Particle Shapes Effect on Segregation Phenomena in 2D Binary Granular Mixtures under Vertical Vibration

Abstract

The objective of this study is to experimentally investigate the effect of particle shape on the segregation coefficient and segregation pattern of 2D binary granular mixtures under a vertical vibration. Polyoxymethylene (POM) cylinder with four different cross-sectional shapes, i.e. circle, triangle, square, and hexagon, was used as a particle to prepare the binary granular mixtures. Each mixture consisted of 500 particles for each two species of the shape. A vertical vibration was then applied to the mixtures by varying its level via the dimensionless accelerations (Γ) from 1 to 5, while the vibrational amplitude was at 5 mm. The segregation phenomena were analyzed by the segregation coefficient and segregation pattern. The experimental results show that the segregation does not occur due to the effects of both particle shape and dimensionless acceleration. However, it was observed for all cases that a particle reorganization began when Γ > 2. In addition, convection rolls were found in some cases.