Experimental and numerical study of wall-induced granular convection

In this paper, wall-driven convective motion in granular systems under vibration is investigated. A pseudo-2D experimental set-up was constructed in which the convection was generated via a controlled roughness at the side walls. The optical measurement technique particle image velocimetry was used to obtain whole field particle velocity information. This allows for direct ‘one-to-one’ comparison with results obtained from numerical simulations. It was found that the model was capable of reproducing trends that were observed in our own experiments and those reported in literature. However, the convection strength was usually over-predicted in the simulations.

Graphical abstractWall-driven convective motion in granular systems under vibration is investigated, both by numerical simulations and experiments. Particle image velocimetry was used to obtain the particle velocity field. It was found that the simulation model was capable of reproducing trends that were observed in our own experiments and those reported in literature, although the convection strength was over-predicted.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide