angsheng Li

Symmetrically periodic segregation in a vertically vibrated binary granular bed

Periodic segregation behaviors in fine mixtures of copper and alumina particles, including both percolation and eruption stages, are experimentally investigated by varying the ambient air pressure and vibrational acceleration. For the cases with moderate air pressure, the heaping profile of the granular bed keeps symmetrical in the whole periodic segregation. The symmetrical shape of the upper surface of the granular bed in the eruption stage, which resembles a miniature volcanic eruption, could be described by the Mogi model that illuminates the genuine volcanic eruption in the geography. When the air pressure increases, an asymmetrical heaping profile is observed in the eruption stage of periodic segregation. With using the image processing technique, we estimate a relative height difference between the copper and the alumina particles as the order parameter to quantitatively characterize the evolution of periodic segregation. Both eruption and percolation time, extracted from the order parameter, are plotted as a function of the vibration strength. Finally, we briefly discuss the air effect on the granular segregation behaviors.

Bottom stresses of static packing of granular chains

We experimentally measure the static stress at the bottom of a granular chains column with a precise and reproducible method. The relation, between the filling mass and the apparent mass converted from the bottom stress, is investigated on various chain lengths. Our measurements reconfirm that the scaling behavior of the stress saturation curves is in accord with the theoretical expectation of the Janssen model. Additionally, the saturation mass is displayed as a nonmonotonic function of the chain length, where a distinguishing transition of the saturation mass is found at the persistence length of the granular chain. We repeat the measurement with another measuring methodology and a silo with different size, respectively, the position of the peak maintains robust. In order to understand the transition of the saturation mass, the friction coefficient and the volume fraction of granular chains are also measured, from which Janssen parameter can be calculated. Finally, we preliminarily measure the bottom stress for two distinct packing structures of long chains, find the effect of the entanglements on the bottom stress, and argue that the entanglements might be responsible for the transition of the saturation mass.

Bouncing behavior and dissipative characterization of a chain-filled granular damper

Abstract We have experimentally investigated the bouncing behavior and damping performance of a container partially filled with granular chains, namely a chain-filled damper. The motion of the chain-filled damper, recorded by a particle tracing technology, demonstrates that the granular chains can efficiently absorb the collisional energy of the damper. We extract both the restitution coefficient of the first collision and the total flight time to characterize the dissipation ability of the damper. Two containers and three types of granular chains, different in size, stiffness and restitution coefficient, are used to examine the experimental results. We find that the restitution coefficient of the first collision of a single-chain-filled damper can linearly tend to vanish with increasing the chain length and obtain a minimum filling mass required to cease the container at the first collision (no rebound). When the strong impact occurs, the collisional absorption efficiency of a chain-filled damper is superior to a monodisperse-particle-filled damper. Furthermore, the longer the chains are, the better the dissipative effect is.

Flux of granular particles through a shaken sieve plate

We experimentally investigate a discharging flux of granular particles through a sieve plate subject to vertical vibrations. The mean mass flux shows a non-monotonic relation with the vibration strength. High-speed photography reveals that two stages, the free flight of the particles’ bulk over the plate and the adhesion of the particles’ bulk with the plate, alternately appear, where only the adhesion stage contributes to the flow. With two independent methods, we then measure the adhesion time under different vibration conditions, and define an adhesion flux. The adhesion flux monotonically increases with increasing vibration strength. By rescaling the adhesion flux, we find that the adhesion flux is approximately determined by the peak vibration velocity of the shaker. The conclusion is examined with other sieve geometries.