Abstract: Aiming at the low loading efficiency of the 1.6 m shearer drum under complex coal seam conditions, this study breaks through the bottleneck of loading efficiency through structural innovation and proposes a structural optimization scheme for a web-type drum based on curved blades and arc-shaped guide plates. By combining discrete element simulation with industrial tests, the influence mechanism of the new structure on the movement trajectory of coal particles, regional flow characteristics, coal flow movement speed and mass flow rate was systematically analyzed. The research results show that, compared with the traditional drum, the optimized web-type drum achieves the following effects through the division of coal flow regions: an increase of 4% in particle loading efficiency in Region I, an increase of 8% in coal-rock loading efficiency in Region II, a decrease of 27% in the height of floating coal in Region III, and the overall axial outward movement trajectory of particles in Region IV. Through the analysis of the average particle discharge time, it is found that the coal particles in layers No.1, No.2, No.3 and No.4 are discharged 0.3, 0.1, 0.1 and 0.2 s in advance respectively. Under simulated working conditions (rotational speed: 30 r/min, traction speed: 160 mm/s), the overall loading efficiency of the drum is increased by 22.06%, the Y-axis axial slag discharge speed is increased by approximately 16.8%, the average mass flow rate is increased by 19.07%, and the maximum mass flow rate is increased by 13.26%. By simulating the loading efficiency of the drum at rotational speeds of 24, 30, 36 and 42 r/min, it is found that there is a positive correlation between the drum rotational speed and the loading efficiency. When the drum rotational speed is 42 r/min, the loading efficiency is increased by 40.34%. These results indicate that the web-type drum can effectively improve the slag discharge speed and movement direction during the coal flow loading process. The structural optimization method of “curved blades plus arc-shaped guide plates” proposed in this study provides a new idea for the optimization of the loading efficiency of shearer drum equipment. Field application data demonstrate that the 1.6 m drum achieves a single-pass loading efficiency of over 75%, along with an increase of more than 15% in the lump coal rate for particles larger than 13 mm in diameter.