Journal of Applied Science and Engineering

Published by Tamkang University Press

ESCI jase impact factor scopus logo open access rate of Scopus journal

Static and dynamic analysis of a ball mill for the gold mining industry

José L. Serna-Landivar1, Daniela M. Anticona-Valderrama2, Manuel López Miranda3, Maria
Y. Garcia-Alvarez4, Jennifer Korall De la Cruz-Garcia4, and William C. Algoner5

1Universidad Científica del Sur, Lima, Perú

2Universidad Privada del Norte, Lima, Perú

3Universidad Ricardo Palma; Lima, Perú

4Universidad Tecnológica del Perú, Lima, Perú

5Universidad Continental, Escuela de Posgrado, Lima, Perú

Received: December 16, 2025
Accepted: April 13, 2026
Publication Date: June 1, 2026

上傳圖片

Simplified ball mill 

 Copyright The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are cited.

Download Citation:  BibTeX | http://dx.doi.org/10.6180/jase.202609_32.060  

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This study deals with the structural analysis of a ball mill designed for small-scale gold mining operations, which is crucial in ore crushing, focusing on the dynamic and static forces that affect its performance during operations. A pre-experimental study of the main body was performed using finite element analysis in ANSYS software. Static analysis provided information on deformations, stresses, and safety factors, whereas modal analysis identified the natural frequencies and vibration modes. In addition, harmonic analysis was performed to evaluate the deformations and stresses induced by sinusoidal forces generated by fluctuating grinding loads. The results indicate that the natural vibration frequencies are 261.44 and 277.64 Hz for modes 4 and 5, respectively. Mode 4 presents circumferential behavior, in which alternating deformations are observed along the shell of the cylinder. On the other hand, mode 5 corresponds to an axial mode, characterized by vibrations predominantly along the longitudinal axis of the mill. The main conclusion is that the ball mill, intended for small-scale mining applications, was designed to operate safely under established speed and operating load parameters.

Keywords: Ball Mill; Static Analysis; Modal Analysis; Harmonic Analysis; FEA

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