Segregation of binary mixtures of spheres and ellipsoids

Abstract

Segregation can occur under vibration for a mixture of particles with different shapes. In this work, binary mixtures of spheres and ellipsoids are used to investigate segregation under one-dimensional, vertical vibration. The experimental results show that the convection is very much related to the segregation observed. Along the wall, particles move downwards to the bottom and then return to the top in the center of the particle bed. Ellipsoids with small or large aspect ratios can easily travel to the voids near the wall, move downwards and to be trapped at the bottom of the bed. Segregation is confirmed by analyzing the distribution of different types of contacts. © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.