Size separation of binary mixture under vibration

Abstract

By considering as a thermodynamic system, a minimum energy principle is established, in which the granular system changes its size distribution to make itself to be at the lowest energy state as soon as possible on the precondition that it dissipates all of the energy supplied from the vibrating bottom. A model is presented based on this principle to clarify why and how binary mixture separates under vibration. The small particles tend to sink in order to lower the kinetic energy of system, while the heavy particles sink in order to lower the potential energy. The mixture separates finally based on the competition between the two effects. The results of our model qualitatively agree with the previous researches. © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.