Experimental investigation into segregation behavior of spherical/non-spherical granular mixtures in a thin rotating drum

Abstract

This paper uses physical experiments to investigate the segregation behavior of binary granular mixtures in a quasi-two-dimensional rotating drum. Spherical polyformaldehyde (POM) beads and cylindrical red beans constitute the granular mixtures. The effects of particle size, particle density, and particle shape interplay during the segregation process in the spherical/non-spherical particulate system. A long-axis ratio (LAR), the ratio of the spherical POM beads' diameter to the red beans' primary dimension, was defined to explore the particle shape effect. The experimental results show that the long-axis ratio and the rotation speed play substantial roles in the granular segregation behavior. As the long-axis ratio increases, the steady-state segregation intensity decreases. An increase in the rotation speed enhances the segregation of the binary granular mixtures for each long-axis ratio studied here. In addition, the average velocity and granular temperature of spherical POM beads increase as the long-axis ratio increases. Both properties also increase as the rotation speed increases. The dynamic angle of repose for the binary mixtures increases with the increase in the long-axis ratio. Most interestingly, reverse granular segregation does occur at a long-axis ratio of 0.70 with the cylindrical red beans in the core and the spherical POM beads at the periphery for each rotation speed studied here. This reverse segregation has not been observed in previous studies. This highlights the substantial impact of particle shape on the granular segregation in binary granular mixtures.