2023-06-252023-06-25https://tore.tuhh.de/handle/11420/16433Wood pellets are renewable energy resources and are produced by pressing of sawmill residue and industrial waste wood. During transportation wood pellets are exposed to mechanical loading, storage and operations. Owing to various stress types, breakage and attrition of wood pellets take place resulting in an increase of fine fraction of the bulk. Investigation of the breakage and attrition mechanisms as well as parameters, which influence these mechanisms, can help to predict the fine fraction formation resulting from different conveying techniques or a change of process parameters, such as conveying velocity, mass flow or ambient conditions. The aim of this research is to investigate the breakage and attrition behavior of wood pellets caused by transportation, processing, storage as well as handling, and to estimate the main factors, which influence the strength of wood pellets. Furthermore, a numerical model will be developed to describe the stress state, breakage behavior and agglomerate deformation under different types of mechanical loading conditions, e. g. compression, shearing and impact.