S., Zhou, G., Zhang, Y., & Ge, W. (2018). DEM simulation on the flow and mixing of sphero-cylinders in horizontal drums. Powder Technology, 336, 415–425. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.powtec.2018.05.040 [in English].
20.    Curran, S. J., Hayes, R. E., Afacan, A., Williams, M. C., & Tanguy, P. A. (2000). Experimental mixing study of a yield stress fluid in a laminar stirred tank. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 39(1), 195–202. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/ie990468e [in English].
21.    Coussot, P. (2014). Yield stress fluid flows: A review of experimental data. Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics, 211, 31–49. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnnfm.2014.05.006 [in English].
22.    Ottino, J. M. (1989). The kinematics of mixing: Stretching, chaos, and transport. Cambridge University Press. [in English].
23.    Bridgwater, J. (2012). Mixing of powders and granular materials by mechanical means – A perspective. Particuology, 10(4), 397–427. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.partic.2012.06.002 [in English].
24.    Jaeger, H. M., Nagel, S. R., & Behringer, R. P. (1996). Granular solids, liquids, and gases. Reviews of Modern Physics, 68(4), 1259–1273. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.68.1259 [in English].
25.    Gray, J. M. N. T., & Thornton, A. R. (2005). A theory for particle size segregation in shallow granular free-surface flows. Proceedings of the Royal Society A, 461, 1447–1473. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.2004.1420 [in English].
26.    Coussot, P. (2005). Rheometry of pastes, suspensions, and granular materials. John Wiley & Sons. [in English].